The earliest imitators in Europe of the bucolic poetry of Virgil, were
the Portuguese; and as a people they thought that the pastoral life was
the ideal model for poetry. This idea is strongly brought out by
Ribeyro in the sixteenth century.
The great number of Mocarbians that settled in Portugal infused into
them as a nation, a stronger Orientalism than is found elsewhere in
Europe, and their poetry was of an enthusiastic order, more marked than
that of the Spaniards.
Henry of Burgundy, who married a daughter of Alfonso XI of Spain, in
the eleventh century, introduced Provencal poetry. The Cancioneros, or
courtly ballads, in imitation of the Provencal, were sung by wandering
minstrels, and Portuguese poetry retained its Provencal character until
the end of the fourteenth century.
In the fifteenth century, the Portuguese invaded Africa, and Vasco de
Gama pointed out to Europe the new and unknown route to India. Fifteen
years later, toward the close of the century, a Portuguese kingdom was
founded in Hindostan, causing a strong counter-current of Orientalism
to invade Portugal. The people awoke to a desire for greatness; and
poetry and the arts flourished. This period, extending into the
sixteenth century, is called the golden age of Portuguese literature.
The Os Lusiades, an epic poem, that has been called "one of the noblest
monuments ever raised to the national glory of any people," was written
by Luis de Camoens, a Portuguese of the sixteenth century. It is
intensely patriotic, although it is touched by both Greek mythology,
and the Italian style, which during this epoch had been slightly
blended with the Portuguese. Portugal had little or no influence on the
literature of any nation but her own, receiving her strongest
impressions from outsiders. In the eighteenth century she was dominated
both in taste and manners by the French, and the beginning of the
nineteenth century found her a great admirer and imitator of English
literature.
National songs are known to have been sung in Portugal during the
earliest times; but none of them have come down to us. They were
doubtless similar to the other bardic songs of Europe.