Abstract
This article is divided into two parts. In the first, three poets are commented (Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Murilo Mendes and Fernando Pessoa) who, in the first half of the twentieth century, discussed the historical experiences of wars, the rise of fascisms and colonial inheritances in poems in which the lyrical voice stands by the sea. In the second part, we will take the Manaus Ship as an object of reflection, above all the use of its basement as a prison, as reported in Memórias do Cárcere, by Graciliano Ramos. Here, again, we have a contemporary historical experience thematized through connections between history, poetry and the imaginary, with regard to the oceanic space, which thus acquires a status of historical allegory. In this allegory we have the figure of the emigrant without a port of arrival, without a home, those who, according to Hannah Arendt, lost the right to have rights. The two parts of the article converge for a reflection on the fragile, but necessary, powers of narration in the face of extreme and traumatic experiences, in contrast to the innocent forgetfulness in a world without innocence.
Keywords:
Atlantic Ocean; Allegory; Contemporary History