Antonio Machado's Poetic Journey: Themes, Style, and Evolution

Antonio Machado's Poetic Legacy

War Poetry and Exile

His subsequent and diverse production includes "Poems of War" on issues and personalities of the Spanish Civil War. He resorts to traditional forms of verse. This commitment led him to die in exile. In his pocket were found his last few verses: "These days the sun blue and children."

Themes, Motifs, and Stylistic Features

In Machado's poetic production, there is a constant correspondence, undoubtedly his most authentic. This, along with the author's own character—discreet, reserved, polite—made him seem timid. Perhaps he abandoned fashion and eccentricity, which he saw as remarkably decorative, giving rise to a fundamentally intimate poetry.

Familial and Early Influences

Let us first consider familial influences. Antonio Machado was the nephew of Don Agustín Durán, compiler of Early Reading (general ballads). These ballads left their mark on all of Machado's work; his taste for popular verse, assonant rhyme, and the romance form, found in all stages of his work, undoubtedly owe much to his childhood reading. On the other hand, we must not forget that Machado was the son of Antonio Machado y Álvarez, a noted folklorist, who collected folk songs and traditions. Certain forms of verse that appear mostly in his New Songs tie in with this familial vein.

Evolution of Machado's Poetic Style

All this is something permanent in Machado's poetic work. However, Machado's poetry is in evolution. Here we see the fundamental difference between the first two stages in Machado's poetic output: the first, intimate, explores feeling, emotion, more actively; and the second, noventayochista, tries to reflect and influence the outside world.

Later Poetic Directions

And in his "Poetics" of 1931, he points to an epigrammatic, thoughtful, and concise poetry, particularly in his New Songs.

Major Themes: Time, Death, and Spain

Here we find the great theme of Machado's poetry: time. The transience of time and life itself are the most prominent themes, alongside death. These stand out in the work of our author. The subject of Spain is also present. Perhaps the "war poems" are nothing but a deepening of his noventayochista position.

Stylistic Elements and Symbolism

Machado's modernism is an intimate modernism that shuns the tenets of Rubén Darío's modernism. His major topics are significant issues concerning time, death, and the feeling of melancholy and sadness. These themes are expressed through a number of recurring motifs that acquire symbolic status: the afternoon, sunset, water, and others. The symbol of the afternoon can acquire different meanings according to the context. Regarding other aspects of the style in Soledades, it should be noted the importance of color imagery, where we observe the influence of Parisian painting, particularly its use of color and light. This is mostly found in his use of adjectives. Machado often used what is called a "bisemic symbol." This is an expression that has a double meaning—both real and symbolic—and the symbol develops throughout the poem.

Campos de Castilla: Spain and Versification

In Campos de Castilla, a predominance of the theme of Spain is found, conceived as a problem, manifested in the vision of rural people in Castile. Also, a vocabulary that moves from the vulgar to the more exquisite. Regarding versification, assonance predominates throughout Machado's work. Strangely, for a modernist poet, Machado uses very little Alexandrine verse. Occasionally, dodecasyllabic lines appear.