How does Adélia Prado Balance her Powerful, Traditional Values and the Importance of the Day to Day?
written 2023, last edit 2023
A Religious Quotidian
Quotidian is defined as day to day life. People spend their whole lives dedicated to the big events, and can overlook the most important things. Adelia Prado is a poet who was born in 1935, amidst great political turmoil in Brazil. She was born in and lived in Divinopolis, Minas Gerais, and lived through a failed communist insurrection, a dictatorship, failed coup d’etat, World War 2, and 5 different constitutions. Throughout, Prado has clung to her traditional and religious values. Divinopolis, the city in which Prado grew up, even translates to “City of the Holy Spirit”. However, although Adelia Prado, a renowned Brazilian author and poet, has very powerful religious values, she focuses her poetry on the quotidian and finding happiness in the little things.
Prado’s childhood greatly impacted her career. Prado lived in a very poor geographic region. She was the daughter of a railroad worker, and, as such, lived close to the train tracks. Since there was no electricity, Prado’s family focused on their simple routine and their devotion to God. Her father read her books and told her stories about the environment around them, especially railroad stories. She went on to become the first in her family to attend university and earned degrees in both Philosophy and Religious Education from the University of Divinopolis, and soon after became the Cultural Liaison for the city. However, even though she was much more educated than most women in Brazil at the time, she held on to her traditionalist values, going as far to declare herself as a “non-feminist” (Bolton). Prado “makes a virtue of secondariness, of belatedness, of a position which is at first subordinate” (Bolton) to emphasize her connection with God and His teachings. Stephanie L. Kirk explains that "Adélia Prado's faith in God is accompanied, or perhaps related to, a strong attachment to tradition and in particular to a reinforcement of traditional gender roles” (Kirk). And Prado's connection to religion was strong; she became well-known after the age of 40 when she sent a small collection of her poems to poet Affonso Romano de Sant’Anna, who passed her work to Brazilian Modernist poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade. Andrade claimed that St. Francis was “dictating verses to a housewife in Minas Gerais”(2014 – Adélia Prado) which in turn launched her career. Religion is connected to Prado, whether it's how she was raised, where she was raised, or what brought her success, it was crucial to her identity.
In her poems, Adelia emphasizes the connection between religion and gender roles. As Kirk explains “her poetry, however, throws these affirmations into a more ambiguous light” (Kirk) as she emphasizes the differences between men and women, while highlighting that she believes women are absolutely critical to society, rather than just being a helper, as described by other deeply religious individuals. She holds firmly the belief that women are not equal to men, but consistently shows their position as “central in a process of mediation and mutual enclosure”(Bolton). In "With Poetic Licence”, Prado writes with near feminist ideals, emphasizing that women carry a “heavy load” since they are born, and that while “It’s man’s curse to be lame in life, It is for women to unfold”. However, she also emphasizes the women’s role as childbirthers and caretakers. This juxtaposition between traditional values and Prado’s voice allows the poems to “draw strength from the poet's experiences and day-to-day reality as a woman -- a woman living a self-proclaimed ordinary life in which she shares an intimate relationship with God” (Kirk).
Despite her belief, most of Prado’s poems focus on the little, inconsequential things, like colors and windows. In her poem Window, Prado infuses the quotidian with passions, describing windows as “Claraboia na minha alma” (peephole on my soul), and intertwining the image of windows with memories of her father and the names of people around her, as “Anita” and “Pedro Cisterna” are characters in her poems that represent real people she has interacted with during her life. Prado brings windows to life, connecting them with past poems (“Window: the wingbeat of the yellow butterfly” and “clumsy blue window”) and childhood memories (“..child’s play for thieves”) to show how things can be interconnected. Prado is able to reach past the pages and connect with her audience on a deeper and more meaningful level, while still representing herself and her experiences wholly and truthfully. Windows played a large role in her childhood, as she was raised poor and without any electricity, and would often watch the train go by from her window, and daydream about the stories her father told her.
