Florbela Espanca (; born , ) was a Portuguese poet. She is known for her passionate and feminist poetry. Fernando Pessoa later said she was his "twin soul". Early life Born Flor Bela d'Alma da Conceição on 8 December 1894 in Vila Viçosa, Portugal, Espanca was the daughter of Antónia da Conceição Lobo who worked as a housemaid for Espanca's father, João Maria Espanca, a photographer and businessman. Her father's wife, Mariana do Carmo Inglesa Espanca, who was unable to have her own children, agreed for Espanca to live in their home, where she was raised from birth by both her father's wife and her biological mother, who was 15 years old when Espanca was born. Since her parents weren't married, when Espanca was baptized on 20 June 1895, she was christened as Flor Bela Lobo, the daughter of Antónia Lobo and an unknown father. Her father, whom Espanca referred to in a poem as "dear Daddy of my soul", officially claimed paternity in 1949, 19 years after Espanca's death. Espanca's full brother, Apeles Espanca, was born in 1897 and was also baptized as the child of an unknown father. In 1903, Espanca wrote her earliest known poem, "A Vida e a Morte" (Life and Death), when she was 8 years old. In 1908, her mother died at the age of 29 with "neurosis" recorded as her official cause of death. A few months after her mother's death, Espanca became one of the first female students to enroll in the Liceu André de Gouveia, a traditionally male school in Évora, Portugal. Later life and career In 1913, Espanca failed a final examination and dropped out of school, and on her 19th birthday, she married Alberto Moutinho, a longtime friend and classmate. Espanca and Moutinho moved to Redondo, Portugal, where they both worked as teachers. Espanca taught French, English, geography, and history and Moutinho taught science. In 1915, due to financial difficulties, they moved in with Espanca's father in Évora and continued teaching. From 1915 to 1917, she collected all of her poems into a work entitled O livro D'ele (His book) that she dedicated to her brother. In 1916, Espanca re-enrolled in secondary school at the Liceu de Évora. After graduating in 1917, she and Moutinho moved to Lisbon so Espanca could attend the University of Lisbon, where she was one of seven women, out of a total of 313