The Sacred Geometry of Being: Pessoa's Esoteric Imagery and the Geometry of Modernism
Pessoa Plural June 10, 2019 Mcneill, Patrícia Silva
Fernando Pessoa's lifelong engagement with esoteric doctrines was rooted in a symbolic mode of thinking, as expressed in his early poetry and later dramatic works. His extensive reading in Western Esotericism led to a creative hermeneutical approach to esoteric knowledge. This essay argues that Pessoa's conception of the mystical significance of geometrical forms not only enriched the figurative expressiveness of his poetry but also played a crucial role in formulating his poetics of Sensationism. His use of geometric imagery is considered alongside the fascination with sacred geometry shown by modernists like Yeats and Pound, and by avant-garde movements such as Futurism, Vorticism, Cubism, Expressionism, and Suprematism.