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Adelino Fontoura | |
|---|---|
 A photograph of Fontoura | |
| Born | Adelino Fontoura Chaves (1859-03-30)March 30, 1859 Axixá,Brazil |
| Died | May 2, 1884(1884-05-02) (aged 25) Lisbon,Portugal |
| Occupation | Poet,actor,journalist |
| Nationality |  Brazilian |
| Literary movement | Parnassianism |
Adelino Fontoura Chaves (March 30, 1859 – May 2, 1884) was a Brazilian poet, actor and journalist. He is the patron of the 1st chair of theBrazilian Academy of Letters.
Adelino Fontoura was born in the city ofAxixá, inMaranhão, to Antônio Fontoura Chaves and Francisca Dias Fontoura.
Since as a child, he would have a very strong friendship with future authorArtur Azevedo.
Moving toRecife, he would work at the satirical journalOs Xênios. Returning to Maranhão, he initiated his artistical career, performing in a play that would make him arrested. After this incident, he moved toRio de Janeiro.
He tried the artistic and the journalistic career, failing in the first one. He wrote for journalsFolha Nova,O Combate andA Gazetinha, where he published some poems and works in prose — and, in this last one, he would collaborate once more with Azevedo, who was its founder. AlongsideFerreira de Menezes,Augusto Ribeiro, Hugo Leal andJoão de Almeida, he would work for the journalA Gazeta da Tarde, that was, according toMúcio Leão, "one of the most ill-fated journals ever founded", because its founders would die in the next three years after the journal's existence.
After theGazeta da Tarde was bought byJosé do Patrocínio, Adelino becomes its correspondent inParis. Already very sick, his situation got worse due to the harsh French winter, what made him move toLisbon in an unsuccessful attempt to get better.
He died with only 25 years, without publishing any book.
As mentioned above, Fontoura's work is very sparse, as he did not published anything during his lifetime. Attempts of compiling his poetry were made during the 1940s and 1950s byMúcio Leão.
His most well-known poem is thesonnet "Celeste".
| Portuguese language | English |
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É tão divina a angélica aparência Peregrina do céu, pálida estrela, Tem a celeste e ingênua formosura E quando os olhos para o céu levanta, | It is so divine her angelic appearance Pilgrim of the skies, O pale star, She has the celestial and naïve beauty And when she raises her eyes to the sky, |
| Preceded by New creation |  Brazilian Academy of Letters -Patron of the 1st chair | Succeeded by Luís Murat (founder) |
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