O Arcadianism was the main literary movement of the XVIII century. Other names given to the style are 18th century or Neoclassicism - from the latter onwards, the relationship between Arcadism and classical culture values, that is, Greek, Roman and Renaissance values. Arcadian writers are known for opposing the Baroque style, drawing inspiration from the precepts of the Enlightenment.
Read more: Discover the origin of Arcadian influences.
Features
The Arcadian movement was heavily influenced by the culturegreek, latin and renaissance. The clarity and harmony in the themes and in the forms moved the far-fetched and confused language of the literary productions away from the literary productions. Baroque. The antitheses and paradoxes of 17th century man began to give way to the subjectrational, who was looking for simplicity and the rationality in his works.
One of the main Arcadian features is the heritagegivescultureclassic (Greek-Latin and Renaissance). Some Latin precepts that inspired Arcadian writers are:
uselessnessTruncate: This precept dialogues with the need to "take out the useless” of poetry, this useless being understood as the excess of formal refinement of the Baroque movement.
fleeurban: For Arcadian lyricists, the city was not the ideal environment to live in, therefore, the escape from urbanity as a goal to be achieved.
locusAmoenus: linked to flee city, this precept states that the field, the bucolic environment, is ideal for man.
carpDiem: According to this precept, it is necessary enjoy the present to contemplate reality without worrying about the future.
AureaMediocrites: According to this expression, the menmedian he is the one who achieves happiness, therefore, he should not look for riches and possessions in life.
In addition to the return to the classics, Arcadism was also very influencedfurEnlightenment, a philosophical movement that understood that reason is the greatest human value, and for technical and technological that modernized the means of production at the time and produced a strong rural exodus and expansion urban.
Historical context
Arcadianism is the main literary movement of the 18th century. Its context is marked, as we said earlier, by the Enlightenment and by the technical and technological advances that produced industrialization and the consequent rural exodus. The period is fundamental for understanding the decline of absolutism and the rise of the bourgeoisie.
Arcadian authors dialogue, in their works, with fundamental questions of the time, such as the relationship between man and wealth (aureamediocrities is a concept that discusses this, for example) or what it was like to live in the city (the precepts fleeurbe and locusamoenus are referring to that subject).
Differences between Arcadianism and Baroque
Arcadismo is the literary movement that takes place after the Baroque. While Baroque represents a man in conflict between the sacred and the profane (it is worth remembering that at that time, the 17th century, the Counter-Reform had restored several medieval values in the world), Arcadism presents a subject faithful to reason, a believer in science. Furthermore, it is worth saying that Baroque language was far-fetched and full of paradoxes, while, in Arcadism, it communicates with more clarity and simplicity.
Also access: Get to know Brazilian Arcadianism in greater depth.
Main authors of Arcadianism in Brazil and Portugal
Arcadism developed both in Brazil and in Portugal. The main authors are:
- Bocage
- Cláudio Manuel da Costa
- Tomás Antônio Gonzaga
- Saint Rita Durão
- Basil da Gama
See, below, excerpts from Arcadian poems:
Camões, great Camões, how similar
Camões, great Camões, how similar
I find your fate to mine, when I compare them!
The same cause made us, losing the Tagus,
To face with the sacrilegious giant;
Like you, beside the whispering Ganges,
From cruel penury to horror I see myself;
Like you, vain tastes, vain desires,
I am also carping, dear lover.
Ludíbrio, like you, of hard Luck
My end I demand to Heaven, for certainty
That I will only have peace in the grave.
Model you are, but... oh, sadness...
If I imitate you in the trances of Ventura,
I do not imitate you in the gifts of Nature.
Bocage
In this poem, we realize that the lyrical subject dialogues with the Renaissance poet Luís de Camões. It's as if the writer of the lusiads was a kind of master for the lyrical self, demonstrating a clear appreciation of the culture of classicism.
Lira I
I, Marília, I'm not some cowboy,
May he live by guarding other people's cattle;
Rudely, gives coarse expressions,
From the cold ices, and from the suns burnt.
I have my own couple, and I watch it;
Give me wine, vegetable, fruit, oil;
From the white sheep I get the milk,
And more fine wool, which I dress.
Thanks, beautiful Marília,
Thanks to my Star!
I saw my face in a fountain,
From the years is still not cut:
The shepherds, who inhabit this mountain,
With such skill I play the accordion,
What envy even Alceste has me:
To the sound of her I play the heavenly voice;
I don't even sing lyrics that aren't mine,
Thanks, beautiful Marília,
Thanks to my Star!
[...]
Marília de Dirceu, by Tomás Antônio Gonzaga
In Tomás Antônio Gonzaga's poem, we notice several of the previously mentioned Latin precepts. It is a lyrical subject living in the countryside (locus amoenus), cultivating a simple life (mediocrity aurea), far from the dynamics of city life (flee city). In addition, we also noticed the appreciation of love and the idealization of the loved one, an Arcadian characteristic that would last through the next movement, the romanticism.
By M. Fernando Marinho