For me it’s gotta be “Morte e Vida Severina”/ “Severino Death and Life”. It’s an epic poem narrating the journey of a poor man from Northeastern Brazil, a famously poor and segregated region that’s frequently affected by severe droughts, fleeing from his home and walking to the big city to survive the season. On the way he describes all the misery he experiences and sees.
One stanza that has stuck with me for years goes something like this "And all of us Severinos/With the same lives/Will die of the same/Severe Severino death,/The death died of/Old age before thirty/Of an ambush before twenty/And of hunger day by day/(Of weakness and plague/The Severino death/attacks at all ages/even those not born)
The Orlando Furioso and The Gerusalemme Liberata, beautiful fantastic poems from the XVI century.
Althought, many would even call them “woke” in some aspects, especially the Furioso.
Because of all the warrior women?
Fun fact: Orlando Furioso was Giacomo Casanova’s (yeah, that Casanova) favorite book. Somehwat surprisingly for anyone not familiar with him, he was really well-read.
I always wanted to give it a read but haven’t been able to do so.
The Furioso is genuinely one of the best things I’ve ever read in any language, from any time period. Should be better known than The Divine Comedy imo, its funny, sassy, heroic, smart as all hell. Just an incredible achievement all round
Orlando Furioso is absolutely wild, and Barbara Reynolds’ English translation of it is impeccable.
When you say ‘woke’, is it just the ‘city of ladies’ part you’re thinking of?