New poems and five elegies [LS]

It was no coincidence that Vinicius de Moraes gave his fourth book, published in 1938, the title New poems: the volume brought a change of direction in form and content. After a phase marked by verses with a mystical tendency, in which a subject whose conscience is tormented by sin and guilt is expressed, the book shows the poet's determined journey towards the material world. Thus, everyday events, bonds of coexistence, humor and eroticism set the tone of the book, composed of agile verses, varied rhythms and a decidedly modern lyricism. This opening of eyes to the world reaches an exceptional moment in Cinco elegias, from 1943. If the poems that make up the book are also, like those in New poems, representative of a period of transition, there is also a leap: we are facing a poetic and human experimentation that is a milestone in Brazilian poetry of the 20th century. This edition opens with a photo notebook that reproduces, among other documents, manuscripts that record versions prior to those that the poet established. There is also an afterword, written especially for this edition by Eduardo Coelho, and, in the “Arquivo” section, a review by Mário de Andrade that records the publication of New poems, as well as the text in which Manuel Bandeira enthusiastically receives Five Elegies.