Adelino Fontoura Chaves (March 30, 1859 – May 2, 1884) was a Brazilian poet, actor and journalist. He is the patron of the 1st 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 Tuesday, ...

Life

Adelino Fontoura was born in the city of Axixá, in

Maranhão Maranhão () is a States of Brazil, state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of and it is divided into 217 municipalities. Clockwise from north, it ...

, to Antônio Fontoura Chaves and Francisca Dias Fontoura. Since as a child, he would have a very strong friendship with future author

Artur Azevedo Artur Nabantino Gonçalves de Azevedo (7 July 1855 – 22 October 1908) was a Brazilian playwright, short story writer, chronicler, journalist and Parnassian poet. He is famous for consolidating in Brazil the "comedy of manners" genre, initiate ...

. Moving to

Recife Recife ( , ) is the Federative units of Brazil, state capital of Pernambuco, Brazil, on the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of South America. It is the largest urban area within both the North Region, Brazil, North and the Northeast R ...

, he would work at the satirical journal ''Os Xênios''. Returning to Maranhão, he initiated his artistical career, performing in a play that would make him arrested. After this incident, he moved to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. He tried the artistic and the journalistic career, failing in the first one. He wrote for journals ''Folha Nova'', ''O Combate'' and ''A Gazetinha'', where he published some poems and works in prose — and, in this last one, he would collaborate once more with Azevedo, who was its founder. Alongside Ferreira de Menezes, Augusto Ribeiro, Hugo Leal and João de Almeida, he would work for the journal ''A Gazeta da Tarde'', that was, according to

Múcio Leão Múcio Carneiro Leão (1898–1969) was a Brazilian journalist and author. Life Leão was born and raised in Recife. Upon finishing his law studies, he moved to Rio de Janeiro where he became a journalist. During the 1920s and 1930s he worked f ...

, "one of the most ill-fated journals ever founded", because its founders would die in the next three years after the journal's existence. After the ''Gazeta da Tarde'' was bought by

José do Patrocínio José Carlos do Patrocínio (9 October 1854 – 29 January 1905) was a Brazilian writer, journalist, activist, orator and pharmacist. He was among the most well-known proponents of the abolition of slavery in Brazil, and known as "''Tigre da Abo ...

, Adelino becomes its correspondent in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Already very sick, his situation got worse due to the harsh French winter, what made him move to

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

in an unsuccessful attempt to get better. He died with only 25 years, without publishing any book.

Work

As mentioned above, Fontoura's work is very sparse, as he did not published anything during his lifetime. Attempts of compiling his poetry were made during the 1940s and 1950s by

. His most well-known poem is the

sonnet A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...

"Celeste".

External links

Works by Fontoura at the official site of the Brazilian Academy of Letters

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontoura, Adelino 1859 births 1884 deaths People from Maranhão Brazilian male actors Brazilian journalists 19th-century Brazilian male actors Patrons of the Brazilian Academy of Letters Portuguese-language writers 19th-century journalists Brazilian male journalists 19th-century Brazilian poets Brazilian male poets 19th-century Brazilian male writers