Observe the poem by Casimiro de Abreu:
Desire – Casimiro de Abreu
If I only knew that in the world
There was a heart,
Just for me to throb
From love in tender expansion;
From the chest, the sorrows will be silenced,
Pretty happy I was then!
if this woman was beautiful
How beautiful angels are,
If she was fifteen years old,
If it was a rose bud,
if you were still playing innocent
Careless in gazão;
If you had a dark complexion,
The eyes with expression,
Blacks, blacks, who killed,
Let them die of passion,
always imposing tyrants
A yoke of seduction;
If the braids were dark,
There are no chestnuts,
And may they fall beautiful
At the blast of the turn,
On some shapely shoulders,
In lovely confusion;
If the forehead is pure and serene
Shine of inspiration,
If the trunk were flexible
Like the weeping branch,
If she had red lips,
Small foot and beautiful hand;
If the voice was harmonious
How d’harp the vibration,
Smooth as a turtledove
That moans in loneliness,
in love and felt
As from the bard the song;
What if her chest rippled
In gentle undulation,
hiding in white robes
in the mildest commotion
Treasures of virgin breasts,
Two points of temptation;
What if this beautiful woman
Which appears to me in vision,
Possessing a burning soul,
Were a volcano of love;
Everything would give for her...
— Life, heaven, reason!
It is possible to see that the author has an idealization of love and the woman he loves, isn't it? These are some of the characteristics of the productions of the second phase of the Romanticism in Brazil, that is, the woman for the romantics of that literary moment was someone described as an unattainable being, with qualities angelic and perfect, someone who aroused the love desire of the lyrical self, but that desire would never be fulfilled because it belonged to a plane untouchable.
As a representative of this generation of Romanticism, Casimiro de Abreu brings in his work other striking features of that period. See another poem by the same author:
MY EIGHT YEARS – Casimiro de Abreu
Oh! I miss you
From the dawn of my life,
from my dear childhood
That the years bring no more!
What love, what dreams, what flowers,
in those smoky afternoons
In the shade of the banana trees,
Under the orange groves!
how beautiful the days are
From the dawn of existence!
— Breathe the soul innocence
Like flower perfumes;
The sea is — a serene lake,
The sky — a bluish mantle,
The world — a golden dream,
Life — a hymn of love!
What a dawn, what a sun, what a life,
what melody nights
in that sweet joy,
In that naive play!
The sky embroidered with stars,
The land of aromas full
the waves kissing the sand
And the moon kissing the sea!
Oh! days of my childhood!
Oh! my spring sky!
How sweet was life
On this smiling morning!
Instead of the hurts of now,
I had these delights
from my mother the caresses
And kisses from my sister!
Free child of the mountains,
I was very satisfied,
From the open shirt to the chest,
— Bare feet, bare arms
— Running through the meadows
The waterfall wheel,
behind the light wings
From the blue butterflies!
in those blissful times
I was going to harvest the pitangas,
I fucked taking off my sleeves,
He played by the sea;
He prayed to the Hail Marys,
I thought the sky was always beautiful.
I fell asleep smiling
And I woke up singing!
...
Oh! I miss you
From the dawn of my life,
from my dear childhood
That the years bring no more!
— What love, what dreams, what flowers,
in those smoky afternoons
the shade of the banana trees
Under the orange groves!
In this poem, it is clear that the author has an escape from reality through a return to his personal past, that is, by not accepting the reality that presents itself, there is a psychological escapism.
These and other characteristics of the second romantic generation are directly related to the historical moment in which the country found itself. In the 1850s, there was a break with the exaggerated nationalism practiced by first generation authors. Young people no longer identified with the ideal of French Revolution(Freedom, Equality and Fraternity), which led them to a pessimistic and egocentric posture, becoming indifferent to social problems. This posture became known as “the evil of the century”.
This self-centered view encouraged a mundane lifestyle full of drink and cigarettes. Furthermore, death was seen as the only solution to the reality that bothered her so much. Such postures were strongly influenced by the English poet Lord Byron, who valued a bohemian, nocturnal lifestyle, focused on the pleasures of the world and a selfish, narcissistic, pessimistic, anguished and satanic worldview. Because of this lifestyle adopted by Brazilian authors, many died before 20 years of age.
This generation was also known as ultra-romanticism, precisely because of the presence of an exaggerated sentimentality. Thus, the characteristics that are present in this phase are:
The) Freedom to create and value content over form: breaking with previously established classical patterns, using free verse for their productions;
B) Pessimism – the artist finds it impossible to fulfill his desires. There is the presence of boredom, morbidity, suffering, pessimism, negativity, Satanism, masochism, cynicism and self-destruction;
ç) Subjectivism – the romantic uses an individual perception to portray reality in his works. Thus, his words are charged with individualism, emotion and fantasy;
d) psychological escapism – by not accepting reality as it presents itself, romantic authors return to the past, individual or historical;
and) self-centeredness – prevalence of individualism with the cult of the inner “I”;
f) Idealization of love and the woman loved: The woman is now described as angel, virgin, angelic, now how frivolous, lewd, languid;
g) Morth as a definitive escape and solution to problems;
h) Sarcasm and irony;
The main authors of this phase were:
Álvares de Azevedo: twenties lyre; night at the tavern and Macarius.
Fagundes Varela:night; Corners and Fantasies and Anchieta or The Gospel in the Jungles.
Casimiro de Abreu: the springs and the cabin.
Junqueira Freire:Cloister inspirations and Poetic contradictions.
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