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| Cecília Meireles Source: UFRN. |
Short biography
Cecília Benevides de Carvalho Meirelles (born 1901 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - died 1964 in Rio de Janeiro) was a poet, educator, journalist, translator, and playwright.
Her three older brothers had died before she was born, and by the age of 3, she had already lost both parents. She was raised by her maternal grandmother, who was born in the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal.
In 1910, Cecília received a medal from the poet Olavo Bilac (1865-1918), who was then a school inspector, for completing primary school with "distinction and praise." Graduating from Rio de Janeiro's Institute of Education in 1917, teaching became one of her passions.
Throughout her life, Cecília wrote several textbooks and poems for children. She also organized the first children's library in Brazil. In 1922, she married a Portuguese artist, with whom she had three daughters.
From 1930 to 1933, she wrote a daily education column for the newspaper Diário de Notícias, which resulted in a posthumous five-volume book. In 1932, together with other educators, she signed the New Education Pioneers Manifesto calling for educational renewal.
In 1935, her husband committed suicide. Five years later, Cecília married again.
One of her most acclaimed works, Viagem ['Journey'], published in 1939, won the prize from the Academia Brasileira de Letras ['Brazilian Academy of Letters']. Retiring from the profession of school principal in 1951, she worked in radio as a producer and editor of cultural programs. Cecília continued to regularly publish poetry until her death.
List of poetry books
Espectros (1919), Nunca mais... e Poemas dos Poemas (1923), Baladas para El-Rei (1925), Cânticos (1927), A festas das Letras (1937), Morena Pena de Amor (1939), Viagem (1939), Vaga Musica (1942), Mar Absoluto e Outros Poemas (1945), Retrato Natural (1949), Amor em Leonoreta (1951), Doze Noturnos de Holanda & O Aeronauta (1952), Romanceiro da Inconfidência (1953), Poemas Escritos na Índia (1953), Pequeno Oratório da Santa Clara (1955), Pistóia Cemitério Militar Brasileiro (1955), Canções (1956), Romances de Santa Cecília (1957), Oratório de Santa Maria Egipcíaca (1957), Metal Rosicler (1960), Antologia Poética (1963), Solombra (1963), O estudante Empírico (1959-1964), Ou Isto ou Aquilo (1964), Crônicas Trovadas da Cidade de Sam Sebastiam (1965), Poemas Italianos (1968).
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Biography