Antonio Machado's 'Purple Twilight': Poetic Depth & Symbolism

Contextualizing Machado's Poetic Work

The poem The embers of a purple twilight belongs to the collection De la Vía, later included in Solitudes, Galerías y Otros Poemas. These poems were first published in August 1902 in Electra and the literary journal Revista Ibérica. Antonio Machado reorganized the poetry collection from its 1903 edition in 1907.

The poems are grouped into five sections:

• Solitudes
• De la Vía
• Songs and Ballads
• Humor, Fantasy, Notes
• Galerías
• Various

In total, although 13 poems were removed from the first edition, the book ultimately comprised 96 poems.

Themes and Poetic Structure

The poem describes a fountain near a cemetery. It presents a clear dominance of the **theme of death**, closely linked to the **existential angst** of being human. Due to its concise composition, each verse forms a single thematic and structural unit. In this case, it is a composition of six verses: the first five are hendecasyllabic (verse 5 contains a diaeresis), and the last is heptasyllabic. The poem uses assonance rhyme in pairs (-ea), leaving the odd verses free. Once again, Machado employs an **assonanced silva**, though in this instance, it is within a short, almost oracular poem.

Literary Devices and Style

The **nominal style** once again dominates, strongly marked by **neologisms** (e.g., *ascuas*, *crepúsculo*, *mármol*), with a wide deployment of adjectives. Machado makes a peculiar use of the adjective, very close to literary **Modernism**, particularly in verse five. The poem features abundant literary **metaphors**, **epithets**, and **hyperbaton**. Enjambment is present in the last two lines.

Symbolism and Influences

The **symbolism** in this poem is conveyed through elements that reinforce the central **theme of death**:

• Behind the black cypress grove: symbolizes the cemetery and death.
• Embers of a purple twilight: represents twilight time and death.
• Dead calm water: symbolizes death.

The poem's elements evoke a decadent aesthetic, lending it a distinctly **mortuary tone**. In essence, this is a poem that reflects the poet's inner mood, expressed through a static and **mortuary natural landscape**. It shows a clear influence of literary **Romanticism**, particularly from an author Machado greatly admired: **Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer**. We also encounter a small, pessimistic tableau reminiscent of **Rubén Darío**.

One can appreciate the **color contrasts** in the opening lines (black and purple) and the symbolism given to a statue surrounded by a "dead water" that has little to do with the flowing water found in other poems within his work *Solitudes*.