Raposo Oliveira

Azorean poet and journalist. He worked in commerce as a shop assistant in Ponta Delgada, where he also began his literary life and debuted as a journalist, publishing his first book of verses at 17 and participating in the editorial staff of Augusto Loureiro's weekly O Heraldo at 18. In the same city, he founded and directed, with Francisco de Bettencourt, the «news and criticism sheet» A Nova (1902), a «newspaper for the young» that aimed to fight for good and justice. Shortly after, he began to publish in Lisbon, with António Baptista and under the direction of this Faialense journalist, a memorable Álbum Açoriano, distributed in fascicles (ed. Oliveira & Baptista, 1903-1909) and finally gathered in a volume with a cover from the old Casa Bertrand. At the same time and until the end of his life, he worked in the periodical press in Lisbon, where he lived from 1904 onwards, being considered, «as a parliamentary journalist, [...] among the best» of his time (João Paulo Freire). O Jornal das Colónias, O Diário Ilustrado, O Diário Nacional, A Ordem, Portugal, A Capital, A Luta (of which he was editor-in-chief), etc., and, finally, O Século are among the newspapers where he left extensive anonymous contributions. He was also a secretariat official at the Ministry of Labor. His literary work includes poetry, prose fiction, and theater, but what he announced in these last two genres as being in preparation or completed (and even «about to be released») remained unpublished. He only published some books and pamphlets of poetry: a poetry rooted in traditional post-romantic lyricism, with a colloquial tone, in the style of João de Deus, but which later approached Parnassianism (with vague reminiscences of Cesário Verde) and, mainly, the later Junqueiro and António Nobre. The latter was, moreover, his favorite poet, whom he honored in verse (O Poeta do «Só», Lisbon, 1928) and in whose honor he even used the pseudonym João Só. Occasionally, he touched upon the theme of social apostolate poetry (Pão!, Lisbon, 1906).