The writing of Fernando Pessoa reveals a mind shaken by intense inner
suffering. In these poems he adopted four separate personae: Alberto
Caeiro, Alvaro de Campos, Ricardo Reis and himself, using them to
express 'great swarms of thought and feeling'. While each personae has
its own poetic identity, together they convey a sense of ambivalence and
consolidate a striving for completeness. Dramatic, lyrical, Christian,
pagan, old and modern, Pessoa's poets and poetry contribute to the
'mysterious importance of existence'.