'Fraga e Sombra' and the 16th of July 1950 Drummond's Enigmatic Omen

Abstract

The poem “Fraga e Sombra”, by Carlos Drummond de Andrade, was first published in the newspaper Correio da Manhã (RJ) on July 16, 1950. The date of publication, therefore, “coincides” with the day on which the Brazilian Football Team lost the final of the 1950 World Cup to the Uruguay team, at Maracanã. Drummond sent the poem to the editorial office of Correio da Manhã with the intention that the text would be published that Sunday. Read from this perspective, in the light of the events of that afternoon and the days that preceded it, “Fraga e Sombra” sounds like a dark and enigmatic prediction. My purpose in this article is to interpret the poem, verse by verse, as if it were the personal testimony of the poet who say, that week, the Brazilian people suffer the most humiliating defeat in their recent history.