in 1848, he wrote two more poetry books: "segundos cantos" and "sextilhas de frei antão". in 1849 he became professor of latin and history at the colégio pedro ii. in 1851, he published his last poetry book, "últimos cantos". in the same year, he travelled to northern brazil, planning to marry 14-year-old ana amélia ferreira do vale, to whom he dedicated many of his most famous and beautiful love poems, such as "seus olhos", "leviana", "palinódia" and "retratação". ana amélia was the cousin of alexandre teófilo de carvalho leal, who in his turn was the brother of , a famous brazilian journalist, writer, medician, biographer and historian known as the "plutarch of cantanhede". (both alexandre and antônio were very close friends with dias, and antônio would edit dias' posthumous works in 1875, in 6 volumes.) however, the girl's mother did not allow the marriage, quoting dias' mestizo origins as a pretext. (this inspired his famous poem "ainda uma vez – adeus!".) returning to rio, he married olímpia carolina da costa later on, having with her a stillborn daughter. dias divorced olímpia in 1856.