Roseira brava: pós-romantismo e modernidade na poética de Palmyra Wanderley

Abstract

Published for the very first time in 1929, Roseira Brava, by Brazilian writer Palmira Wanderley, manages to depict delayed characteristics of the Romantic period while conveying traces of the Modernist movement. To analyze the writer’s verses, research on her biographic and social background was conducted, as it is believed that such contextualization is vital to understanding the nuances in her literary piece. Moreover, both romantic and modernist trends were thoroughly researched with the purpose to further analyze the poet’s work in light of Antônio Candido’s post-romanticism theory compared against the characteristics of the Modernist movement. The methodological approach for this study, whose main purpose is to analyze Palmira’s work within the literary historiography of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, highlights poems which bring the recurrent themes portrayed in said piece: religiousness, which, in some poems, dialogues with the profane; sentimentalism as part of romantic love; the city of Natal’s shiny appearance, “a city full of panoramas”, depicted in over 15 poems; and the state’s natural landscapes described with elements of sensuality and affection. Based upon this methodological approach, a polarized analysis of a piece inserted in contrasting positions - in between tradition and modernity - is suggested, where Classicism, Romanticism, Parnassianism, and Modernism come together.