Cecília Meireles

As a journalist her columns (crônicas, or chronicles) focused most often on education, but also on her trips abroad in the western hemisphere, Portugal, other parts of Europe, Israel, and India (where she received an honorary doctorate).Even though she was not concerned with local color, native vernacular, or experiments in (popular) syntax, she is considered one of the most important poets of the second phase of the Brazilian Modernism, known for nationalistic vanguardism.The Festa poets supported more traditional expression and universality than the futurists and avant-garde writers of São Paulo, whose Modern Art Week in 1922 caused much controversy.The work draws its subject from the first colonial attempt at Brazilian Independence, in Minas Gerais in 1789, and centers on the leader of the uprising, Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, who was hailed as another Jesus Christ.She translated into Portuguese such diverse writers as Maeterlinck, Federico García Lorca, Anouilh, Ibsen, Tagore, Rilke, Virginia Woolf, and Pushkin.
An ink drawing of Meireles disembarking in Lisbon, by her first husband, Fernando Correia Dias.
Cecília Meireles (politician)Rio de JaneiroBrazilModernismPortuguese languagegender discriminationMexicoArgentinaUruguayUniversity of TexasAustinPortugalIsraelhonorary doctorateneosymbolistnationalisticvanguardismlibrariessonnetsfree versefuturistsavant-gardeSão PauloModern Art WeeksymbolistPortuguese poetryLisbonCoimbraBrazilian Academy of LettersCatholicGandhiSanskritIberianballadsMinas GeraisJoaquim José da Silva XavierJesus ChristMaeterlinckFederico García LorcaAnouilhTagoreVirginia WoolfPushkinMidtown Manhattan