Women sympoetry and “Passeio à Lapa” in Hymnos e Flores. Jornal Litterario

Abstract

This essay investigates the Coimbra-based magazine Hymnos e Flores. Jornal Litterario (1862-1863) as a pivotal romantic laboratory of “Sympoesia”. By situating the publication within the framework of Schlegelian theory and contemporary debates on global Romanticism, the study aims to demonstrate how the periodical functioned as a “syn-” infrastructure, capable of harmonizing individual poetic voices with collective literary practices. The analysis focuses on the central role of Henriqueta Elysa as both editor and poet, examining three compositions: Desdita, Saudades, and Canção do poeta. The methodology adopts “Sympoesia” as a morphological tool to explore how these texts utilize a shared language of “tears” to establish a relational code. This code connects female sorority and devotional rhetoric with a vast transnational network of epigraphs, including authors such as Lamartine, Balzac, and Hugo. Ultimately, the research illustrates a transition from a sympoesia of the page to a sympoesia of place, exemplified by the “Um Passeio à Lapa” section. It concludes that the magazine re-enacted the Lapa dos Poetas as a site of shared ritual and memory, effectively reconstructing a Coimbran profile of global Romanticism through the lens of a minor periodical.