The Indian imaginary in the poetry of Cecília Meireles: "êxtase longo de ilusão nenhuma"

Abstract

Reading Cecília Meireles's poetry is, among other things, an invitation to a mythical contemplation of life, in opposition to apprehending life by means of its limitations and dictations of time and unavoidable suffering due to it. In this re-invention, the secular time turns into timelessness as the contingent is transfigured in poetry imagery in some kind of suspended time: the mythical time. The self in the poem reorganizes their chaotic experience of life in a poetic transfiguration: by means of silent contemplation, there's the attempt to "cure man from existence in time", as stated by Mircea Eliade, in a poetic production with cyclic or continuous time features. This projects aims to analyze, by stylistic interpretations, poems from several books by Meireles, such as "Máquina breve", "Cavalgada", "Retrato em luar", "Lua Adversa" e "Cançãozinha para Tagore". We intend to describe the process by which the poet goes from solitary contemplation, or the "consecration of the moment", as classified by Octávio Paz, to an internalization of the poetic material, and then to the subjective image expresses in words. In order to do so, we see it essential to consider several influences Cecília Meireles had. Thus, we have chosen to focus on the premise that India, Indian thought and philosophy have a great deal of importance here, determining Cecília's character, thought and artistic perspective. Therefore, we are analyzing her poems taking into account the philosophic and religious Indian thought (Buddhism and Hinduism) as influents on her view of life, her life experience and her art from the perspective of her encounters and enchantments for India.