A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe: Selected Poems Paperback – April 4, 2006

If I had to name my favorite ten writers, Fernando Pessoa would be at least four of them. Not satisfied with making poetry, he made poets as well, each with his own history and style. This book is thus one of the world’s great anthologies, like the Bible, a chorus in different voices and deserves to be read in that way.Here is Alberto Caeiro, the sage, who sees in things only the things themselves and announces, “All it takes to be complete is to exist.” And here is the sad and wise Ricardo Reis who counsels us to “Let’s love with greater calm / Our uncertain life”. These are Fernando Pessoa’s “heteronyms”, but here also is Fernando Pessoa himself, no slouch as a poet.My wife, whose name is Solitude,Keeps me from being glum.Ah, what good it does my heartTo have this non-existent home!If you are shopping for a volume of Fernando Pessoa in English, it is useful to know that this book (published by Penguin in 2006) and Fernando Pessoa & Co (published by Grove in 1999), are both translated by Richard Zenith, but contain almost totally different poems. If you love Pessoa, you’ll want them both but, if you can only buy one at a time, this volume seems to me the most essential. Frankly, how people manage to live their lives without these poems is a mystery to me. How did I get by before I read Pessoa? I can’t remember.For Pessoa’s prose -- most of all for selections from the diary of the assistant bookkeeper Bernardo Soares -- read Zenith’s Selected Prose. If you are a fan of Pessoa, it is thrilling to read Jose Saramago’s novel A Year in the Life of Ricardo Reis but, be warned, Saramago’s time-traveling stunt will change the way you read the poems forever.

Extremely highly recommended Portuguese poet, one of the world's greatest of the 20th century hands down IMHO. Known for his "homonyms" or alternate identities (he had four principal ones), he could compose profoundly beautiful verse coming from the entirely different forms of consciousness which he adopted. His poems cover vast vistas of meaning and thought, impossible to sum up briefly. If you are a lover of poetry, you owe it to yourself to familiarize yourself with this stellar heavyweight (who attained littloe renown in his own lifetime but wrote voluminously). I place him in the rarified company of Neruda, Vallejo, Stevens, Mandelstam and other titans of 20th century poetical literature.

Pessoa is stunning. He probably belongs to the heavenly club of writers like Shakespeare & Nabokov. His sheer breadth & immense sensitivity is sufficient to inspire any ardent reader to pick up a pen and attempt writing. This book is a collection of some of his poems (written under 3 homonyms). Not all the poems are spectacular but the collections is sufficiently brilliant for the aesthetic soul. Buy this book for the love of the word & the singular opportunity to be in the presence of such a beautiful soul called Pessoa.

Easily on of my favorite books. I'm fascinated with Pessoa, his heteronyns, and his writing styles. With this work, he has become one of my favorite poets.

Between this and The Book of Disquiet I have become absolutely obsessed with Pessoa. Richard Zenith is the gold standard when it comes to editing and translating Pessoa into English. This is a treasure.

I got to Pessoa because I met a wealthy businessman who I suppose to ask for his successful experiences, instead, we talked Pessoa and his poems.His poems are very philosophical, and his ideas are somehow of the same traits like Susan Sontag's. They both think sensations are more important than reason, because the world and universe itself is for our human being to feel, not to think, and judge.I read those poems in short times, could read them again definitely.Without literature, we cannot be rich.

Anything by Pessoa is pretty good, but this volume is missing one of the great longer poems "by" Alvaro de Campos, called "Tabacaria". Very atmospheric, a long night's journey into day, beginning in contemplation and introspection and ending in semi-exuberant decisiveness and elation. And inexplicably missing from this volume. Why???

Pessoa is one of my favourite writers. His work is so complex, beautiful and thought provoking. This volume is a comprehensive look at his poetric work, and it's easy to carry around on my travels. Highly recommended for anyone looking to be challenged and excited by poetry.