Lusiad, The

The national poem of Portugal, published in 1572 by Luís Vaz de Camões. One of the most important and successful epics of the Renaissance, the poem celebrates the exploits of the Portuguese (the Lusitanians) in discovering the sea route to India. Although in historical time the action spans the two years of Vasco da Gama's voyage of 1497–99, it includes a visionary expanse of Portuguese history both backward and forward to Camões's day.

The poem consists of ten cantos (1102 stanzas) of ottava rima (stanzas of eight lines rhyming abababcc). Though it attempts to emulate the grandeur of classical epics such as Virgil's Aeneid it is firmly based on historical events and draws on Camões's 17 years' experience in India and the Far East.

After an introduction, the invocation and a dedication to King Sebastian, the action begins at the point when the Portuguese are sailing off the coast of East Africa in the Indian Ocean. The mythological action (with Venus protecting the enterprise and Bacchus opposing it) is skilfully combined with the historical narrative, which incorporates outstanding descriptive passages and a variety of historical and fictitious episodes before its triumphant conclusion.