Synopses & Reviews
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.
Mr. 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.
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. The Literary Review
Review
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. Times Literary Supplement
Review
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. New York Times Book Review
Review
A magnificent volume. -- New York Times Book Review
Review
A magnificent volume. Modern Language Journal
About the Author
Alan S. Trueblood, Professor of Hispanic Studies and Comparative Literature, Brown University, is the author of Experience and Artistic Expression in Lope de Vega.
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 soñolienta
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 soñando 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 sueño, 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 sueños
Idling once in a dream
23.Y podrás 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 José 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