Jorge de Sena
Jorge Cândido Alves Rodrigues Telles Grilo Raposo de Abreu de Sena (2 November 1919 – 4 June 1978) was a Portuguese-born poet, critic, essayist, novelist, dramatist, translator and university professor who spent the latter portion of his life in the United States.
Jorge de Sena

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- Name
- Jorge de Sena
- Birth Name
- Jorge Cândido Alves Rodrigues Telles Grilo Raposo de Abreu de Sena
- Born
- 2 November 1919
- Birthplace
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Died
- 4 June 1978
- Place of death
- Santa Barbara, California, United States
- Occupation
- Poet, critic, essayist, novelist, dramatist, translator and university professor
- Education
- University of Porto
- Nationality
- Portugal
- Honours
- Commander of the Order of Prince Henry · Grand Cross of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword
- Languages
- Portuguese
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Documentary summary
Jorge Cândido Alves Rodrigues Telles Grilo Raposo de Abreu de Sena (2 November 1919 – 4 June 1978) was a Portuguese-born poet, critic, essayist, novelist, dramatist, translator and university professor who spent the latter portion of his life in the United States.
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Note VALÉORINE
Jorge de Sena (1919–1978) was an essayist, linguist and literary scholar, among other activities, of Portuguese nationality. The essayist was born in Lisbon and died in Santa Barbara. Jorge de Sena was educated at University of Porto.
Languages used include Portuguese. Honours include Commander of the Order of Prince Henry.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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Authority files
gnd · 1213518-5 · wikidata · Q206232 · wikipedia · Jorge de Sena
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Jorge de Sena • Birth Name — Jorge Cândido Alves Rodrigues Telles Grilo Raposo de Abreu de Sena • Born — 2 November 1919 • Birthplace — Lisbon, Portugal • Died — 4 June 1978 • Place of death — Santa Barbara, California, United States • Occupation — Poet, critic, essayist, novelist, dramatist, translator and university professor • Education — University of Porto
Life
Life
Jorge Candido de Sena was the only child of Augusto Raposo de Sena, from Ponta Delgada in the Azores, a merchant marine captain, and Maria da Luz Telles Grilo de Sena, from Covilhã. Both families belonged to the middle class, the mother's being originally well-to-do but declined in fortune by the time her child was born; the father's family hailed from a line of military and political officers, the mother's from merchants. Jorge was born in Lisbon. He received his degree in civil engineering from the University of Porto, but published his first poems at age 18. His interests were wide-ranging, including literature, intellectual history, politics, and other areas of the cultural spectrum. His liberal yet strongly independent convictions regarding Portuguese politics during the Salazar dictatorship led eventually to his exile in Brazil in 1959, and subsequently, after the military coup in Brazil in 1964, to the United States, in 1965. He became professor of literature at the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of both Araraquara and Assis, which later formed the State University of São Paulo. This gave him the opportunity to complete his doctorate, and that was his profession in the U.S. until he died. He died in Santa Barbara, California in 1978. His remains were moved to the Cemitério dos Prazeres in Lisbon on 11 September 2009. Jorge de Sena is one of the most relevant Portuguese intellectuals of the twentieth century. His output in fiction, drama, essays, and poetry is vast. He considered himself primarily a poet. His autobiographical novel Sinais de Fogo was adapted to film in 1995 by Luís Filipe Rocha, who is also the author of a documentary about Jorge de Sena.
Works
Works
Poetry • Perseguição (1942) • Coroa da Terra (1946) • Pedra Filosofal (1950) • As Evidências (1955) Evidences • Fidelidade (1958) • Metamorfoses (1963) • Arte de Música (1968) • Peregrinatio ad Loca Infecta (1969) • Exorcismos (1972) • Camões Dirige-se aos Seus Contemporâneos e Outros Textos (1973) • Conheço o Sal... e Outros Poemas (1974) • Sobre esta Praia... Oito Meditações à beira do Pacífico (1977) • Poesia I (1961) • Poesia II (1978) • Poesia III (1978) • 40 Anos de Servidão (1979, posthumous) • Sequências (1980, posthumous) • Visão Perpétua (1982, posthumous) • Post-Scriptum II (1985, posthumous) • Dedicácias (1999, posthumous) Prose • Andanças do Demónio (1960) • Novas Andanças do Demónio (1966) • Os Grão-Capitães (1976) • O Físico Prodigioso (1977) The Prodigious Physician • Sinais de Fogo (romance) (1979, posthumous) Signs of Fire • Génesis (1983, posthumous) Drama • O Indesejado (1951) • Ulisseia Adúltera (1952) • O Banquete de Dionísos (1969) • Epimeteu ou o Homem Que Pensava Depois (1971) Essays • Da Poesia Portuguesa (1959) • O Poeta é um Fingidor (1961) • O Reino da Estupidez (1961) • Uma Canção de Camões (1966) • Os Sonetos de Camões e o Soneto Quinhentista Peninsular (1969) • A Estrutura de Os Lusíadas e Outros Estudos Camonianos e de Poesia Peninsular do Século XVI (1970) • Maquiavel e Outros Estudos (1973) • Dialécticas Aplicadas da Literatura (1978) • Fernando Pessoa & Cia. Heterónima (1982, posthumous)
Identity
Identity
Jorge de Sena is recorded as having received Commander of the Order of Prince Henry and Grand Cross of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword. Recognition and collections. Sena received Commander of the Order of Prince Henry and Grand Cross of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1919
Jorge de Sena born at Lisbon.
1978
Jorge de Sena died at Santa Barbara.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Lisbon.
Birth place
Santa Barbara.
Death place
In film
In 2016 Portuguese filmmaker Rita Azevedo Gomes released her film Correspondências, about the epistolary exchange between poets Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen and Jorge de Sena.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q206232: Jorge de Sena
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Jorge de Sena”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 1213518-5, Jorge de Sena Center for Portuguese Studies.
Unverified · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Awards
• Prémio Internacional de Poesia Etna-Taormina • Ordem do Infante D. Henrique • Grã-Cruz da Ordem de Sant'Iago da Espada, posthumous • In 1980, the Jorge de Sena Center for Portuguese Studies was opened at the University of California, Santa Barbara
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
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References
Citations
References
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authority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 1213518-5, Jorge de Sena Center for Portuguese Studies.Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
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