Antonio Machado: Poetic Techniques and Philosophical Irony

Analysis of Poetic Fragments and Philosophical Themes

"He trembles when he sings the word..." This fragment utilizes minor art and sharps. It features assonance rhyme in odd oxytone acute lines, conveying shakes, emotions, or the weight of a certain age (and do not whistle, as it does so well; a causal comparative). Even while whistling, the speaker is still enduring deep feelings and emotions (e.g., "...your heart" used in a metaphorical sense).

"I thought there was none: cogito ergo non sum..." In this passage, Machado addresses philosophical questions regarding the cogito ergo sum. He creates an irony directed at the main clause of René Descartes' method.

"Speaking of gypsies..." This section employs dialogue. It uses "Compadrito" (a short, emotional diminutive) and "as we" (a plural of involvement). The phrase "circling the shortcut" acts as a litotes, suggesting a desire not to go any specific way or an attempt to avoid work.

Stoicism and the Human Condition

"Some desperate..." is a couplet with assonance rhyme in pairs. The line "Some desperate heal only with rope" suggests that some believe the only solution to life's difficulties is to hang themselves. Faith is presented as a gift that cannot be "in fashion"; one must keep it as a means of hope for the future or stoicism (carrying capacity).

Reality, Paradox, and Aging

• "I thought my home off...": Belief is not the same as truth or reality; appearances are deceptive.
• "Burst of laughter...": This is minor art and a paradox. Those who usually smile may be serious or mournful inside. Nobody is immune to laughter or mourning.
• "That split the job...": This uses syntactic parallelism ("The bad... / the good...") where both phrases follow the structure: verb + subject + direct object.
• "...As Mr. Santob": No matter how much you want to hide your aging exterior, your actual age remains inside. This poem explains the difficulty of accepting old age.

Stylistic and Expressive Procedures

• Humanization or Personification: Attributing human traits to things to communicate with that which he is surrounded by, often seen in a twin vision of landscapes, people, and history.
• Exclamations: These allow the translation of emotion into objects, people, or landscape elements, often accompanied by a nominal style.
• Direct Questioning: Related to existential issues; satirical poems often include these.
• Monologues and Dialogues: Frequent use of internal and external speech.
• Suspension and Reluctance: A special mention of his taste for these rhetorical devices.

Metrics and Poetic Forms

• Meters Used: The octosyllable and pentameter are favorites, sometimes combined with the heptasyllable.
• Stanzas: Includes sonnets, quatrains, and modernism-inspired pairings.
• Traditions: The Silver Age influences, the romance of popular tradition, the quatrain streak, and the soleá. It encompasses many forms of singing.