Antônio Gonçalves Dias (; August 10, 1823November 3, 1864) was a Brazilian Romantic

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, playwright,

ethnographer Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

, lawyer and

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

. A major exponent of Brazilian Romanticism and of the literary tradition known as " Indianism", he is famous for writing " Canção do exílio" (arguably the most well-known poem of Brazilian literature), the short narrative poem '' I-Juca-Pirama'', the unfinished epic '' Os Timbiras'', and many other

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

and

patriotic Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...

poems that would award him posthumously with the title of

national poet A national poet or national bard is a poet held by tradition and popular acclaim to represent the identity, beliefs and principles of a particular national culture. The national poet as culture hero is a long-standing symbo ...

of Brazil. He was also an avid researcher of

Native Brazilian Indigenous peoples in Brazil ( pt, povos indígenas no Brasil) or Indigenous Brazilians ( pt, indígenas brasileiros, links=no) once comprised an estimated 2000 tribes and nations inhabiting what is now the country of Brazil, before European con ...

languages and folklore. He is the patron of the 15th chair of the

Brazilian Academy of Letters The Academia Brasileira de Letras (ABL) ( English: ''Brazilian Academy of Letters'') is a Brazilian literary non-profit society established at the end of the 19th century. The first president, Machado de Assis, declared its foundation on Tue ...

Biography

Antônio Gonçalves Dias was born in Caxias on August 10, 1823, to a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

father, João Manuel Gonçalves Dias and a '' cafuza'' mother, Vicência Ferreira. After completing his studies in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, French and Philosophy, he went in 1838 to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

to earn a degree in

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

at the

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; pt, Universidade de Coimbra, ) is a public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The u ...

. There he wrote his most remembered poem, " Canção do exílio". He graduated in 1845 and returned to Brazil in the same year. He went to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

, living there until 1854. There he wrote for newspapers, and began to write the

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

''Leonor de Mendonça'' in 1846 and his first poetry book, ''Primeiros Cantos'', in 1847. It was very well-received, and

Alexandre Herculano Alexandre Herculano de Carvalho e Araújo (28 March 181013 September 1877) was a Portuguese novelist and historian. Early life Herculano's family had humble origins. One of his grandfathers was a foreman stonemason in the royal employ. Herculan ...

wrote an article praising it. Dias finished his play ''Leonor de Mendonça'' also in 1847, and tried to have it performed at the Conservatório de Música do Rio de Janeiro, but the play was not accepted. In 1848, he wrote two more poetry books: ''Segundos Cantos'' and ''Sextilhas de Frei Antão''. In 1849 he became professor of

and

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

at the

Colégio Pedro II Colégio Pedro II is a traditional federal public school, located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the third oldest active college in the country, after Ginásio Pernambucano and Atheneu Norte-Riograndense. The school was created ...

. In 1851, he published his last poetry book, ''Últimos Cantos''. In the same year, he travelled to

Northern Brazil The North Region of Brazil ( pt, Região Norte do Brasil; ) is the largest region of Brazil, corresponding to 45.27% of the national territory. It is the second least inhabited of the country, and contributes with a minor percentage in the national ...

, planning to marry 14-year-old Ana Amélia Ferreira do Vale, to whom he dedicated many of his most famous and beautiful love poems, such as "Seus olhos", "Leviana", "Palinódia" and "Retratação". Ana Amélia was the cousin of Alexandre Teófilo de Carvalho Leal, who in his turn was the brother of Antônio Henriques Leal, a famous Brazilian journalist, writer, medician, biographer and historian known as the "

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

of Cantanhede". (Both Alexandre and Antônio were very close friends with Dias, and Antônio would edit Dias' posthumous works in 1875, in 6 volumes.) However, the girl's mother did not allow the marriage, quoting Dias' mestizo origins as a pretext. (This inspired his famous poem "Ainda uma vez – adeus!".) Returning to Rio, he married Olímpia Carolina da Costa later on, having with her a

stillborn Stillbirth is typically defined as fetal death at or after 20 or 28 weeks of pregnancy, depending on the source. It results in a baby born without signs of life. A stillbirth can result in the feeling of guilt or grief in the mother. The ter ...