Even so, Prado doesn’t restrict herself to childhood memories and religious ideals. Her poem Day is short and to the point, describing a woman waking up on an early morning. Prado takes the opportunity to be informal and connect to the audience, breaking the flow of her poem by speaking directly to the audience, “immobile - I was going to say immoral-” which allows her to connect more deeply with the reader. This insert makes the poem feel like a conversation with Prado. It is easy to imagine sipping coffee with Prado while she speaks to her poetic process. However, informality is not the only recurring device Prado uses in Day. A common theme in Prado’s poems is sexuality, which is clearly present in Day when Prado writes “a woman startled by sex, but delighted”, and represents Prado’s holistic view on life.
Prado focuses on simplicity while religion focuses on the big picture and worship in general. Prado combines her passion for religion and her desire to succeed with her appreciation of what is often considered unimportant. In her poem Purple, Prado uses powerful imagery and diction to convince the reader not to disregard a common sight. Purple, as is white, is a color often depicted with religion, as it was often a symbol of sovereignty, specifically the sovereignty of Christ, and during Lent it is used as a color of mourning for the crucifixion. But passionate words such as “tyrant” and “crazy” and phrases such as “purple is tart; it will ripen”, and “I round up love to turn me purple with passion”, force the reader to see something as simple as the color purple as a layered, passionate idea. Prado demonstrates that something as simple as purple can be transformed into something powerful. She even goes as far as to connect it to religion, writing “Jesus’s passion is purple and white”. This line specifically holds a lot of symbolism, as she is connecting the color purple, which she previously described as “tart” and “crazy”, to not only the color white, which represents cleanliness and purity, but to Jesus, whom she so greatly reveres. She shows the rader that something simple can be multidimensional. She does this again in her poem Praise For A Color when she writes “yellow spreads and smooths, a downpour, of pure light of its name”, and “yellow turns on, turns up the heat, a charmed flute, an oboe in Bach. Yellow engenders”. The contrast of “pure light”, and its’ divine connotation, and an “engendered” “heat” grasp what Prado is communicating; nothing exists alone in the world, and nothing is only one thing.
Prado’s focus on the quotidian while also being very religious showcases to the reader the duality of Prado’s values and the emphasis on her belief of living life through the little things. She emphasizes things like windows and colors to explain to the reader how living big isn’t the same as living fully, and happiness can be found all around. Prado teaches the audience that one can be incredibly dedicated to tradition yet still lead a simple life, and devotion to God and religion presenting the freedom of an art that relates to human feelings, sins and experiences.
Works Cited
“2014 – Adélia Prado - .” Griffin Poetry Prize, griffinpoetryprize.com/lifetime-recognition/2014/. Accessed 10 Apr. 2023.
Bolton, Betsy. “Adélia Prado: Romanticism Revisited.” Luso-Brazilian Review, vol. 29, no. 2, 1992, pp. 45–58. JSTOR
Chisholm, Kate. “Women of Substance.” Spectator, vol. 331, no. 9799, June 2016, p. 49. Gale In Context: World History
Hahner, June E. “‘Women’s Place’ in Politics and Economics in Brazil since 1964.” Luso-Brazilian Review, vol. 19, no. 1, 1982, pp. 83–91. JSTOR
Kirk, Stephanie L. “‘Eu Sou Filha de Deus’: Some Observations on Religion and Gender in Adélia Prado’s ‘Bagagem.’” Luso-Brazilian Review, vol. 41, no. 2, 2005, pp. 42–55. JSTOR
Portella, et al. Repositório Institucional - UFJF: Adélia Prado: Um Olhar Sobre o Sagrado No Cotidiano. Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF)
Richmond, Carolyn. “The Lyric Voice of Adélia Prado: An Analysis of Themes and Structure in ‘Bagagem.’” Luso-Brazilian Review, vol. 15, no. 1, 1978, pp. 130–41. JSTOR
VILLARES, LÚCIA. “Ana Cristina Cesar and AdéLia Prado, Two Women Poets of 1970s Brazil.” Portuguese Studies, vol. 13, 1997, pp. 108–23. JSTOR
Prado, Adélia. The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems. Wesleyan University Press, 1990.
- - -. “Window” The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems.
- - -. “Dysrhythmia” The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems.
- - -. “With Poetic Licence” The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems.
- - -. “Praise For Color” The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems.
- - -. “Purple” The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems.
