ABSTRACT
This chapter provides preliminary insight into the organization and mechanics of the text, explaining, for example, the abbreviations to be used throughout. It shows how Luis de Camoes’s poem adheres to seven characteristics of epic, in the process proposing as models the work of some of the great epicists of antiquity. The chapter attempts to illuminate Camoes’s poetic intention by adducing some typological parallels between the action of the poem and selected prophecies of Isaiah. Camoes scholars were able to appreciate Manuel de Faria e Sousa first-hand at the quinquennial celebration of the publication of the Os Lusiadas when his monumental edition was made available, for which the Portuguese poet and scholar, the late Jorge de Sena, was asked to write an introduction. Characterizing Camoes as a most vexing poet he offers cross-references to other passages in the Lusidas, epitomizing analogous reactions. It may be surprising to learn that Faria e Sousa did more than write critical commentaries on Camoes and Garcilaso.
