The 20 best poems by Antonio Machado (and their meaning)

Antonio Machado he was a Sevillian poet born in 1875 who left a great legacy within Spanish Modernism. He was part of the so-called Generation of 98, and was chosen a member of the Royal Spanish Academy.

Among his published books, some stand out such as "Soledades" (1907), "Campos de Castilla" (1912) and "La Guerra" (1937). In this article we propose the 20 best poems by Antonio Machado (and their meaning).

• Recommended article: "70 phrases by Antonio Machado: a unique philosophy of life"

The 20 best poems by Antonio Machado (and their meaning)

So that, We expose you some of the most outstanding poems of Machado, and we briefly explain its meaning or interpretation.

1. to a dry elm

To the old elm, cleft by lightning

and in its rotten half,

with the rains of April and the sun of May

some green leaves have grown.

The centenary elm on the hill

that licks the Duero! a yellowish moss

it stains the whitish bark

to the rotten and dusty trunk.

It will not be, which the singing poplars

who guard the road and the shore,

inhabited by brown nightingales.

Army of ants in line

it climbs through it, and in its entrails

Spiders weave their gray webs.

Before I knock you down, elm of the Duero,

the woodcutter with his ax, and the carpenter

turn you into a bell's mane,

cart spear or cart yoke;

before red at home, tomorrow,

you burn in some miserable booth,

at the edge of a road;

before a whirlwind dislodges you

and cut off the breath of the white mountains;

before the river pushes you to the sea

through valleys and ravines,

elm, I want to write down in my portfolio

the grace of your green branch.

my heart waits

also, towards the light and towards life,

another miracle of spring.

• Poem written in 1912, the date on which Machado suffered the death of his wife Leonor. The poem has a very marked cadence; at first a very pessimistic tone, which gradually turns to a more hopeful one. There is a clear parallelism of the poem with the vital moment of Machado. In this poem Machado uses many adjectives, many negative, marking the pessimistic nature of the opening verses.

2. last night when i was sleeping

last night when i was sleeping

I dreamed, blessed illusion!

that a fountain flowed

inside my heart.

Say: why hidden ditch,

water, you come to me,

spring of new life

where i never drank

last night when i was sleeping

I dreamed, blessed illusion!

that a beehive had

inside my heart;

and the golden bees

they were manufacturing in it,

with the old bitterness,

white wax and sweet honey.

last night when i was sleeping

I dreamed, blessed illusion!

that a burning sun shone

inside my heart.

It was hot because it gave

heats of red home,

and it was sun because it was shining

And because it made me cry.

last night when i was sleeping

I dreamed, blessed illusion!

that it was God that he had

inside my heart

• The poem speaks of a dream, more specifically, of a longing to which one aspires and which ends up not being. Three prominent elements can be considered: heart, source and hive, which provide life, food and energy.

3. Portrait

My childhood is memories of a patio in Seville

and a clear orchard where the lemon tree ripens;

my youth, twenty years in the land of Castile;

My story, some cases that I don't want to remember.

Neither a seducer Mañara nor a Bradomín I have been

—you know my clumsy dress dressing—;

but I received the arrow that Cupid assigned me

and I loved how hospitable they can be.

There are in my veins drops of Jacobin blood,

but my verse springs from a serene spring;

and, more than a man to use that he knows the doctrine of him,

I am, in the good sense of the word, good.

I adore beauty, and in modern aesthetics

I cut the old roses from the Ronsard garden;

but I do not love the shaves of the current cosmetics

nor am I one of those birds of the new gay-chirping.

I disdain the romances of hollow tenors

and the chorus of crickets that sing to the moon.

I stop to distinguish the voices from the echoes,

and I only hear, among the voices, one.

Am I classic or romantic? I don't know. leave would like

my verse as the captain leaves his sword:

famous for the virile hand that wielded it,

not by the learned trade of the prized smith.

I talk to the man who always goes with me

—whoever speaks only hopes to speak to God one day—;

my soliloquy is conversation with this good friend

who taught me the secret of philanthropy.

And after all, I owe you nothing; You owe me what I have written.

I go to my job, I pay with my money

the suit that covers me and the mansion that I live in,

the bread that feeds me and the bed where I lie.

And when the day of the last trip arrives

and the ship that will never return is leaving,

you will find me on board lightly baggage,

almost naked, like the children of the sea.

• This poem talks about Machado's past; childhood and youth, from a nostalgic tone. Elements of love, death, and also self-awareness appear.

4. Prelude

While the shadow passes from a holy love, today I want

put a sweet psalm on my old lectern.

I will agree the notes of the stern organ

to the fragrant sigh of the April fife.

The autumn pomas will ripen their aroma;

the myrrh and the incense will chant the smell of it;

The rose bushes will exhale their fresh perfume,

under the peace in the shade of the warm orchard in bloom.

