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within a few days of crossing the French
frontier.
Perhaps more than any other member of
the Generation of '98, Machado felt a pro-
found historical revulsion toward the decline
of Spain dramatized so starkly by “the Disas-
ter” of 1898. His youth reflected a consider-
able degree of positive and optimistic feeling,
but at the beginning of the 20th century he
was speaking of Castile as a symbol of the
lost greatness of Spain: “Castile, dominant
yesterday, now miserable, wrapped in its
rags . . . once the mother of many leaders
now the harsh stepmother of mere labor-
ers.” In his poems the nostalgia for better
days and a sense of true worth lingering on
in the provincial villages of Castile mingle
affection with sadness. These feelings are
embodied in his collection of poems titled
Campos de Castilla (Plains of Castile, 1912).
Already retreating from the early influ-
ences that tempted him to indulge in florid
and exuberant stylistics, Machado achieved
a mature simplicity of expression in his later
works, including Nuevas canciones (New
songs, 1924) and Poesías completas (Com-
plete poetry, 1928). These writings also
reveal the existential themes that increas-
ingly attracted him. Throughout his work,
however, there is a persistent theme of soli-
tude and a haunting loneliness that goes
beyond his personal misfortunes. Machado
clearly identifies with the sorrow and seem-
ingly inescapable misfortunes of modern
Spain. It is for this reason, above all others,
that he is revered as one of the great
national poets.
involved in the cultural and physical envi-
ronment of their native A NDALUSIA . For
him, not the austerity of C ASTILE , but rather
the sensuality and voluptuous environment
of the south inspired him. Both were influ-
enced by the enthusiasms of their father
(also named Antonio), one of Spain's great-
est folklorists, but Manuel managed to com-
bine the practical need of a career with
poetical egoism. After taking degrees at
F RANCISCO G INER DE LOS R ÍOS 's Institución
Libre de Enseñanza, he gave himself over,
for a time, to the bohemian life in Paris. In
the company of French and international
poets he absorbed the spirit of modernism,
an approach that influenced him through-
out his life, although he moved away from
narrowly defined poetical forms.
Marriage and the need for a more stable
lifestyle brought Machado into a career as a
librarian from 1909 onward, and he also
found success as a journalist. In the closing
years of the monarchy he became director
of Madrid's Municipal Museum and contin-
ued in the position during the Second
Republic. Changing sides during the S PANISH
CIVIL WAR , he was confirmed in this position
by the Franco regime and continued as
director until 1944. Here again Machado is
in sharp contrast to his brother, for Antonio
was a Loyalist. In view of their divergent
patterns of thought and life, it is somewhat
unexpected to find them collaborating on a
number of plays, of an essentially comedic
character. Machado wrote extensively in
the critical vein, commenting on the dra-
matic productions of the day and retained
an acute sense of Spanish traditions in his
nonfiction work. It is, however, as a poet
that he will be remembered, and above all
as a poet who celebrated the moods and
emotions of Andalusia, claiming to have
Machado, Manuel (1874-1947)
Spanish poet
In contrast to his brother, A NTONIO M ACH -
ADO , Manuel Machado remained deeply
 
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