Sá de Miranda, Francisco (c. 1481–1558)

Portuguese poet and dramatist. Over half of his poetry was written in Castilian. Between 1521 and 1527 he was in Italy. On his return, he introduced Portuguese poets to the Italian hendecasyllabic (11-syllable) line, and to certain Italian poetic forms, in particular the sonnet and the eclogue (a short pastoral poem). He also breathed new life into traditional Portuguese metres by introducing new themes and imagery (as in his five Portuguese Sátiras/Satires). Sá de Miranda wrote two plays, Comedia dos estrangeiros/The Comedy of the Foreigners 1559 and Vilhalpandos/The Boastful Soldiers 1560. All his works were first printed posthumously.

Sá de Miranda studied at Lisbon. His poems first appeared in Resende's 1516 Cancioneiro Geral, suggesting early court connections. His reasons for going to Italy are as obscure as his activities there, but the subsequent impact upon the structure and imagery of his poetry is clear enough. The reasons for his move to rural northern Portugal in 1530 are also obscure, but he remained in touch with court life, preparing a manuscript of his complete works in the early 1550s in response to Prince João's request.

Sá de Miranda tended to use Castilian when composing in the Italian style in imitation of Boscà and Garcilaso. Comedia dos estrangeiros/The Comedy of the Foreigners was probably composed on his return from Italy. Its originality lay in its classical plot structure of complex intrigue and resolution, its dialogues in prose, not verse, and its refusal to mock the foreigners' non-Portuguese languages. Sá de Miranda's collected poems, As Obras/Collected Works, was published in 1595 and reprinted five times throughout the 17th century.