Antonio Machado's Life and Poetic Inspiration in 'El Olmo Viejo'

Life and Work of Antonio Machado

• Location
  Antonio Machado was born in Seville in 1875. He spent his youth in Madrid and studied at the Free Institution of Education. After a stay in Paris, he spent five years in Soria as a French teacher at the Institute. There, he discovered and identified with the Castilian landscape. He married Leonor there, and she died at a young age. He then moved to Baeza, Segovia, and finally Madrid. When the Republican army was defeated, he moved to France and died in Collioure, a small town near the Spanish border, in 1939.

Campos de Castilla (1912) signifies an encounter with Castile, the landscape of the highlands where he projected his state of mind and found expression in the national and historical reality of Spain. There are also nostalgic personal recollections in this book, reflections on the great themes of human existence, and criticism of patriotic concern, but everything is viewed with increased objectivity. Finally, note the extension to the Andalusian countryside and the praise of many contemporary writers: Rubén Darío, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Unamuno, Azorín, etc.

Metric Analysis of 'El Olmo Viejo'

This poem consists of thirty verses of major and minor art because they are eleven and seven syllables (hendecasyllables and heptasyllables), but apparently without following any rules. However, it is a combination of lines of 7 and 11 syllables, comfortably rhyming for the poet. This is a *silva*, a classic strophic model that even admits that some verses may be loose, as in this poem. The rhyme is consonant, except for the twenty-fourth verse, which is a single verse with no rhyme.

There are chained rhymes, at least, in verses 13 and 14, 15 and 16, and 21 and 22, where an embraced rhyme is produced. There are enjambments between verses 5 and 6, 16 and 17, 24 and 25, and 28 and 29.

Plot Summary

Because of his love for the land of Castile, the author finds in it a subject for poetry. In the case of this poem, he focuses on the description of an elm, a tree species that is abundant in the country, which lies on the banks of the River Duero. He manages to create the image of a landscape in the reader's mind, besides transmitting the feeling that the dying tree gives, which is old and will be destroyed, either for climatic reasons or by men. But he also brings a glimmer of hope because of the emergence of new leaves.

Theme

A sensitive and poignant description of an old elm, from which life emerges through the spring.

Structure of the Poem

This poem is divided into three parts:

1. The first part goes up to the fourteenth verse, which provides an overview of the state of the tree, its situation, and its environment. It also cites the emergence of new leaves with the arrival of spring and compares it with other species, like poplars.
2. The second part, which occupies most of the rest of the poem except for the last three verses, shows the poet expressing his desire to leave a written record of the appearance of those wonderful leaves amid so much death and decay, having said all that can happen to the tree in such a state.
3. The last three verses form the third part, and they are not speaking about the elm, but they express a desire for hope.