To the low slow chord of music and aroma,

the only and old and noble reason for my praying

will lift its soft flight like a dove,

and the white word will rise to the altar.

• In this poem, the author speaks to us, with a very subtle language, about the illusion of a new love that Machado witnesses, will arrive and for which he wants to be prepared.

5. the bolt

He said a popular voice:

"Who lends me a ladder

to climb the tree

to remove the nails

Jesus the Nazarene?"

Oh, the arrow, the singing

to the Christ of the gypsies

always with blood on the hands

always to unravel.

Sing of the Andalusian people

that every spring

he's asking for stairs

to go up to the cross.

sing of my land

that throws flowers

to the Jesus of agony

and it is the faith of my elders

Oh, you are not my song

I can't sing, I don't want to

to this Jesus of the wood

but to the one who walked in the sea!

• This is a poem of a religious nature, more specifically, a criticism of the Andalusian religion. The poet does not identify himself with the representative Jesus Christ of God, as an immobile and static symbol, but rather with a Jesus Christ who works and develops actions.

6. I dreamed that you took me

I dreamed that you took me

along a white path,

in the middle of the green field,

towards the blue of the mountains,

towards the blue mountains,

a serene morning

I felt your hand in mine

your partner hand,

your girlish voice in my ear

like a new bell

like a virgin bell

of a spring dawn.

They were your voice and your hand,

in dreams, so true...

Live, hope who knows

what the earth swallows!

• A clearly romantic poem, in which Machado addresses a love. The high use of adjectives is appreciated, with emphasis on colors (blue mountains, green fields), to give more nuances to the description.

7. Winter's sun

It's noon. A park.

Winter. White paths;

symmetrical mounds

and skeletal branches.

under the greenhouse,

potted orange trees,

and in his barrel, painted

green, the palm tree.

An old man says,

for your old layer:

"The sun, this beauty

of sun...» The children play.

The water from the fountain

slip, run and dream

licking, almost mute,

the greenish stone

• Very descriptive poem, in which a park is staged with all its elements; trees, hues of the landscape, water from the fountain, etc.

8. Whenever my life...

Whenever my life

all clear and light

like a good river

who runs happily

to the sea,

to the sea ignores

that waits

full of sun and song.

And when it sprouts in me

heart spring

it will be you, my life,

The inspiration

of my new poem.

A song of peace and love

to the rhythm of the blood

that runs through the veins

A song of love and peace.

Just sweet things and words.

While,

meanwhile, keep the golden key

of my verses

among your jewels

Save it and wait.

• Romantic poem in which poetry itself is enhanced; Machado talks about keeping the key to his verses, among the jewels, giving them an undeniably high value.

9. Tips

This love that wants to be

perhaps soon it will be;

but when will he come back

what just happened?

Today is far from yesterday.

Yesterday is never ever!

coin in hand

maybe you should save:

the coin of the soul

it is lost if it is not given.

• Poem that talks about a love relationship that seems to be about to pass and the will to immortalize it later. He has feelings of frustration and a bit of pity.

10. Spring passed...

The spring kissing

softly the grove,

and the new green sprouted

like a green smoke.

the clouds were passing

about the youth field...

I saw in the trembling leaves

the cool April showers.

under that blossoming almond tree,

all loaded with flower

-I remembered-, I have cursed

my loveless youth

Today in the middle of life

I stopped to meditate...

youth never lived

who would dream of you again!

• Another poem with a high descriptive content, somewhat following the line of the previous ones. There is talk of elements of nature; clouds, fresh leaves, flowers, trees, etc.

11. Field

the afternoon is dying

like a humble home that goes out.

There, on the mountains,

some embers remain.

And that broken tree on the white path

makes you cry with pity.

Two branches on the wounded trunk, and one

withered and black leaf on every branch!

do you cry... among the golden poplars,

Far away, the shadow of love awaits you.

• Poem that reveals love as salvation to states of sadness ("Are you crying... Among the golden poplars, far away, the shadow of love awaits you.

12. The clock struck twelve... and it was twelve

The clock struck twelve... and there were twelve

hoe blows on the ground...

- My time! ...—I yelled. The silence

he answered me: —Don't be afraid;

you will not see the last drop fall

that trembles in the hourglass.

You will sleep many hours yet

on the old shore,

and you will find a pure morning

moored your boat to another shore.

• poem about the futureof the hopeful future.

13. to the deserted plaza

to the deserted plaza

drive a maze of alleys.

On one side, the old gloomy wall

of a dilapidated church;

on the other side, the white wall

of an orchard of cypresses and palm trees,

and, in front of me, the house,

and in the house the gate

before the glass that slightly fogs

his placid and smiling figure.

I will turn away. I don't want to

knock on your window... Spring

He comes -- his white dress

floats in the air of the dead plaza--;

He comes to light the roses

red of your rose bushes... I want to see…

• Poem in which Machado describes a plaza that probably belongs to his native town. He describes the square as deserted, a bit dry. Finally, the description takes us to the house where his lover supposedly lives.

