Figurações do Deus cristão na poesia de Carlos Drummond de Andrade

Abstract

The broad objective of the thesis was to conduct a survey of the representations, or figurations, of God in the poetry of Carlos Drummond de Andrade, as well as to constructan interpretative reading of such images in connection with the entirety of the poet’s work. The research methodology employed was exploratory and bibliographical, using Drummond's complete poetic works as the corpus, which were analyzed and selected based on the criterion of presenting images and figurations that engage with the Christianreligious tradition. The main objectives of the thesis were: a) to map specific references to the persona of the Judeo-Christian God in Drummond's poetry; b) to identify the characteristics of these depictions of God previously mapped in Drummond's poetry; c) to critically assess, considering Drummond's poetic oeuvre as a whole, the scope, extent,and significance of these divine images for an understanding of his poetry; d) to formulatea global interpretation of Drummond's poetic work that takes as its explanatory principle the relationship he establishes with the beliefs of popular Christianity, which had been duly outlined earlier. The primary conclusion of the thesis is that there is an ambiguity in Drummond's treatment of the religious theme and, more specifically, in the representations of the Christian God present in his poetry. This ambiguity stems from a tension that permeates Drummond’s poetry: the figures of God and Jesus Christ are often depicted with differing weights. The former is frequently portrayed ironically— sometimes even aggressively—as an absent, indifferent god who abandons us, while thelatter receives a clearly positive treatment, often embodying the tenets and beliefs of Judeo-Christian mythology. The differing emphasis that Drummond places on the figures of the Christian God and Christ has been interpreted as resulting from his adherence to thevicarious theological explanation, which seesthe passion and death ofJesus Christ asa kind of debt payment or perfect sacrifice, in which Christ is the lamb sacrificed for theforgiveness of the original sin present in all humans. Drummond subscribes to this explanation but also rejects it, hence his depiction of the Christian father-God as cruel and indifferent to human suffering.