Antonio Machado's Duero Elm: Analysis of Poetic Devices

Analyzing Poetic Devices in the Duero Elm Verses

Metaphor and Imagery: The Tree's Inhabitants

The line, "Army ants crawling in a row going for him..." is a metaphor. This is not an actual army of insects, but the comparison is used because they are always found together in large numbers, and their organization, like that of bees, is perfect, with each individual knowing what to do.

These lines also indicate the only living beings that wish to inhabit the tree: wild ants, which feed on filth, and spiders, which "order"—that is, they spin webs in the "guts" inside the rotten wood.

Poetic Voice and Personification

Although the poet speaks of the elm in the third person until the middle of the poem, describing the state of the tree, the voice then shifts to address the tree directly, using apostrophe, as if the tree could answer. Through this resource, the poet seems to lend a soul to a vegetable. By referring to the tree in this way, it loses some of its irrational state, becoming more like a person and thus better able to transmit sensations to the reader—as if it were, in the reader's imagination, an old man about to die.

Syntax and Mood: Hyperbaton and Possibility

In the remainder of the poem, excluding the last three verses, the poet changes the normal order of writing (hyperbaton), where the subject and the verb typically come first, followed by complements. This resource is used to expose, before the end, all the impossible things that could happen to the tree in its current state. The verbal mood shifts to the subjunctive, expressing possibility, as the poet suggests, "I do not really know what will happen."

The Anaphora of "Before"

The beginning of each of these stated possibilities uses the adverb "before" as an anaphora. This suggests that the poet wishes for a specific outcome to occur before any of those terrible things happen. However, this desire is revealed not to materialize until the end of the poem, concluding the narrative with a brief personal reflection.

The first case presented is:

“Before you down, elm of the Duero,
with his ax, the woodcutter, and the carpenter
you into mane hood,
throws carriage or wagon yoke;”

The Fate of the Elm: Utilitarian Transformation

By changing the normal sentence order, the first thing the reader encounters is the verb (in this case, "down"), making the reader quickly realize the horrible things that can happen to the poor tree, thus immediately feeling the pathos of the description.

The threat to the elm comes from the woodcutter, who fells it, followed by the carpenter, who transforms it into something useful. Since the wood is not in good condition, it cannot be used to make beautiful things. Therefore, the poet lists simple, utilitarian wooden instruments, not items meant for decoration or display like furniture. These include:

• The bell's mane: The wooden frame attached to the bell, used to flip it.
• Carriage shafts (or launches): The wooden stick attached by one end to the front set of a carriage, used for steering.
• Wagon yoke: An instrument that joins the work animals, similar to a standard yoke.

Another potential fate is that the tree ends up burning in a ground fire. The use of the adverb "tomorrow" here employs metonymy, as it does not refer literally to the following day but rather to any day in the future.