Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen

Porto, Porto, Portugal

November 6, 1919 at 11:15 AM (Birthtime accuracy: excellent)

Aspect Legend

Square

Quincunx

Sextile

Opposition

Trine

Minor aspects

Bio

Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen (Porto, November 6, 1919 – Lisbon, July 2, 2004) was an award-winning Portuguese poet and writer. In 2014, she was unanimously chosen by the Parliament with National Pantheon honours, the second woman to be so after Amália Rodrigues.Sophia, as she is often referred to in Portugal, was born in Porto to a wealthy aristocratic family. She inherited the surname 'Andresen' from her paternal grandfather, a Danish merchant. She received a strict Catholic upbringing, and was to remain a fervent believer until the end of her life. After spending her childhood in Porto she moved to Lisbon, where she attended the Universidade de Lisboa. As a student, she was activelly involved in Catholic movements. Politically, she defended constitutional monarchy and openly criticized Salazar's dictatorship. In 1946 she married lawyer and politician Francisco Sousa Tavares. They had five children, among whom journalist and best-selling author Miguel Sousa Tavares. After the Carnation Revolution in 1974, she made a brief incursion into politics as an MP for the Socialist Party (centre-left).Andresen won acclaim as a storyteller with Contos Exemplares (Exemplary Tales),"Histórias da Terra e do Mar" (Stories of Land and Sea), and a number of children's books – A Menina do Mar (The Sea Girl), O Cavaleiro da Dinamarca (The Danish Knight), A Floresta (The Forest), O Rapaz de Bronze (The Bronze Boy), A Fada Oriana (The Fairy Oriana). She also published several poetry books and anthologies, including: Poesia, Dual, Livro Sexto, Coral, Dia do Mar, No Tempo Dividido, Grades, O Nome das Coisas, As Ilhas, Antologia, Geografia, Navegações, O Búzio de Cós. In 1999 she became the first woman to receive the highest Portuguese award for poetry, the Prémio Camões. She was also awarded the Spanish Premio Reina Sofia in 2003."Poetry," she explained, "is my understanding of the universe, my way of relating to things, my participation in reality, my encounter with voices and images. This is why the poem speaks not of an ideal life but of a concrete one: the angle of a window, the resonance of streets, cities and rooms, the shadow cast by a wall, a sudden face, the silence, distance and brightness of the stars, the night’s breath, the scent of linden and of oregano." The sea is probably the most central theme in her poetical works. Other recurring themes are Ancient Greece and ideas of freedom and justice.Besides her work as a writer, she translated Dante and Shakespeare into Portuguese.A documentary short film about her was produced in 1969. It was the first completed film by director João César Monteiro (then using the name João César Santos).Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen died in Lisbon on July 2, 2004, aged 84.Her poetry has been translated into English by Richard Zenith, as well as to most languages in the world.

Birth time credit: Ferreira / Accuracy: excellent Updated: 2023-10-11
Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen image credit
Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen by Bottelho, is licensed under cc-by-sa-3.0, resized from the original.

Planets

You can think of the planets as symbolizing core parts of the human personality, and the signs as different colors of consciousness through which they filter.* Sidereal Planetary Positions enabled in settings.* Because the birth time information is missing for this chart, the Moon may range up to 6° before or after this position.

Aspects

The aspects describe the geometric angles between the planets. Each shape they produce has a different meaning.

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Patterns

Chart patterns are a collection of aspects that are grouped together to reveal a larger geometric pattern within the chart.

Special Features

The section describes some additional features of this chart. Note the inner planets refer to Sun to Jupiter, as well as the Ascendant and MC, and represent the core parts of the personality.

Houses

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Declinations

Declinations are a rarely used piece of information in astrology. They reflect a planet's distance north or south of the celestial equator. Read more

Parallels occur when two planets are at the same declination, both in the north or south. They are considered to have the same effect as conjunctions. Contraparallels are when one star in the north and another in the south are at the same declination. They are considered to have the same effect as oppositions.

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