Antonio Machado: A Deep Dive into His Poetic Legacy
Antonio Machado is the great poet of his generation and one of the most important Spanish poets of all time. Although his first poems are close to the aesthetics of modernism, early modernism leans towards an intimate Bécquerian tone, full of symbols of great simplicity and formality. His membership in the Generation of ’98 is manifested by the appreciation of landscape, the fear of the passage of time, concern for the Spanish situation and their future, skepticism, and affirmation of the supremacy of the spiritual over the material.
Main Themes of His Work
- The Intimacy of the Poet: Memories, dreams, sense of time.
- The Landscape: Castile and Andalusia, the people of Castile, the historical past, the current reality, and the national situation with a critical view.
- Love: A recurring theme throughout his poetry.
Stages of Poetic Evolution
In his poetic evolution, we can distinguish the following stages, each represented by a book: Solitudes, the book closest to Modernism: the symbols typical of this period include the source and river (representing desires and dreams), the garden, and autumn. The formal simplicity and an insistent longing for childhood are more personal notes during this time.
Poetic Structure
The poem alternates quatrains and octosyllabic verses, i.e., four lines of minor art (in this case, of eight syllables) with cross-consonant rhyme (abab) and four minor art verses (also octosyllabic) with chained or embracing rhyme (abba). Soria makes love with the Castilian landscape. The style of poetry becomes increasingly sober and simple. Characteristic poems begin to show where the poet converses with himself, reflecting on time passing and death.
Campos de Castilla
Campos de Castilla is the book closest to the ethics and aesthetics of ’98 in his entire production. The poet identifies with the land of Castile, and his poetry tends to greater objectivity without losing the intimate focus.
Olmo Seco
The poem is structured in the form of a rhyming consonant silva (indefinite circulation and seven-syllable verses mixed with hendecasyllables at the poet’s discretion). It begins with the allegory of “the old elm tree split by lightning,” representing “his sick wife” or “the dying of the day in Spain.” All references to the elm will be discussed, as I do not wish to dwell on the theme of the poem. Soft enjambment occurs between “lightning” and “and at the half rotten.” Hyperbaton is present in the line: “I have left some green leaves.”
The Portrait: It consists of Alexandrine verse (fourteen syllables), rhymed in a consonant form (ABAB), (DCCD), …, (QRQR), i.e., it is a stringing of serventesios. Analysis of Rhetorical Figures: My childhood memories are of a courtyard in Seville (Image from “infancy” and “Memories”), and an orchard clearing where lemons ripen (Image from “infancy” and “garden”; Epithet: “garden course”). My youth, twenty years in the land of Castile (Image from “youth” and “twenty years”), my history, some events I remember but do not want (Image from “history” and “some cases”). I am not a seducer like Manara, nor a Bradomín (comparison); you know my awkward sartorial dressing, but I received the arrow assigned to me by Cupid (metaphor), and loved as they may have to hospital. There is in my veins blood drops of Jacobin (metaphor), but my verse springs like a serene spring (Metaphor; Epithet: “serene spring”). More than a man who knows his doctrine, I am, in the good sense of the word, good (pun intended). I adore beauty and modern aesthetics, I love the makeup but not the current cosmetic (Metaphor). I’m not a bird of the new gay art – trill (comparison). From verse 31, there is an enumeration. And when the day of the last trip, (Metaphor). And it is to split the ship that never has to turn, (Metaphor)… find me on board, lightweight luggage, almost naked as the children of the sea. (Simile: “naked as the children of the sea.”)