Literature

The first Literary works dates from the first travelers who came before Pedro Alvares Cabral. There is The Caramuru name to Diogo da Silva, a Portuguese seaman who lived here for many years before the coming of Cabral. There are the chronicles by Jesuits fathers and travelers who show as the not explored land was a paradise and the native people was organized in societies, later killed by Portuguese explorers. The first Brazilian writer is Padre Antonio Vieira, although a Portuguese Jesuit lived all his life in the country, teaching to the natives and learning their idioms. He composed verses to the Virgin Mary, wrote drama for catequisation and wrote many Sermons defending the people of the place against the Portuguese Crown's exploration. The first Brazilian writers are from the Romantic Period and they wrote an "autócne" Literature which gave prominence to the native people as the actually owners of the country. The most important writers of Brazilian Romanticism are Gonçalves Dias who wrote the I Juca Pirama, a poetic epopeia about the courage and strength of the native Tupi people, and José de Alencar who wrote O Guarani.