Antonio Machado: Selected Poems

Regarded by many as the finest poet of twentieth-century Spain, Antonio Machado y Ruiz (1875–1939) is not well known outside the Spanish-speaking world. This volume will introduce him to Anglo-American readers, enabling them to experience at first hand the subtle nuances of his verse. Some two hundred fifty poems in Spanish, drawn from Machado’s entire oeuvre, are accompanied on facing pages by sensitive and beautifully fluent translations which render the originals accessible to the mind and the ear. Alan S. Trueblood annotates the individual poems, placing them in context and illuminating their allusions and undertones. In addition, he provides a substantial biographical and critical Introduction. This gives an overview of Machado’s life, as a poet and teacher and wide-ranging commentator on cultural, political, and social affairs. (Forced into exile at the end of the Civil War, he crossed the Pyrenees on foot and died a month later.) The Introduction also discusses the qualities of Machado’s predominantly quiet and reflective verse, as well as the development of the thought of this major poet.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Selected Poems 1. En el entierro de an amigo At the Burial of a Friend 2.Fue una clara tarde, triste y sonolienta The clear afternoon was drowsy and sad 3.El limonero languido suspende Listless the lemon tree suspends 4.Yo escucho los cantos I follow the songs 5.Yo voy sonando caminos I dream my way 6.Horizonte Horizon 7.Sobre la tierra amarga Upon the bitter land 8.S Crece en la plaza en sombra Moss grows in the shadows of the square 9. Al borde del sendero un dia nos sentamos We settle down one day beside the path 10. Oh, dime, noche amiga, amada vieja Oh tell me, friendly night, so long beloved 11. La noria The Waterwheel 12. El cadalso The Gallows 13. Las moscas Flies 14. Glosa Gloss 15. Anoche cuando dormia Last night I had a dream 16. Mi corazon se ha dormido? Has my heart gone to sleep? 17. Desgarrada la nube; el arco iris A rent in the clouds 18. Y era el demonio de mi sueno, el angel And the devil in my dream 19. Oh tarde luminosa! Oh lightstruck evening! 20. Es una tarde cenicienta y mustia This withered, ashen afternoon 21 .Y ha de morir contigo el mundo mago And is the magic world to die with you 22 .Tal vez la mano, en suenos Idling once in a dream 23.Y podras conocerte, recordando And you can know yourself if you'll recall 24. Retrato Portrait 25. A orillas del Duero Along the Duero 26.El Dios ibero The Iberian God 27. Orillas del Duero Along the Duero 28. Eres tu Guadarrama, viejo amigo Guadarrama, is it you, old friend 29. Carnpos de Soria The Soria Country 30.En estos campos de la tierra mia Back in the landscape of my native soil 31. A Jose Maria Palacio To Jose Maria Palacio 32 .Forma de un dia. Meditaciones rurales One Days Poem. Rural Reflections 33.Los olivos The Olive Trees 34.Proverbios y cantares Proverbs and Song-Verse 35 .Parabolas Parables 36.A don Francisco Giner de los Rios To Don Francisco Giner de los Rios 37. Apuntes Jottings 38. Galerias Passageways 39. Canciones de tierras alias Highland Songs 40. Canciones Songs 41. Proverbios y cantares Proverbs and Song-Verse 42.Los ojos The Eyes 43.Esto sone This Was My Dream 44 .Al escultor Emiliano Barral To the Sculptor Emiliano Barral 45. Los sue-os dialogados Dreams in Dialogue 46. De mi cartera From My Portfolio 47. Sonetos Sonnets 48. Viejas canciones Old Songs 49. Rosa de fuego The Flaming Rose 50. Al gran Cero To the Great Nought 51. Ultimas lamentaciones de Abel Martin Last Lamentations of Abel Martin 52. Siesta. En memoria de Abel Martin Siesta. In Memory of Abel Martin 53. Recuerdos de sueflo, fiebre y duermivela Memories of Dreaming, Fever, and Dozing 54. Canciones a Guiomar Songs for Guiomar 55. Otras canciones a Guiomar Other Songs for Guiomar 56. Muerte de Abel Martin The Death of Abel Martin 57.Otro clima Another Climate 58. En donde, sobre piedra aborrascada Where have I seen you, heaped 59.Otras coplas Further Lines 60.Apunte de sierra Mountain Note 61 .Recuerdo infantil (de Juan de Mairena) Childhood Memory (of Juan de Mairena) 62. El poeta recuerda las tierras de Soria The Poet Remembers the Soria Country 63. Meditacion Meditation 64. El crimen far en Granada The Crime Was in Granada Notes to the Introduction Notes to the Poems Key to Poem Numbers Index of First Lines

About the Author :
Alan S. Trueblood was Professor of Hispanic Studies and Comparative Literature at Brown University.

Review :
Antonio Machado (1875–1939) [is] regarded in Spain as the greatest Spanish poet of the century. Trueblood’s volume…can only serve to win readers for one of the greatest of European poets. Trueblood’s discriminating anthology, with its very readable and resourceful English renderings facing the Spanish text, and its lightly handled erudition…is the best initiation into the poetic legacy of Machado for the general reader. Trueblood…makes [the poems] breathe with the same laconic power they have in Spanish. It is no small accomplishment that he has been able to keep his English so wind-swept. A magnificent volume.