SOURCE: Merquior, J. G. “Measuring the Mess.” Times Literary Supplement (26 June 1981): 736.

In the following review, Merquior places A Paixão Medida in the context of Drummond's earlier work and discusses the poet's use of a particular metrical form.

Drummond de Andrade (b 1902) and João Cabral (b 1920) are the two foremost living Brazilian poets, and well known and influential in the world of Iberian literature at large. A Paixão Medida (The Measured Passion) and A Escola das Facas (The School of Knives) are their latest collections to be published.

Drummond's poetic career began in 1930 and the seventeen volumes he has brought out since then are generally considered the richest in Brazilian poetry. A scion of the Minas Gerais gentry, he became a conscientious civil servant, and during the eventful 1930s and 40s cast an ironic, caustic look at both his native mining town of Itabira, and at...