- - -. “Hearts Desire” The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems.
- - -. “Day” The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems.
Quotidian is defined as day to day life. People spend their whole lives dedicated to the big events, and can overlook the most important things. Adelia Prado is a poet who was born in 1935, amidst great political turmoil in Brazil. She was born in and lived in Divinopolis, Minas Gerais, and lived through a failed communist insurrection, a dictatorship, failed coup d’etat, World War 2, and 5 different constitutions. Throughout, Prado has clung to her traditional and religious values. Divinopolis, the city in which Prado grew up, even translates to “City of the Holy Spirit”. However, although Adelia Prado, a renowned Brazilian author and poet, has very powerful religious values, she focuses her poetry on the quotidian and finding happiness in the little things.
Prado’s childhood greatly impacted her career. Prado lived in a very poor geographic region. She was the daughter of a railroad worker, and, as such, lived close to the train tracks. Since there was no electricity, Prado’s family focused on their simple routine and their devotion to God. Her father read her books and told her stories about the environment around them, especially railroad stories. She went on to become the first in her family to attend university and earned degrees in both Philosophy and Religious Education from the University of Divinopolis, and soon after became the Cultural Liaison for the city. However, even though she was much more educated than most women in Brazil at the time, she held on to her traditionalist values, going as far to declare herself as a “non-feminist” (Bolton). Prado “makes a virtue of secondariness, of belatedness, of a position which is at first subordinate” (Bolton) to emphasize her connection with God and His teachings. Stephanie L. Kirk explains that "Adélia Prado's faith in God is accompanied, or perhaps related to, a strong attachment to tradition and in particular to a reinforcement of traditional gender roles” (Kirk). And Prado's connection to religion was strong; she became well-known after the age of 40 when she sent a small collection of her poems to poet Affonso Romano de Sant’Anna, who passed her work to Brazilian Modernist poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade. Andrade claimed that St. Francis was “dictating verses to a housewife in Minas Gerais”(2014 – Adélia Prado) which in turn launched her career. Religion is connected to Prado, whether it's how she was raised, where she was raised, or what brought her success, it was crucial to her identity.
In her poems, Adelia emphasizes the connection between religion and gender roles. As Kirk explains “her poetry, however, throws these affirmations into a more ambiguous light” (Kirk) as she emphasizes the differences between men and women, while highlighting that she believes women are absolutely critical to society, rather than just being a helper, as described by other deeply religious individuals. She holds firmly the belief that women are not equal to men, but consistently shows their position as “central in a process of mediation and mutual enclosure”(Bolton). In "With Poetic Licence”, Prado writes with near feminist ideals, emphasizing that women carry a “heavy load” since they are born, and that while “It’s man’s curse to be lame in life, It is for women to unfold”. However, she also emphasizes the women’s role as childbirthers and caretakers. This juxtaposition between traditional values and Prado’s voice allows the poems to “draw strength from the poet's experiences and day-to-day reality as a woman -- a woman living a self-proclaimed ordinary life in which she shares an intimate relationship with God” (Kirk).
Despite her belief, most of Prado’s poems focus on the little, inconsequential things, like colors and windows. In her poem Window, Prado infuses the quotidian with passions, describing windows as “Claraboia na minha alma” (peephole on my soul), and intertwining the image of windows with memories of her father and the names of people around her, as “Anita” and “Pedro Cisterna” are characters in her poems that represent real people she has interacted with during her life. Prado brings windows to life, connecting them with past poems (“Window: the wingbeat of the yellow butterfly” and “clumsy blue window”) and childhood memories (“..child’s play for thieves”) to show how things can be interconnected. Prado is able to reach past the pages and connect with her audience on a deeper and more meaningful level, while still representing herself and her experiences wholly and truthfully. Windows played a large role in her childhood, as she was raised poor and without any electricity, and would often watch the train go by from her window, and daydream about the stories her father told her.
