To hell with this absurd feeling! I can, of course, separate myself from Antero and judge him. The comparison with Bocage comes in handy. Bocage is the full and sole artist, the technically impeccable poet. Bocage’s refinement in his verse work takes him to the top of the Portuguese language. However, I cannot judge Bocage superior to Antero. Come, stones! Antero fills his art with philosophy or, better said, art is for him the poetic expression of critical thinking. The same is not true of Bocage. The agonies, the torments, the lofty vision and metaphysical restlessness transformed into verse by Antero display a union between form and idea that impresses because it seems complete, satisfying the needs of the spirit. Bocage, the great though only poet, is not able to reason coldly, to isolate the idea; he lacks the vein of the philosopher. But, before that, his verses are concerned with ostensibly ordinary themes. The summary: Antero de Quental’s poetry, although full of flaws, is the expression of a superior spirit.