Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa, described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and among the greatest poets in the Portuguese language, was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher, and philosopher. His work not only made a profound impact in Portuguese literature but also in English and French literary circles.

Pessoa was a prolific writer, and not only under his own name. He created approximately seventy-five heteronyms, of which Alberto Caeiro, Álvaro de Campos, and Ricardo Reis stand out the most. Unlike pseudonyms, Pessoa regarded these heteronyms as having their own independent intellectual lives, expressing ideas and viewpoints that were sometimes unpopular or extreme. This inventiveness led to Pessoa being considered akin to 'Whitman reborn' by the literary critic Harold Bloom, who also included him among the 26 best writers of Western civilization, not just in Portuguese literature but also in English.

Among the four works Pessoa published during his lifetime, three were in English and only one in Portuguese titled Mensagem. He was also a skilled translator, rendering works from English to Portuguese and vice versa, including those of Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe. His unique literary style and approach have made Pessoa a universal Portuguese poet, with a notable preference for English due to his education in South Africa.