daughter. Dias divorced Olímpia in 1856. From 1854 to 1858, he went to Europe on special missions for the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, where he studied the state of public instruction in the educational institutions there. In 1856, in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, he published his three poetry books in a single volume entitled ''Cantos'', wrote the first four cantos of the epic poem ''Os Timbiras'' (that he would leave unfinished) and also published a dictionary of Old Tupi. Returning to Brazil in 1860, he founded the magazine ''Guanabara'' alongside Joaquim Manuel de Macedo and Manuel de Araújo Porto-Alegre in 1849, and went on expeditions to

Negro In the English language, ''negro'' is a term historically used to denote persons considered to be of Black African heritage. The word ''negro'' means the color black in both Spanish and in Portuguese, where English took it from. The term can be ...

and Madeira Rivers, as a member of the Scientific Commission of Exploration. In 1862 he returned to

, but shortly after went to Europe again. In October 1863 he went to Lisbon, where he translated Friedrich Schiller's ''

The Bride of Messina ''The Bride of Messina'' (german: Die Braut von Messina, ) is a tragedy by Friedrich Schiller; it premiered on 19 March 1803 in Weimar. It is one of the most controversial works by Schiller, due to his use of elements from Greek tragedies (which ...

'' and some poems by Heinrich Heine. After a short stay in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, he decided to return to Brazil in 1864, in the ship ''Ville de Boulogne''. However, the ship was wrecked on the Bay of Cumã, near the shores of Guimarães,

Maranhão Maranhão () is a state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of . Clockwise from north, it borders on the Atlantic Ocean for 2,243 km and the states of Piauí, Tocantins and ...

. All the passengers but Dias survived the tragedy; he was sleeping in his cabin belowdecks and did not wake up in time to see what was happening; thus he drowned. Dias had a nephew who was also a poet, Teófilo Dias.

Works

Poetry

* ''Primeiros Cantos'' (''First Chants'' —

1847 Events January–March * January 4 – Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the U.S. government. * January 13 – The Treaty of Cahuenga ends fighting in the Mexican–American War in California. * January 16 – John C. Frémont ...

) * ''Segundos Cantos'' (''Second Chants'' —

1848 1848 is historically famous for the wave of revolutions, a series of widespread struggles for more liberal governments, which broke out from Brazil to Hungary; although most failed in their immediate aims, they significantly altered the polit ...

) * ''Sextilhas de Frei Antão'' (''Friar Anton's Sextilles'' —

) * ''Últimos Cantos'' (''Last Chants'' — 1851) * ''Cantos'' (''Chants'' — compilation of ''Primeiros'', ''Segundos'' and ''Últimos Cantos'', 1856)

Theater

* '' Patkull'' ( 1843) * ''Beatriz Cenci'' ( 1845) * ''Leonor de Mendonça'' (

) * ''Boabdil'' (

1850 Events January–June * April ** Pope Pius IX returns from exile to Rome. ** Stephen Foster's parlor ballad "Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway" is published in the United States. * April 4 – Los Angeles is incorporated as a city ...

)

Epic and narrative poems

* '' I-Juca-Pirama'' ( 1851) * '' Os Timbiras'' (''The Timbiras'' — unfinished, 1856)

Other

* '' Meditação'' (''Meditation'' — unfinished,

) * ''Dicionário da Língua Tupi'' (''Dictionary of

Tupi Language Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi (also spelled as Tupí) is an extinct Tupian language which was spoken by the aboriginal Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil. It belongs to ...

'' — 1856)

Legacy

The city of Gonçalves Dias, founded in 1958, has this name because its territory formerly belonged to the city of Caxias, Dias' hometown. A river in Paraná is named after him, as well as many public squares and streets all over Brazil.

References

External links

Gonçalves Dias' biography at the official site of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
* *
Poems by Gonçalves Dias

Complete works of Gonçalves Dias

Works of Gonçalves Dias on Tupi and the Nheengatu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dias, Goncalves 1823 births 1864 deaths 19th-century Brazilian poets Romantic poets Brazilian male poets Epic poets Brazilian ethnographers University of Coimbra alumni Brazilian folklorists People from Maranhão Portuguese-language writers Deaths due to shipwreck at sea Brazilian monarchists Accidental deaths in Brazil Patrons of the Brazilian Academy of Letters 19th-century Brazilian dramatists and playwrights Brazilian male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century Brazilian male writers 19th-century Brazilian lawyers