Saudade: a disposition and artistic expression of the Portuguese character

I originally went to Lisbon for the first time to run a marathon on the 20th of October in aid of Amos Trust, and arrived two days before to explore the city a little beforehand. On this particular travel trip, I did not make the journey with an aim to delve into the local culture – there was simply not enough time. However, my poetic side felt an instantaneous attachment to the almost sacramental and deeply emotional quality of Lisbon’s atmosphere.

This feeling may have been due to what the Portuguese call ‘saudade’ – a word that is endemic to Portuguese, for which there has been no successful attempt at a direct translation – a word that embodies a deep emotional state that is depicted by a sense of melancholy, nostalgia, and longing. A distinctive disposition of the Portuguese character.

When you gain an insight into the recent history of this nation, it casts light on why this word has ensconced its position within the Portuguese language and has remained influential on the Iberian identity associated with it. A once mighty kingdom whose progress towards modernity had become stagnant led to mass disenfranchisement and the assassination of the King and his son in 1908. The 1910 revolution followed suit and a coup d’état brought an end to the monarchy. However, the anarchic nature of the resultant First Portuguese Republic led to another coup d’état in 1926, and the establishment of the Second Portuguese Republic Estado Novo (New State). A state which was led by a corporatist and authoritarian government under the rule of Salazar until 1968, and his successor Caetano until the 25th of April 1974 - when the nation’s third coup d’état led by the political left succeeded in removing the dictatorship. This was the Carnation Revolution - which came to be known simply as the ‘25 de Abril’ (25th of April) – and it reinstated democracy and decolonised Portugal’s overseas territories.

With this long postponement of democracy compared to other European states, and a government that was largely seen as unrepresentative of the people until the revolution, there was a substantial void left by the absence of political freedom. Saudade may denote an absence of something, but the very presence of this feeling filled the political void with literature, art and music that aimed to capture its particular quality. One of the most celebrated aspects of Portuguese culture is its distinctive musical genre called fado - a word stemming from the Latin ‘fatum’ (fate) – which can be interpreted as the musical embodiment of saudade, with its mournful lyrics and the captivating Portuguese guitar usually played in the sanctuary of a small candle-lit restaurant.

In regard to poetry, Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) – a revered and prolific poet of the Portuguese language – probably constitutes the most apt example of the presence of saudade in Portuguese literature, with his work almost personifying the quality of this feeling:

“Solitude devastates me; company oppresses me. The presence of another person derails my thoughts; I dream of the other’s presence with a strange absent-mindedness that no amount of my analytical scrutiny can define.”

Pessoa, Fernando. (2002). ‘Text 48’ from The Book of Disquiet, trans. by Richard Zenith (UK: Penguin UK)

To me, the artistic expression of Portugal is not only an effort to emancipate itself from its troubled past, it simultaneously reveals itself as a reserved pleasure - taken from capturing the feeling of saudade.

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A poem I wrote in late October this year, in response to the feeling of saudade:

- Touch of memory -

With saudade, every moment

Was somehow hollow without you.

And yet with it I saw a shadow –

of your form

At the apex of each corner

As I caught its glimpse,

My colours came up

To the surface of my skin

And I bruised –

like a peach

Tender to the touch of memory