Although he published only one book during his lifetime, António Nobre is considered, along with his contemporary Cesário Verde, a founder of twentieth-century Portuguese poetry. Not easily classified in any one specific literary movement, Nobre's verses are characterized by a sentimental tone, a colloquial style and humor, and, at times, a tendency toward the realistic. He was undoubtedly one of the most preeminent Portuguese poets, and his book Só (Alone, 1892) is considered by some critics a masterpiece of Portuguese literature.

António Pereira Nobre was born in Porto on 16 August 1867 to José Pereira Nobre, who had lived in Brazil for about twenty years, and Ana de Sousa Nobre. When Nobre was a child, he and one of his brothers, Augusto, attended the Colégio Padre Loureiro Dias and the Colégio São Lázaro. Later, Nobre...