Novos Poemas is the book that points out the moment of rupture in the poetic work – and in the life – of Vinicius de Moraes. The title, indicating the novelty, does justice to the thematic and formal renewal of his poems. Adopting the sonnet as a privileged space for his research with rhymes and rhythms, combining the fixed form with the broader and wordier verses that he used to use, and would still use at other times, the material published in Novos Poemas is definitive for Vinicius' entry into the team of the great poets of their generation.
The book is the fourth released by Vinicius in the short space of five years. His productivity only grew and so did his desire to live off literature. Like many writers of the time, he oscillated between public employment and journalism as parallel means of survival. Literature gradually led his career and, even though he later became an ambassador and chronicler, he became known ever since and forever as a Poet.
The book, due to its freshness, its renewing vivacity in poems such as “Sonnet of intimacy”, “A Mulher que Passa” or “Lamento Ouvido Não SeiWhere”, generated a text by his friend and already renowned poet and critic Mário de Andrade, honored by Vinicius himself in the dedication of the poem “The Night Mask”. The friend, however, was still critical. He pointed out, in a constructive way, defects in the writing of some poems, understanding it to be a “transitional” book for someone who could already claim a place among “the great poets of Brazil”.
