This thesis comprises two parts. The first part is the translation of a selection of the contemporary Brazilian poet Antonio Moura's poems into English. The translational work is threefold: to create literary translations of the poems on the page, to create the materials and concept to allow readers without Portuguese to read and translate Moura's poems themselves, and to create a concept for the presentation of Moura's poems beyond the standard typographical page, this visual presentation is primarily in the form of an exhibition, but also considers the graphic and typographic presentation of translated poetry in book form. Accompanying the translational work, the critical chapters of the PhD examine various areas that bear on this translation project. These include contemporary poetry in Brazil, Britain and elsewhere and literary influences on Moura, leading into a detailed study of his poetry; questions oftextuality and how a text becomes a number of variants; wider perspectives on contemporary arts and literature, particularly in regard to multi-media (or: intermedia) arts, as well as the related stimulus of non-categorizing thinking that can be seen clearly in pre-literate societies; and an examination and commentary on my translational practice in the first part of this thesis.

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The poetry of Manoel de Barros has often been characterized as part of a regional canon. This characterization belies its importance not only within the confines of the Brazilian canon, but as a contribution to C20 literature in general. Barros's poetry explores themes which are crucially important to navigating our existence in the modern world, and this thesis focuses on his engagement with the natural and material world. Drawing on theories from post-modern critical thinking and eco-criticism, I demonstrate how Barros's poetry can not only be read in the light of these critical idioms, but frequently expands upon or confounds them, revealing poetry as a form of modern critique - and indeed perhaps the most pertinent and incisive form of critique available to us when dealing with questions of materiality, reality and the natural world.

This thesis examines how the fortunes of poets and the status of poetry were changing at the end of the sixteenth century in Portugal. Centring on the long-neglected verse epistles in Diogo Bernardes's 'O Lima' (1596), I re-evaluate our sense of what it meant to be a poet when writing verse was not a sure-fire way to earn a living and when lyric poetry was regularly lampooned as trifling and immoral. Bernardes's surprisingly forthright cartas, I argue, offer new insights into the protagonists and procedures of literary patronage in Portugal. I use a combination of close readings and sociological methods to illuminate the practical strategies and rhetorical brinkmanship that Bernardes deployed in his quest for favour and highlight the frustrations and moral dilemmas of seeking the support of powerful, but fickle, patrons. Bernardes was a particularly remarkable writer for having printed his verse during his lifetime, and so I also trace how lyric verse was slowly legitimated as a cultural product during the sixteenth century and offer a case study of how an author's reputation was forged in the collaborative enterprise of print, then re-formed by the work of readers, thereby shedding light on the complex mechanisms of early modern canon formation. Paradoxically, I demonstrate that unequivocal praise of a writer's work can harm, rather than help, their chances of remaining in the canon. Although Bernardes's work is an echo chamber for these deep reverberations from the broader history of literature, this thesis also listens closely to Bernardes's distinctive poetic voice and allows it to speak out. Playful, candid, mercurial, it is a poetic voice that here seeks a wider audience.