CABRAL DE MELO NETO, JOO

born Jan. 6, 1920, Recife, Brazil died Oct. 9, 1999, Rio de Janeiro poet and diplomat, the leading Brazilian poet of his generation. Born to a well-to-do family in northeastern Brazil, Cabral began his career as a diplomat in 1945, serving in a consular capacity in Spain. Over his lengthy diplomatic career he would also serve in countries including the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, and Senegal. His poetry, however, was most influenced by Spain, and especially by the cities Seville and Barcelona. His literary career began in 1942, with the publication of the collection of poems Pedra do sono (Stone of Sleep). O engenheiro (The Engineer), published in 1945, gave rise to the epithet Generation of '45 for the poets and other writers whose careers were launched at approximately the same time and who brought an increasing austerity to the Brazilian poetic style. Cabral published more than 30 books of poetry, including O co sem plumas (1950; The Dog Without Feathers), Duas guas (1955; Two Waters), which includes the poet's single most famous composition, Morte e vida severina (Death and Life of a Severino), Uma faca s lmina (1956; A Knife All Blade), A educao pela pedra (1966; Education by Stone), Auto do frade (1984; The Friar), Agrestes (1985; Rough and Rude), and Primeiros poemas (1990), a collection of previously unpublished early poems. Cabral's early poetry has been said to have surrealistic and cubistic qualities, which he later abandoned in favour of a precise lucidity and spare, arid imagery inspired by Brazil's drought-stricken northeast. Cabral received many honours and awards, including the 1990 Cames Prize (Portugal's highest award) and the 1992 Neustadt International Prize for Literature.