Poets

Manuel Antônio Álvares de Azevedo was a Brazilian Romantic poet, short story writer, playwright and essayist. Adept of what was called in Brazil "Ultra-Romanticism", his work is characterized by heavy dualism and morbidity, what gave him the epithet of "the Brazilian Lord Byron". He is the patron of the second chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, and of the ninth chair of the Paulista Academy of Letters.

Biography

Azevedo was born into a wealthy family in São Paulo City, on September 12, 1831. Son of Law student Inácio Manuel Álvares de Azevedo and Maria Luísa Azevedo (née Mota), a popular belief says that he was born in the library of the Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo, but he was actually born on the farmhouse of his maternal grandfather, Severo Mota. He also had a younger brother, Inácio Manuel, Jr., but he died prematurely in 1835. Álvares grew very shocked and appalled to this happening. In 1833, Álvares moved alongside his family to the city of Rio de Janeiro, and in 1840 he entered the Colégio Stoll in the bairro of Botafogo, being an excellent student. Álvares de Azevedo influenced by Lord Byron, Alfred de Musset, François-René de Chateaubriand,Alphonse de Lamartine, Heinrich Hein..