Mãe e meretriz: empatia e denúncia da dominação masculina na poesia de Augusto dos Anjos

Abstract

The poetry of Augusto dos Anjos is marked by contrasts, presented by the poet as complementary opposites. The images of the Mother and the Prostitute, present in his work, are antagonistic facets that represent the same feminine principle. The subversive nature of Augusto dos Anjosʼ poetry and its aspect of social criticism (HELENA, 1984; SOUZA, 2009; SANTOS, 2009; GARCIA, 2009) by means of themes such as solidarity and empathy (ERICKSON, 2015) allowed us to see the Mother and the Prostitute as images with which the poemsʼ personae identify themselves. Analysing his poetry by means of the lessons from Estudo Analítico do Poema (CANDIDO, 1996) and theories of comparative literature (ADORNO, 2012; MERQUIOR, 2013; BOSI, 2013; BARTHES, 2002), we observed that, on one hand, the Mother represents the theme of asexual reproduction and, on the other hand, the Prostitute is accompanied by the idea of rejection of sexuality. The study of the images of the Mother in the poems “Mater Originalis”, “A Ideia” (“The Idea”) and in the “Soneto” ao Filho (“Sonnet” to the Son) also helped us understand that the rejection of sexual reproduction relates to the revolt against the masculine control over the reproductive aspect of the feminine body (Beauvoir, 2009), whilst the images of the Prostitute in the sonnet “Depois da Orgia” (“After the Orgy”) and in the part VI of the long poem “Os Doentes” (“The Sick”) brought forth the question of sexual domination of the feminine body by masculine power (Bourdieu, 2002). We noticed that the masculine images of the Father (in the sonnet “A Árvore da Serra” – “The Tree on the Hill”) and the Satyr (verses 91-144 of “Monólogo de uma Sombra” – “Monologue of a Shadow”), in opposition to the Mother and the Prostitute, put together the symbolism of Patriarchy ʼs control over the feminine bodies in their reproductive and sexual aspects respectively. We built bridges between the various images annalised, along with the symbols with which they articulate. We consider at last that the poetry of Augusto dos Anjos brings forth an understanding of the subaltern position of women in the hierarchy dominated by androcentrism, which cuts off their creativity and their subjectivity, and presents itself as a poetic work full of the feeling of revolt against the power relations perpetuated by Patriarcchy in our society.