Romanticism began in Portugal with the publication of the poem "Camões" (1825), by Almeida Garrett, who was raised by his uncle D. Alexandre, bishop of Angra, in the precepts of Neoclassicism, which can be observed in his early work. The author himself confesses (in "Camões" preface) that he voluntarily refused to follow the principles of epic poetry enunciated by Aristotle in his "Poetics", as he did the same to Horace's "Ars Poetica". Almeida Garrett had participated in the 1820 Liberal Revolution, which caused him to exile himself in England in 1823 and then in France, after the Vila-Francada. While living in Great Britain, he had contacts with the Romantic movement and read authors such as Shakespeare, Scott, Ossian, Byron, Hugo, Lamartine and de Staël, at the same time visiting feudal castles and ruins of Gothic churches and abbeys, which would be reflected in his writings. In 1838, he presented "Um Auto de Gil Vicente" ("A Play by Gil Vicente"), in an attempt to create a new national theatre, free of Greco-Roman and foreign influence. But his masterpiece would be "Frei Luís de Sousa" (1843), named by himself as a "Romantic drama" and it was acclaimed as an exceptional work, dealing with themes as national independence, faith, justice and love. He was also deeply interested in Portuguese folkloric verse, which resulted in the publication of "Romanceiro" ("Traditional Portuguese Ballads") (1843), that recollect a great number of ancient popular ballads, known as "romances" or "rimances", in "redondilha maior" verse form, that contained stories of chivalry, life of saints, crusades, courtly love, etc. He wrote the novels "Viagens na Minha Terra", "O Arco de Sant'Ana" and "Helena."