Antonio Machado’s Solitudes and Bécquer’s Legends
Solitudes, Galleries and Other Poems (1903-1907)
Solitudes, Galleries and Other Poems is the first book of poems by Antonio Machado. Although it is sometimes associated with modernist aesthetics, *Solitudes* is a book “inside”, stripped of superfluous ornamentation and away from the sound, exoticism, and other procedures of the school of Rubén Darío.
Machado’s Poetic Focus
The temporal focus of Machado’s poetry appears fully developed in this book. We see it in poems like “The Embers of a Golden Sunset”, in which these are symbols that represent the flow of time and death for Machado: the afternoon, water, sleep, the source. Some poems in this book, such as “It Was a Bright Afternoon”, convey the anguish that the poet feels, lost in life like a child in a crowd. This last poem features stunning convergent images of the dog and child.
One of the notable aspects of Machado’s work is his tendency to unfold, to maintain a constant dialogue with himself: “Talk to the man who is always with me,” as he stated in *Self*, which he included in his next book, *Campos de Castilla*. This split appears in poems like “I Said One Clear Afternoon” or “It Was a Bright Afternoon.”
It is also interesting how he poses the problem of religion, such as in “Last Night When He Slept”, approaching Unamuno when considering the existence of God as an illusion, a dream that can bring some peace and happiness.
Personal Assessment
In my opinion, *Solitudes* surpasses *Campos de Castilla* in its deep emotion, but the poems in the latter book are, in general, better known for their prophetic vision of the two Spains, which would lead to civil war, exile, and the poet’s death.
Bécquer’s Legends
These are sixteen stories that first appeared in the press, like other prose works by Bécquer: Literary Letters to a Woman and Letters from My Cell. They are typically romantic stories in which a prevailing atmosphere of mystery, fantasy, and dreamlike evocations, combined with a carefully crafted literary style, approach the lyricism of poetry itself.
Except for The Red Hands of the Captain, set in an exotic location, the other legends are found in Spain. Most are new versions of legends from Soria, Toledo, or Aragon. Almost all are set in a vague past, medieval or Renaissance, but others, like Maese Pérez the Organist or The Three Dates, happen at the same time as the narrator; the latter is presented as something that happened to the narrator in the magical and medieval Toledo.
Themes and Structure
The theme of most is love, as the force that moves the world and can lead to destruction if certain limits are not respected. Many legends have a three-tiered structure:
- First part: The narrator, a writer or a painter easily identifiable with the writer himself, evokes an ancient legend through a conversation, an event, a memory, and so on.
- Second part: Much wider, is the legend itself.
- Epilogue: The narrator draws the consequences of the legend.
Bécquer’s Message
As a conservative Catholic writer, Bécquer intended to convey a message to the man of his age, who is sunk in the selfishness and materialism of modern life. He reminds them that there is another life beyond this, there is a punishment for those who, instead of tending toward the ideal, are determined to desecrate the hidden, sacred, and mysterious.
Bécquer is not exactly a feminist writer; often, the forces of evil are represented by women whose excessive desire to defy divine laws or ancestral customs awakens love. An example is *El Monte de las Animas*, one of Bécquer’s best-known works, where Alonso is drawn by the beautiful Beatrice to enter the site dedicated to the mystery of the dead at night. In Pedro’s Gold Bangle, she will go crazy to commit a sacrilegious act pushed by her lover.
Characters
The characters are not very elaborate; they have just physical features: green eyes, black hair, etc. They lack psychological complexity and are incarnations of abstract ideals or forces of evil: pride, sensuality, selfishness. Other legends, like The Moonlight, express the emptiness of human existence; the gentleman Manrique falls for a mirage.