Antonio Goncalves Dias
Romantic poet, playwright and linguist Antônio Gonçalves Dias lived in Brazil. He, a major exponent of the Romanticism of Brazil and of the literary tradition, known as "Indianism," famously wrote "
Canção do exílio
," arguably the most well-known poem of the Brazilian literature. He also wrote the short epic poem
I-Juca-Pirama
and many other nationalist and patriotic poems that later gave him the title of national poet of Brazil. He also avidly researched the Brazilian indigenous languages and folklore.
“Don't cry my sonDon't cry, because life is a redeemed fightLife is a fight that will demean the weak personAnd will always exalt the strong ones”
Antonio Goncalves Dias
“My homeland has many palm-treesand the thrush-song fills its air;no bird here can sing as wellas the birds sing over there.We have fields more full of flowersand a starrier sky above,we have woods more full of lifeand a life more full of love.Lonely night-time meditationsplease me more when I am there;my homeland has many palm-treesand the thrush-song fills its air.Such delights as my land offersAre not found here nor elsewhere;lonely night-time meditationsplease me more when I am there;My homeland has many palm-treesand the thrush-song fills its air.Don’t allow me, God, to diewithout getting back to whereI belong, without enjoyingthe delights found only there,without seeing all those palm-trees,hearing thrush-songs fill the air.”
Antonio Goncalves Dias