Gonçalves de Magalhães was a Brazilian poet, playwright, physician and diplomat. He is considered the founder of Romanticism in Brazilian literature. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 13th August 1811 and died in Rome, Italy on 10th July 1882 aged 70.
Major Works
“Suspiros Poéticos e Saudades” (Poetic Sighs and Nostalgias) (1836)
“Antonio Jose, ou O Poeta e a Inquisicao” (1839)
“A Confederação dos Tamojos” (1856)
Biography Timeline
1811: Domingos José Gonçalves de Magalhães, was born on 13th August in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His father was Pedro Gonçalves de Magalhães Chaves.
1828: He begins studying Medicine.
1832: He graduates as a doctor.
1833: He travels extensively in Europe where he becomes friends with the writer and artist Manuel de Araujo Porto-Alegre and his Romantic ideals.
1836: He writes the Romantic manifesto, “Discurso Sobre a História da Literatura no Brasil” (Discourse on the History of Literature in Brazil) and publishes his first book of poetry “Suspiros Poéticos e Saudades” (Poetic Sighs and Nostalgias).
1837: He returns to Brazil.
1838: He becomes a teacher of philosophy in the Colegio Pedro the Second in Rio. With Poto-Alegre and Alberto Torres Homem he begins the literary review “Niterói: Revista Brasiliense” but only two issues are published.
1839: He writes the tragic plays “Antonio Jose, ou O Poeta e a Inquisicao” (António José, or The Poet and the Inquisition) about the eighteenth-century Luso-Brazilian writer condemned by the Inquisition, and “Olgiato”.
1847: He begins his career as a diplomat and serves in the United States, Argentina, Austria and the Vatican. He later becomes Charge d’Affaires in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Piedmont, Russia and Spain.
1855: Now married to Januaria de Sa Pinto Ribeiro his daughter also called Januaria is born on 2nd August.
1856: His major work, the epic poem “A Confederação dos Tamojos”, is published in which he praises the destruction of an Indian tribe in the pursuit of Brazilian independence.
1857: He writes “Os Mistérios” (The Mysteries).
1859: His son Antonio José Maria (later known in France as Amédée Joseph Marie) is born on 21st January.
1862: He writes “Urânia” (Heavenly).
1864: He writes “Cânticos Fúnebres” (Funeral Songs).
1865: He writes “Fatos do Espírito Humano” (Facts of the Human Spirit).
1872: Emperor Pedro the Second awards him the Order of the Rose, the Order of Christ and the Order of the Southern Cross which gives him the title of Baron of Araguaia.
1874: He comes a Viscount.
1876: He writes “A Alma e o Cérebro” (The Soul and the Brain).
1880: He writes “Comentários e Pensamentos” (Comments and Thoughts).
Gonçalves de Magalhães, Viscount of Araguaia died on 10th July 1882 in Rome, Italy. He was buried in the Cemitério de São João Batista in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.