News at Eleven: The fact of [Florbela] Espanca's emaciated condition

at the time of her death suggests the erasure of a corporeality characteristic of her early work. Frequently, through verbs associated with orality, such as the wailing and weeping in "A Minha Dor" (p. 67), she expresses an inarticulate but distinctly physical appeal to be heard and a profound loneliness in the answering silence:

And in this sad convent where I live,
night and day I pray and wail and weep!
And no one hears . . . no one sees . . . no one . . .
---Livro de Mágoas (1919)

In contrast, "A Um Moribundo" (p. 171), from Charneca em Flor (1931), suggests complete reconciliation and even a welcoming of the loneliness of the grave:

To One Dying

from Portuguese American Journal: Resurrecting the Brother: The Death of Florbela Espanca--Essay

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