Mensagem (1934) was the only book in the Portuguese language published by Pessoa. The poems in the book are organized to compose a fragmentary epic, in which the collection of lyrical texts ends up forming an epic tribute to Portugal. Tracing the history of his country, Pessoa ventures into a mystical nationalism of a Sebastianist character.
The book Mensagem is divided into three parts: Brasão (Coat of Arms), Mar português (Portuguese Sea), and O Encoberto (The Hidden One). The first tells the story of Portuguese glories. The second presents the maritime navigations and conquests of Portugal. The third presents the Sebastianist myth of Portugal's return to its glorious eras.
The first part of Mensagem, Brasão, is structured like the Portuguese coat of arms, which is formed by two fields: one presents seven castles, the other, five quinas (escutcheons). At the top of the coat of arms are the crown and the crest, which features the griffin, a mythological animal that has the head of a lion and the wings of an eagle. Thus, the poems of this part are divided, referring to the coat of arms of Portugal. They deal with the great figures of Portuguese history, from Count Henrique, founder of the County of Portugal, through his wife, Countess Teresa, and his son, the first king of Portugal, Afonso Henriques, to Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), founder of the School of Sagres and a great promoter of Portuguese overseas expansion, and Afonso de Albuquerque (1462-1515), the Portuguese ruler of the East. Even the myth of Ulysses, who is said to have founded the city of Ulissepona, later Lisbon, is presented:
"The myth is the nothing that is everything.
The same sun that opens the heavens
Is a brilliant and silent myth."
The second part, Mar português, presents the main stages of the overseas expansion that led Portugal to occupy a prominent place in the world during the 15th and 16th centuries:
"And to the immense and possible ocean
These Quinas teach, which here you see,
That the sea with an end will be Greek or Roman:
The sea without an end is Portuguese."
The last part, O Encoberto, presents the mysticism surrounding the figure of King Sebastian, the king of Portugal whose fleet was decimated in an attack on the Moors in 1578. Many predictions, such as those of the shoemaker Bandarra and Father Antônio Vieira, foresee the return of King Sebastian to rescue Portugal's power, creating the Fifth Empire, marking Portugal's supremacy over the world:
"Greece, Rome, Christendom,
Europe, the four are going
To where every age goes.
Who comes to live the truth
That King Sebastian died?"
