[2] In 1782, he moved to Rio de Janeiro where he taught rhetoric and poetics[2] in the position of Royal Professor.
[3][5] The society discussed issues ranging from the French Revolution to religion, where some members challenged religious dogma and claimed that miracles did not exist.
[3] Silva Alvarenga's poetry follows European Neoclassical aesthetics of the eighteenth century[1] and is considered an Arcadian poet.
[6] Silva Alvarenga, along with other Brazilian Arcadians, have been credited with planting "the roots of a literary culture in a systematic sense" in Brazil.
[2] Many of the poems are very much part of the pastoral Arcady tradition, however, literary critics have identified "elements which foreshadow Brazilian Romanticism.