Singular poeta acadêmico: António Serrão de Crasto (1614-1685)

Abstract

Poet António Serrão de Crasto (1614-1685) was a member of the Academy of the Singular Ones (Academia dos Singulares) from 1628 to 1665, and penned two tomes of academic poetic works in 1665 and 1668. This article aims to briefly present the 72 poems contained in those academic publications, and two occasional speeches given as he presided over academic sessions. It also includes some separate poems found in handwritten form or in books authored by others. In this article, I seek to put forward a short bibliography of Serrão de Crasto by collating several bibliographical sources known to date. Generally, the rhetorical artifice present in the texts lies in switching around serious and jocular styles, as the poet shifts between the seriousness of the subject and the playfulness of the concepts, ornaments and words with which he treats the argument or, conversely, as he clothes a trivial or low subject with high ornaments. Most of his romances, sonnets and gloses feature this shifting between serious and facetious styles.