The writer Antonio Machado Ruiz was born in Seville on July 26, 1875. A Spanish poet, playwright and narrator who He has become one of the fundamental writers of our literature to the point that it cannot be understood without Machado’s poetry.
Poems by Antonio Machado
Other poems:
Antonio Machado He became one of the emblematic poets of the Generation of ’98, although its beginnings were clearly modernist. A generation that lived concerned about the problems of Spain and that felt weakness for the work of authors such as Gonzalo de Berceo, Jorge Manrique, Cervantes and Quevedo. They also admire the romantic Larra and the enlightened ones.
The young Antonio together with his brother Manuel, also a poet, studied at the Free Education Institution and will finish his studies at the Madrid institutes of San Isidro and Cardenal Cisneros. His trip to Paris influenced his life and his work because he met Rubén Darío and worked for a few months for the Garnier publishing house.
The writer Antonio Machado reflected in many of his works his early years in Seville and Madrid. Some happy years that influenced his literary career. One of her first collections of poems was Childhood Souvenir in which he talks about his childhood. His family, his studies, the figure of his father or his first loves appear in his first poems.
His first poems
The first works of Antonio Machado They follow the trend of modernism, which was what was popular at that time.. For example, in his collection of poems Solitudes, a collection of poems published in 1903, thanks to which the poet’s talent began to be known. In 1919 it was published Solitudes, galleries and other poems another collection of poems with clear modernist influence. He also discovers poems by Antonio Machado from this stage.
In his first years of literary activity the writer Antonio Machado He participated in the literary and theatrical world of the city of Madrid. She even became part of the theater company of María Guerrero and Fernando Díaz de Mendoza. In 1907 he obtained the professorship of French in the city of Soria and left the city.
After taking a trip to Paris thanks to a scholarship from the Board of Further Studies to study philosophy with Bergson and Bédier, His beloved wife Leonor passed away. Antonio Machado had only been married for three years and his loss affected him deeply to the point of wanting to leave Soria overwhelmed by memories of him.
In 1912 it was published Fields of Castile that would change the trajectory of Antonio Machado. The poet talks about the problems of Castile, its nature and its problems. But it also reflected his feelings towards Spain and his pain over the death of his wife Leonor.
The maturity of Antonio Machado’s poetry
In 1917 Antonio Machado published Complete poems in which he follows the poetic line marked by Fields of Castile. A mature work that includes the Leonor cycle with compositions that recall the dead wife and Andalusian-themed poems appear in which he develops social criticism in an ironic tone..
Machado’s poems in this book can be divided between those who talk about Spain’s problem with the landscape of Castile and its people and its existential problems after the death of Leonor. Discover poems by Antonio Machado from this time.
The writer Antonio Machado requested a transfer to Baeza, a town where he continued teaching French between 1912 and 1919. After these years of solitude, Antonio Machado moved to Segovia seeking proximity to Madrid, a destination to which he returned in 1932. During the years he spent in Segovia he collaborated in the popular university founded in said city..
The last stage of his poetry
In 1924 Antonio Machado published New songsa work that stood out for the Proverbs and songs. in his poems The influence of popular lyrics is noticeable with brief, essential, short verse meter and assonant rhyme, general linguistic simplicity. Guiomar appears, a new female character, in whom some saw the poetess Pilar de Valderrama, although the memory of her beloved Leonor is still present.
In 1927 the writer entered the Royal Academy and During the twenties and thirties he wrote theater in collaboration with his brother Manuel. In 1932 Antonio Machado returned to the city of Madrid.
During the Civil War Machado was not in Madrid, since He was evacuated to Valencia in November 1936. In those years the writer Antonio Machado was participating in republican publications in which he tried to launch a literary campaign. He also collaborated in Hora de España and attended the International Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture.
In 1939 the writer Antonio Machado went to Barcelona, from where he crossed the Pyrenees to Coillure. Sadly, in this French town he died shortly after his arrival and could no longer return to Spain.