Ode Marítima

In the Maritime Ode, exterior and interior are separated by the same "Distance" that goes from the poet on the deserted quay to the ship he sees in the distance. It is the distance between sensation and thing, between sensation as inner reality and the ship as outer reality. Now, this distance is linked to a "primitive" sensation, as Pessoa says, a sensation that plays an essential role in all his poetry: the sensation of mystery. In the Maritime Ode, mystery is signified by all distance, everything that separates, all movement that creates a separation. If analyzing sensations thus consists of extracting from them what they contain, externalizing it, making it meaningful in words—then analyzing the sensation of mystery is equivalent to reducing this distance that gives rise to mystery. And, in effect, the entire poem can be seen from this perspective: how to overcome Distance, that is, all the distances of all natures that arise, one after the other (between the ship and the quay, between me-now and me-then, between a quay and the Quay, etc.); But also, and because this is the true foundation of all distance—how to make disappear the opposition between the two poles of sensation, the interior and the exterior.