Concrete poetry and João Cabral de Melo Neto in Jornal do Brasil in the 1950s

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the recurring presence of references to the poet João Cabral de Melo Neto in texts about concrete poetry published in the Jornal do Brasil in the 1950s, with the aim of accompanying the advent of concrete poetry and the connection, in these texts, the name of Cabral as one of the forerunners of the movement. For this, a documentary research was carried out with the analysis of journalistic sources confronted with texts from literary studies, in particular, critical texts by João Cabral on poetry and critical studies on concrete poetry. It is possible to conclude that Cabral and his poetry served as a reference for concrete poets, who filtered aspects of Cabral's criticism that most interested them: the emphasis on formal work and poetry communication, leaving aside questions related to social poetry.