Education
At the insistence of his father he interrupted his studies to adopt a commercial career, which he loathed.
At the insistence of his father he interrupted his studies to adopt a commercial career, which he loathed.
In 1853 he went to Rio de Janeiro to work in his father's business but later, becoming ill, was sent to Lisbon, where he remained four years. He died of tuberculosis in Nova Friburgo, Oct. 18, 1860, leaving two plays and the magnificent volume of poems As Primaveras (1859; "Springtimes").
Abreu's poems reflect an immature and uncultivated poetic gift and a groping inspiration, his freshness, his untrammeled imagination, the simplicity of his themes, and his directness of expression have made him one of the most popular poets of the Brazilian romantic movement. All his poetry is marked with a calm sadness, and its emotional core is the plaintive nostalgia of the exile mixed with a premonition of early death. He ignored contemporary controversies and in his poems recalled the pleasant days of his childhood at the plantation, with its placid yet voluptuous natural atmosphere.
Abreu's simple, highly personal style compensates for his occasional technical flaws. Because of the almost primitive directness of his poetical expression and his deliberate aloofness from the great human problems, and because his work lies completely within the old Lusitanian tradition of the saudade (longing), Abreu has a secure place in the literary tradition of Brazil and Portugal.