14. love and mountains

She rode through the bitter mountains,

one afternoon, between ashen rock.

The leaden balloon of the storm

from mount to mount bouncing could be heard.

Sudden, to the bright flash of lightning,

He reared up, under a tall pine tree,

at the edge of the rock, his horse.

A hard rein he returned to the road.

And he had seen the torn cloud,

and, within, the sharp cresting

of another more tenuous and raised mountain range

-stone lightning seemed-.

And she saw the face of God? He saw the one of his beloved.

He shouted: Die in this cold saw!

• romantic poem in which a man (a gentleman, on his horse) goes looking for his beloved through the mountains.

15. walker there is no way

Walker, are your footprints

the road and nothing else;

Traveler, there is no path,

the path is made by walking.

Walking makes the way,

and looking back

you can see the path that never

it has to be stepped on again.

walker there is no way

but wakes in the sea.

• Well known poem by Machado; talks about the path that one carves in life. Life is considered as a blank canvas, and that one has to weave as he lives, leaving the past behind. It was set to music by Joan Manuel Serrat.

16. autumn sunrise

a long road

between gray rocks,

and some humble prairie

where black bulls graze. Brambles, weeds, clumps.

the earth is wet

by the drops of dew,

and the golden avenue,

towards the bend of the river.

behind the violet mountains

broken the first dawn:

behind the back the shotgun,

among the sharp greyhounds of him, walking a hunter.

• In this poem there is a contrast between nature and man (hunter) who appears in it.

17. Garden

Far from your garden burns the afternoon

gold incense in purplish flames,

behind the forest of copper and ash.

In your garden there are dahlias.

Damn your garden... Today it seems to me

the work of a hairdresser,

with that poor dwarf palmerilla,

and that picture of cut myrtles...

and the little orange in its barrel… The water

of the stone fountain

does not stop laughing about the white shell.

• This is another poem by Machado in which colors abound as descriptive elements. (copper, ash, orange...) while describing the nature of a garden.

18. the ephemeral tomorrow

The Spain of brass band and tambourine,

closed and sacristy,

devoted to Frascuelo and Maria,

mocking spirit and restless soul,

It must have its marble and its day,

its infallible tomorrow and its poet.

In vain yesterday will beget a tomorrow

empty and perhaps fleeting.

It will be a young owl and tarambana,

a tunic with bolero shapes,

in the fashion of realistic France

a little to the use of pagan Paris

and in the style of specialist Spain

in vice close at hand.

That inferior Spain that prays and yawns,

old and gambler, zaragatera and sad;

that inferior Spain that prays and attacks,

when he deigns to use his head,

she will still give birth to males

lovers of sacred traditions

and of sacred ways and manners;

the apostolic beards will flourish,

and other bald spots on other skulls

they will shine, venerable and catholic.

The vain yesterday will engender a tomorrow

empty and by chance! passenger,

the shadow of a rambunctious owl,

of a sayón with bolero charms;

the empty yesterday will give an empty tomorrow.

Like the nausea of ​​a gorged drunk

of bad wine, a red sun crown

of turbid feces the granite peaks;

there is a stomach tomorrow written

in the pragmatic and sweet afternoon.

But another Spain is born

the Spain of the chisel and the mallet,

with that eternal youth that becomes

from the solid past of the breed.

An implacable and redeeming Spain,

Spain that dawns

with an ax in his avenging hand,

Spain of anger and idea.

• Poem that talks about the future of Spain from the point of view of Machado. A rather pessimistic future, with a society that does not work hard, with few ambitions.

19. Horizon

On a clear and broad afternoon like boredom,

when his spear brandishes the hot summer,

they copied the ghost of a grave dream of mine

a thousand shadows in theory, upright on the plain.

The sunset glory was a purple mirror,

It was a crystal of flames, that to the infinite old

I was throwing the serious dream on the plain...

And I felt the sound spur of my step

echo far away in the bloody sunset,

and beyond, the joyous song of a pure dawn.

• The theme of the poem the inevitable passage of time. There are moments when the pause comes, the calm. But finally everything continues, the course of things does not stop.

20. bad dreams

There is the dark square;

the day dies

The bells ring far away.

Of balconies and windows

the stained glass windows light up,

with dull reflections,

like whitish bones

and blurred skulls.

In all the afternoon it shines

a nightmarish light

There is the sun in the setting.

The echo of my step sounds.

It's you? I was waiting for you...

Weren't you the one I was looking for?

• Very visual poem that talks about a scenario and specific moments, emphasizing the different shades of light (square, dark, the stained glass windows are illuminated...) It is more about a romantic poem, since at the end he addresses someone in particular and tells him that he was waiting for him, with questions rhetoric.