Spanish Literature: Machado, Valle-Inclán, Lorca
Antonio Machado (1875-1939)
Born in Seville, Antonio Machado‘s family moved to Madrid when he was eight. He was educated at the Free Institution of Education. In 1907, he became a professor of French at the Institute of Soria. He met Leonor Izquierdo there, whom he married in 1909. Leonor died three years later. Antonio moved to Baeza, where he met Pilar Valderrama. In 1939, he went to France and died the same year.
Antonio Machado defined his poetry as a search for essentials. This search led him to express himself through symbols, exploring the rhythm and musicality of the poem. Among his works are Soledades and Campos de Castilla.
- Soledades was first published in 1903 and reappeared, expanded, in 1907 with the new title Soledades, Galerías y Otros Poemas. The author expresses intimate feelings and emotions, showing the influence of modernist aesthetics in both themes and form. It includes poems such as “The Square and the Orange Trees” and “To a Dry Elm“.
- Campos de Castilla: This book contains many themes peculiar to the Generation of ’98: a description of the Castilian landscape and reflection on national identity, reflected symbolically in the romance “The Land of Alvargonzález.” Other poems express Machado’s sorrow for the loss of Leonor.
Ramón María del Valle-Inclán (1866-1936)
Ramón María del Valle-Inclán was born in Villanueva de Arosa. His ideological career took him from youthful conservatism to the Republicanism of his later years.
His narrative works include the Sonatas and Tirano Banderas. Valle was the great innovator of Spanish drama in the early decades of the 20th century.
The Theater of Valle-Inclán: The Esperpento
Valle-Inclán’s plays are usually divided into two major stages:
- The stage of modernist aesthetics: To this belong the Comedias Bárbaras, pieces recreating a mythical, superstitious, and violent Galicia.
- The stage of the esperpento: It is based on a grotesque and tragic distortion of reality. This stage begins with Divinas Palabras and reaches its maximum expression with Luces de Bohemia.
Federico García Lorca (1898-1936)
Poetry and Drama
Born in Fuente Vaqueros, Federico García Lorca moved to the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid in 1919. In 1929, he traveled to New York, where he wrote poems published posthumously under the title Poet in New York.
Lorca’s theater is poetic drama. He presents a single theme: the confrontation between the individual and their environment. The conflict between the individual and society emerges as a drama, usually resolved with the destruction of the individual and their dreams. Notable works include: Así que pasen cinco años and El Público, and tragic dramas such as Bodas de Sangre, Yerma, and La Casa de Bernarda Alba.
Lorca’s poetry is dramatic or theatrical and tragic. The poet expresses himself through characters, reflecting fatalism. Alongside the theme of tragic destiny are frustration and impossible desire.
His poetic career has two stages:
- The first stage extends to 1928 and is characterized by fusing the popular and the cultured, tradition and modernity, with works like Libro de Poemas, Canciones, Poema del Cante Jondo, and Romancero Gitano. In Romancero Gitano, he presents a tragic and mythical vision of Andalusia, employing a style that combines tradition and renewal.
- The second stage includes surrealist influence. Poet in New York reflects Lorca’s experience during 1929-1930. The book combines testimony about the enslavement of man by machines with the intimate subject of the poet’s frustration.
In his later years, he wrote Llanto por Ignacio Sánchez Mejías (a great elegy), Seis Poemas Galegos, Diván del Tamarit, and Sonetos del Amor Oscuro.