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Alves was born in the town of Cachoeira, Bahia, Brazil. In 1862, he entered the Faculdade de Direito do Recife, was involved in an affair with Portuguese actress Eugênia Câmara and wrote his first abolitionist poems: "Os Escravos" (The Slaves) and "A Cachoeira de Paulo Afonso" (Paulo Afonso's Waterfall), reading them out loud in public events in defense of the abolitionist cause. Even though many Brazilians stood up against it at that time, slavery in Brazil was not officially ended until 1888, when Princess Isabel, daughter of Dom Pedro II, declared it extinct by means of the Lei Áurea (Golden Law).
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Alves was born in the town of Cachoeira, Bahia, Brazil. In 1862, he entered the Faculdade de Direito do Recife, was involved in an affair with Portuguese actress Eugênia Câmara and wrote his first abolitionist poems: "Os Escravos" (The Slaves) and "A Cachoeira de Paulo Afonso" (Paulo Afonso's Waterfall), reading them out loud in public events in defense of the abolitionist cause. Even though many Brazilians stood up against it at that time, slavery in Brazil was not officially ended until 1888, when Princess Isabel, daughter of Dom Pedro II, declared it extinct by means of the Lei Áurea (Golden Law).
In 1867, Alves left Recife and returned Bahia, where he wrote his dramatic play "Gonzaga". He later moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he met influential people such as José de Alencar, Francisco Otaviano and Machado de Assis, from whom he got moral support.
Alves headed south to São Paulo to take courses at Sao Francisco Law School. While there he met important writers and politicians, such as Rui Barbosa, Joaquim Nabuco, Rodrigues Alves, Afonso Pena and Bias Fortes. On November 11, 1868, while hunting in the surroundings of São Paulo, he was shot in the left ankle, which led to the amputation of his feet. Soon afterwards Alves contracted tuberculosis, a very common disease in São Paulo at that time due to the dark and untidy pubs around town and chilly weather, which forced him to return to his home land, Bahia. He died on July 6, 1871, in the city of Salvador.
Alves's work stands in the late-Romantic aesthetic and is deeply influenced by the work of the French poet Victor Hugo in a movement called condoreirismo, which is marked by the introspection of the Romantic period with a social and humanitarian concern. These concerns led him to the incipient Abolitionism and Republicanism, of whose causes he was one of the foremost representatives.
His poetry is more optimistic in tone than early romantic poets, and is marked by more sensual and physical images than is usual to the Romantic Aesthetic. He was not attached to the (sometimes official) indigenism shown by José de Alencar or Gonçalves Dias, nor had the mal-du-siècle aesthetic of Álvares de Azevedo. As a result of this, his work is usually considered to be late-romantic, tending to the later Realist movement.
Among his best known works are: "Espumas Flutuantes" (Floating Foams), "Gonzaga ou A Revolução de Minas" (Gonzaga or the Revolution of Minas), "Cachoeira de Paulo Afonso", "Vozes D'África" (Voices from Africa), "O Navio Negreiro" (The Slave Ship).
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