Even so, Prado doesn’t restrict herself to childhood memories and religious ideals. Her poem Day is short and to the point, describing a woman waking up on an early morning. Prado takes the opportunity to be informal and connect to the audience, breaking the flow of her poem by speaking directly to the audience, “immobile - I was going to say immoral-” which allows her to connect more deeply with the reader. This insert makes the poem feel like a conversation with Prado. It is easy to imagine sipping coffee with Prado while she speaks to her poetic process. However, informality is not the only recurring device Prado uses in Day. A common theme in Prado’s poems is sexuality, which is clearly present in Day when Prado writes “a woman startled by sex, but delighted”, and represents Prado’s holistic view on life.
Prado focuses on simplicity while religion focuses on the big picture and worship in general. Prado combines her passion for religion and her desire to succeed with her appreciation of what is often considered unimportant. In her poem Purple, Prado uses powerful imagery and diction to convince the reader not to disregard a common sight. Purple, as is white, is a color often depicted with religion, as it was often a symbol of sovereignty, specifically the sovereignty of Christ, and during Lent it is used as a color of mourning for the crucifixion. But passionate words such as “tyrant” and “crazy” and phrases such as “purple is tart; it will ripen”, and “I round up love to turn me purple with passion”, force the reader to see something as simple as the color purple as a layered, passionate idea. Prado demonstrates that something as simple as purple can be transformed into something powerful. She even goes as far as to connect it to religion, writing “Jesus’s passion is purple and white”. This line specifically holds a lot of symbolism, as she is connecting the color purple, which she previously described as “tart” and “crazy”, to not only the color white, which represents cleanliness and purity, but to Jesus, whom she so greatly reveres. She shows the rader that something simple can be multidimensional. She does this again in her poem Praise For A Color when she writes “yellow spreads and smooths, a downpour, of pure light of its name”, and “yellow turns on, turns up the heat, a charmed flute, an oboe in Bach. Yellow engenders”. The contrast of “pure light”, and its’ divine connotation, and an “engendered” “heat” grasp what Prado is communicating; nothing exists alone in the world, and nothing is only one thing.
Prado’s focus on the quotidian while also being very religious showcases to the reader the duality of Prado’s values and the emphasis on her belief of living life through the little things. She emphasizes things like windows and colors to explain to the reader how living big isn’t the same as living fully, and happiness can be found all around. Prado teaches the audience that one can be incredibly dedicated to tradition yet still lead a simple life, and devotion to God and religion presenting the freedom of an art that relates to human feelings, sins and experiences.
Works Cited
“2014 – Adélia Prado - .” Griffin Poetry Prize, griffinpoetryprize.com/lifetime-recognition/2014/. Accessed 10 Apr. 2023.
Bolton, Betsy. “Adélia Prado: Romanticism Revisited.” Luso-Brazilian Review, vol. 29, no. 2, 1992, pp. 45–58. JSTOR
Chisholm, Kate. “Women of Substance.” Spectator, vol. 331, no. 9799, June 2016, p. 49. Gale In Context: World History
Hahner, June E. “‘Women’s Place’ in Politics and Economics in Brazil since 1964.” Luso-Brazilian Review, vol. 19, no. 1, 1982, pp. 83–91. JSTOR
Kirk, Stephanie L. “‘Eu Sou Filha de Deus’: Some Observations on Religion and Gender in Adélia Prado’s ‘Bagagem.’” Luso-Brazilian Review, vol. 41, no. 2, 2005, pp. 42–55. JSTOR
Portella, et al. Repositório Institucional - UFJF: Adélia Prado: Um Olhar Sobre o Sagrado No Cotidiano. Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF)
Richmond, Carolyn. “The Lyric Voice of Adélia Prado: An Analysis of Themes and Structure in ‘Bagagem.’” Luso-Brazilian Review, vol. 15, no. 1, 1978, pp. 130–41. JSTOR
VILLARES, LÚCIA. “Ana Cristina Cesar and AdéLia Prado, Two Women Poets of 1970s Brazil.” Portuguese Studies, vol. 13, 1997, pp. 108–23. JSTOR
Prado, Adélia. The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems. Wesleyan University Press, 1990.
- - -. “Window” The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems.
- - -. “Dysrhythmia” The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems.
- - -. “With Poetic Licence” The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems.
- - -. “Praise For Color” The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems.
- - -. “Purple” The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems.
- - -. “Hearts Desire” The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems.
- - -. “Day” The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems.