Gonçalves Dias
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Antônio Gonçalves Dias (August 10, 1823 — November 3, 1864) was a Brazilian Romantic poet and playwright, famous for his patriotic and nationalist poems that gave him the title of national poet of Brazil. The most famous of those is "Canção do exílio", arguably the most well-known poem in Brazilian literature. He is the patron of the 15th chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.
Contents |
Biography
Antônio Gonçalves Dias was born in Caxias on August 10, 1823, to Portuguese João Manuel Gonçalves Dias and zamba Vicência Ferreira. After completing his studies in Latin, French and Philosophy, he went in 1838 to Portugal to earn a degree in Law at the University of Coimbra. Exposed to the Romantic ideals there, he graduated in 1845 and returned to Brazil the same year. He goes to Rio de Janeiro, living there until 1854. In Rio, he wrote the drama Leonor de Mendonça in 1846 and his first poetry book, Primeiros Cantos, in 1847.
In 1848 he wrote two more poetry books: Segundos Cantos and Sextilhas de Frei Antão. In 1849 he became professor of Latin and History at the Colégio Pedro II. In 1851, he published his last poetry book, Últimos Cantos. In the same year, he travelled to Northern Brazil, planning to marry his lifelong love, 14-year-old Ana Amélia Ferreira do Vale. However, the girl's mother did not allow the marriage because of Gonçalves' mestizo origins. (This inspired his famous poem, "Ainda uma vez — adeus!".) Returning to Rio unpleased, he married Olímpia Carolina da Costa, having with her a daughter who died young.
During the period of 1854-1858, he went to Europe on special missions for the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. In 1856, at Leipzig, he published the three Cantos poetry books, the first four cantos of the epic poem Os Timbiras and a dictionary of the Tupi language. Returning to Brazil, he founded the magazine Guanabara along with Joaquim Manuel de Macedo and Manuel de Araújo Porto-alegre in 1849, and went on expeditions to Negro and Madeira Rivers, as a member of the Scientific Commission of Exploration. In 1862, he returned to Rio de Janeiro, but soon went to Europe again, searching for a treatment to his illnesses. In October 1863, he went to Lisbon, where he translated Friedrich Schiller's The Bride of Messina and some poems by Heinrich Heine.
After a stay in France, he decided to return to Brazil in 1864, in the ship "Ville de Boulogne". However, the ship was wrecked on the shores of Guimarães, Maranhão. Dias perished in the disaster.
Works
Poetry
- Primeiros Cantos (First Chants — 1846)
- Segundos Cantos (Second Chants — 1848)
- Sextilhas de Frei Antão (Friar Anton's Sextilles — 1848)
- Últimos Cantos (Last Chants — 1851)
Theater
Epic poems
- I-Juca Pirama (1851)
- Os Timbiras (The Timbiras — unfinished, 1857)
Other
- Meditação (Meditation — unfinished, 1850)
- Dicionário da Língua Tupi (A Dictionary of the Tupi Language — 1858)
Trivia
He is the uncle of also famous poet Teófilo Dias.
