Poets of Maranhão and the invention of the past

literature, memory, and historical identities

Abstract

Maranhão’s poetry plays a central role in shaping cultural memory and constructing literary interpretations of the past. In dialogue with history, poets rework events, experiences, and sensibilities that produce symbolic readings of the region. Within this framework, the study seeks to answer the following research question: how do Gonçalves Dias, Maria Firmina dos Reis, and Ferreira Gullar reinvent Maranhão’s past through poetic procedures that articulate literature, memory, and historical identity? The general objective is to analyze how the works of these three poets construct aesthetic representations of the past, generating distinct yet complementary historical imaginaries. The research adopts a qualitative, bibliographic, and hermeneutic approach, combining poetic analysis, comparative reading, and references from cultural history. The results indicate that Gonçalves Dias recreates the Indigenous and national past through a literary project that links founding myth, memory of the land, and collective identity. Maria Firmina dos Reis reconstructs Afro-Maranhense experience and denounces slavery, producing an ethical memory based on freedom, suffering, and resistance. Ferreira Gullar transforms political, urban, and existential experiences into poetry, offering critical interpretations of Brazil’s recent history and the dynamics of city life. The study concludes that, although distinct, these poets converge in producing poetic versions of the past that expand historical and cultural understanding of Maranhão, reaffirming poetry as a privileged form of knowledge and identity formation.

Keywords: Regional identity. Literature and memory. Historical culture. Poetic voice. Temporality.