I have often written that it is worth publishing our thoughts and articles that appear on the internet also in book form. Thoughts and texts posted on the internet are, after all, very ephemeral. A book is something completely different – it does not disappear, it remains on a shelf and can be consulted at any time. It needs neither electricity, nor passwords, nor access to the internet. It simply exists.
The same applies to our
collections. It is worth returning to them, looking through them years later,
exhibiting them and showing them to others. Sometimes precisely such a renewed
look at one's own collection can lead to an unexpected discovery.
I wrote a book about Padrões.[1] I
thought that I already knew everything about the postal items related to
Padrões. And yet, while going through my collection once again, I found another
postcard connected with a Padrão. What is more, it turned out that it would
make an excellent illustration for my book, because it contains a quotation
from a poem by Fernando Pessoa entitled precisely „Padrão”.[2]
This postcard comes from
the „Comemorações Henriquinas” series (celebrations in honour of
Henry the Navigator) from 1960, consisting of four postcards numbered 111/1–114/4.
Catálogo de Inteiros Postais
Portugueses (Catalogue of Portuguese Postal Stationery)[3], in the section „Bilhetes
postais comemorativos e de propaganda” (Commemorative and propaganda
postcards), states that the series consists of four cards with allegorical
illustrations and different captions.
The series was issued in
connection with the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the death of
Infante D. Henrique. It was precisely in 1960 that the Padrão dos
Descobrimentos in Belém was rebuilt in a permanent form of concrete and
stone, and its ceremonial inauguration took place on 9 August. (Padrão dos
Descobrimentos)
The attached catalogue
lists four postcards:
111/1 –
D. Henrique
112/2 – Marinheiros no cais
113/3 – O Gigante Adamastor
114/4 – Erguendo um Padrão
Each of them contains a
fragment of Pessoa's poetry, appropriately chosen for the scene depicted.
111/1 – D. Henrique
The first postcard depicts D. Henrique.
Beneath the illustration is the beginning of the
poem „O Infante” from Mensagem:
Deus quer, o homem sonha, a obra nasce.
Deus quis que a terra
fosse toda uma,
Que o mar unisse, já não separasse.
Sagrou-te, e foste desvendando a espuma...
English:
God
wills, man dreams, the work is born.
God wanted the earth to be one whole,
so that the sea would unite it, no longer separate it.
He consecrated you, and you went unveiling the foam...
This is the first stanza
of the poem „O Infante”, which opens the second part of Mensagem,
entitled Mar Português. (Wikisource)
112/2 – Marinheiros no cais
The second postcard,
depicting sailors at the quayside, contains a fragment of the poem „Ocidente”:
Fosse
Acaso, ou Vontade, ou Temporal
A mão que ergueu o facho que luziu,
Foi Deus a alma e o corpo Portugal
Da mão que o conduziu.
English:
Whether
it was Chance, or Will, or Storm,
the hand that raised the torch that shone,
God was the soul and Portugal the body
of the hand that guided it.
This is the final stanza
of Part VII of Mensagem – „Ocidente”. Pessoa presents in it the
discovery of the unknown West as an action in which chance, will and destiny
intertwine. (Wikisource)
113/3 – O Gigante Adamastor
The third postcard is
particularly interesting. The catalogue identifies the image as „O Gigante
Adamastor”, whereas the quotation comes from Pessoa's poem „O Mostrengo”:
Aqui ao
leme sou mais do que eu:
Sou um Povo que quer o mar que é teu;
E mais que o mostrengo, que me a alma teme
E roda nas trevas do fim do mundo,
Manda a vontade, que me ata ao leme,
De El-Rei D. João Segundo!
English:
Here at
the helm I am more than myself:
I am a People that wants the sea that is yours;
and more than the monster, which my soul fears
and which circles in the darkness at the end of the world,
the will that binds me to the helm commands me,
the will of King D. João the Second!
This is the concluding
fragment of „O Mostrengo” from Mensagem.
I have written about Adamastor
both in my book about padrões[4]
and in my book about Luzjady in philately[5].
Naturally, I could not omit him from my most recent book, „Espresso z Camõesem”[6].
Adamastor has a well-established iconographic position in Portuguese
literature.
In „Espresso z
Camõesem” I also describe the difference between Adamastor and Triton.
The postcard above is
nevertheless explicitly described in the catalogue as „Adamastor”. It is
worth noting the difference between the catalogue caption and the literary
text: the catalogue identifies the illustration as O Gigante Adamastor,
whereas the text by Fernando Pessoa quoted on it comes from „O Mostrengo”.
(Wikisource)
The two figures should
not, however, be identified with one another.
In „Os Lusíadas” (The
Lusiads), the Portuguese national epic written by Luís Vaz de Camões,
describing the great voyages and discoveries of Portuguese sailors, and above
all Vasco da Gama's voyage to India, the episode of Adamastor presents a
powerful and frightening force of the sea. In „O Mostrengo”, on the
other hand, the man at the helm represents the strength and will of the entire
nation, which wants to overcome the sea and the unknown.[7]
Camões created Adamastor
as a gigantic, terrifying figure, embodying the dangers and fears of the sea.
