A poética da escravidão em Castro Alves e Cruz e Sousa

Abstract

This work aims to present the theme of slavery from the perspective of the works of authors Castro Alves and Cruz e Sousa, belonging to the literary currents of Romanticism and Symbolism, respectively. Poets have unequal social positions, but received a very similar education, being considered great intellectuals of the time in which they lived. Castro Alves is known as the 'Poet of slaves', while Cruz e Sousa became famous with 'Black Dante'. From the analysis of the poem “O Navio Negreiro: tragedy at sea” by Castro Alves and “Dor negra” by Cruz e Sousa, we intend to understand how the slavery mentioned by them in their poems is approached, since both belonged to literary schools different and lived in different historical periods. Despite some distinctions between them, the two defended the same discourse of freedom and human conditions for blacks at the time. The objective of the research is to analyze through poetics the conditions in which the black population was explored, in addition to highlight the racist system during and post-slavery in the literary and social milieu and the impact of poets Castro Alves and Cruz e Sousa within this theme.