biography
| name: |
Camoens or Camões, Luís Vaz de
|
pronunciation:
[kamohenz]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1524–80)
|
| biography:
| The greatest Portuguese poet, born in Lisbon, Portugal. He studied for the Church at Coimbra, but declined to take orders. He became a soldier, and during service at Ceuta lost his right eye. He went to India (1553) and Macao (1556), and was shipwrecked while returning to Goa (1558), losing everything except his major poem, Os Luciados (The Lusiads, or Lusitanians). After returning to Portugal in 1570, he lived in poverty and obscurity. The Lusiads was published in 1572, and was an immediate success, but did little for his fortunes, and he died in a public hospital. The work has since come to be regarded as the Portuguese national epic. |
|
|