Pessoa, by contrast, presents Mostrengo as a symbol of horror and
revulsion. Adamastor frightens above all through his enormous size and
appearance, whereas Mostrengo inspires fear more through his repulsive form.
The two works are
therefore connected by the motif of fear of the sea and the unknown, but Pessoa
gives it a different form. His text is shorter and more symbolic – what is
suggested becomes more important than what is explicitly stated.
There is also an
important historical difference. In Pessoa, the man at the helm serves D.
João II, during whose reign the Portuguese crossed the Cape of Storms.
In Camões, on the other hand, Adamastor's interlocutor is Vasco da Gama,
serving King D. Manuel I.
Pessoa's poem also has a
strong epic-dramatic character. At its centre is the man at the helm, who moves
from fear to courage. As his determination grows, the terror of Mostrengo
diminishes. Ultimately, it is the monster that is defeated by the sailor's courage.
In Camões, the situation is different – Adamastor presents himself as a hero
defeated by the suffering of love.
The similarity between
the two figures can also be seen in their language. Camões describes Adamastor
as „horrendo e grosso”, whereas Pessoa describes Mostrengo as „imundo
e grosso”. In both cases, the adjective „grosso” emphasises the
monstrous nature of the figure, although Pessoa uses the word „imundo” –
dirty, repulsive – instead of „horrendo” – terrifying, dreadful.
The shadow of Camões
therefore clearly appears in Pessoa's poem, but this does not mean that Pessoa
lacks originality. Both poets created their own, different symbols of fear of
the sea and the unknown, corresponding to the period in which they wrote.
114/4 – Erguendo um Padrão
The postcard contains a
fragment of the poem „Padrão”:
E ao
imenso e possível oceano
Ensinam estas Quinas, que aqui vês,
Que o mar com fim será grego ou romano:
O mar sem fim é português.
English:
And to
the immense and possible ocean
these Quinas, which you see here, teach
that the sea with an end will be Greek or Roman:
the endless sea is Portuguese.
It is precisely this
fragment that gives the postcard a special significance for me. The Padrão,
which is the subject of my book, appears here not only as the stone marker of
Portuguese discoveries depicted in the illustration. It also becomes a
protagonist of Pessoa's poetry. In his poem, Diogo Cão himself speaks,
referring to the Padrão he left behind and to the significance of the Quinas
and the Portuguese sea. (Pro Por)
And this is precisely why
the postcard could be an excellent illustration for my book „Padrões –
Historical Stone Markers of Portuguese Maritime History”. What is more, I
found it only after writing the book, while going through my own collection
once again.
And so, once again, it
turned out that it is worth looking through one's own album. Sometimes
something that has remained unnoticed for years suddenly turns out to be
exactly the element that was missing from the story we had previously thought
we had already told.
Bibliography
- Joaquim Lêdo, Inteiros
Postais Portugueses, Porto: Victor Simarro, Janeiro de 1978.
- Fernando Pessoa, Mensagem
(1934): „O Infante”, „Ocidente”, „O Mostrengo”, „Padrão”.
- Andrzej Philips, Padrões
– Historical Stone Markers of Portuguese Maritime History, Wyd. Anatta, 2024.
- Andrzej Philips, „Luzjady”
(Os Lusíadas) w filatelistyce [he Lusiads (Os Lusíadas)
in Philately], 2025.
- Andrzej Philips, Espresso z Camõesem – poezja portugalska w życiu
codziennym, [Espresso with
Camões – Portuguese Poetry in Everyday Life], 2026.
- Análise do Poema “O
Mostrengo”, Scribd, uploaded by Paula Fernandes, January
31, 2018.
- ProPor / ESCCB, „O Padrão”. O Padrão – ProPor / ESCCB
- Wikisource, Fernando
Pessoa, Mensagem. Mensagem – Wikisource
- Padrão dos
Descobrimentos, „1960 – Comemorações Henriquinas”, 1960. 1960 – Comemorações Henriquinas
[1] Andrzej Philips, Padrões – Historical Stone
Markers of Portuguese Maritime History, Ed. Anatta, 2024.
[2] Andrzej Philips, Padrões.., ibidem, p. 11–12.
[3] Joaquim Lêdo, Inteiros Postais Portugueses,
Porto: Victor Simarro, Janeiro de 1978, p. 73
[4] Andrzej Philips, Padrões.., ibidem, p. 95–97.
[5] Andrzej Philips,
"Luzjady" (Os Lusíadas) w filatelistyce, 2025, p. 47-52
[6] Espresso z Camõesem – poezja portugalska w życiu codziennym,
2026, s. 99-100.
[7] Análise do Poema “O Mostrengo”, Scribd,
uploaded by Paula Fernandes, January 31, 2018.
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