Myth and poetry

The muse in the lyric of Murilo Mendes

Abstract

This article intends to analyze one of the most important figurations of the myth in Murilo Mendes’ poetics, the Muse. Bearer of the sacred, the profane, representation of memory and poetry itself. The figuration of the feminine in the poetic work of Murilo Mendes is broad, in its lyric there are multiple developments of the muse represented by various figurations of the feminine, which provide the manifestation of the poetic. The poet is looking for a kind of “deep memory” of culture, bringing to the present an exemplary mythical past. According to this perspective, it is through poetry that the poet wishes to experience an inaugural world surrendered to inspiration, myth and the sacred, configured by complex and unusual images.