Cruz e Sousa also studied Mathematics and natural sciences under the guidance of famous German biologist Fritz Müller.

In 1881, Cruz e Sousa served as director of the newspaper Tribuna Popular, where he wrote abolitionist articles.

In 1893 he published his two famous books Missal and Broquéis, that introduced the Symbolist movement in Brazil.

In November of the same year, he married Gavita Gonçalves, an educated black girl who worked as a seamstress, and had with her four children; however, all four would die prematurely due to tuberculosis, what made Gavita have a mental breakdown and go insane ever since.

Cruz e Sousa died in what is today the city of Antônio Carlos, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, on March 19, 1898, due to tuberculosis.