Cesário Verde, in full José Joaquim Cesário Verde (born Feb. 25, 1855, Lisbon, Port.—died July 18, 1886, Lisbon), poet who revived Portuguese poetry by introducing colloquial language and by exploring its capacity for expression. He dealt extensively with themes pertaining to the growth of urban life.
Born into a well-to-do middle-class family, Verde studied at the faculty of arts of the University of Lisbon but left without a degree. Adopting a bohemian life-style, he nevertheless earned a living as a fruit farmer and businessman, publishing poetry in newspapers and literary magazines sporadically until his early death from tuberculosis.
After his death, a friend, the literary critic António da Silva Pinto, collected and published his poems as O livro de Cesário Verde 1873–1886 (1887; “The Book of Cesário Verde”).