Macedo, José Agostinho de

Born Sept. 11, 1761, in Beja; died Oct. 2, 1831, in Pedroçc,. Portuguese writer.

Macedo is the author of the comedy Slander Punished (1822) and the tragedy Branca di Rossi (1819), both in the classical style. He also wrote pamphlets and satirical verses in which he ridiculed, from an absolutist point of view, the French Revolution, Napoleon, and Portuguese liberalism, for example, the burlesque poem Jackasses (1812) and the Ode to Prince Kutuzov on the Battle of Borodino (1813). In his pamphlets, such as Literary Revolt (1811), he spoke against Gallomania and at the same time against the national renaissance tradition. His epic poem Gama (1811; revised edition published in 1814 under the title The East) was devoted to the voyage of Vasco da Gama. Macedo’s work combines reactionary political views with a cult of the intellect in the Enlightenment tradition, for example, the philosophical poem Reflection (1813), the didactic descriptive poem Newton (1813), and the allegorical poem Passionate Pilgrimage to the Temple of Wisdom (1830).