CAMOENS, LUIS VAS DE

(1524/5-1580)

   Portuguese soldier and poet. Although he produced Portugal's greatest epic poem, The Lusiads (1572), and a body of lyric poetry, relatively little is known of his life except that after involvement in a street brawl he was imprisoned and sent as a soldier to India, where he spent nearly 20 years. His epic poem is modelled on the Aeneid of Vergil and traces the rise of Portuguese nation to greatness, culminating in the heroic exploits of its explorers and soldiers.