Manuel Machado y Ruiz (29 August 1874 in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

– 19 January 1947 in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

) was a Spanish poet and a prominent member of the

Generation of 98 The Generation of '98 ( es, Generación del 98), also called Generation of 1898 ( es, Generación de 1898, links=no), was a group of novelists, poets, essayists, and philosophers active in Spain at the time of the Spanish–American War (1898), comm ...

. Manuel Machado was the son of Antonio Machado Álvarez, a known folklorist Seville nicknamed "Demófilo", and Ana Ruiz. His brothers were also poets: Antonio Machado and José Machado. He inherited his father's love of the popular Andalusian character. Manuel was born in San Pedro Martir Street No. 20, spending his childhood in the Palacio de las Dueñas, where his family had rented one of the zones reserved for individuals. His whole family moved to Madrid when Manuel was 9, because his paternal grandfather had obtained a professorship at the Universidad Central. The desire of all the three brothers was to study in the Free Institution of Teaching, led by

Francisco Giner de los Ríos Francisco Giner de los Ríos (10 October 1839 in Ronda, Spain – 18 February 1915 in Madrid) was a philosopher, educator and one of the most influential Spanish intellectuals at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Biog ...

, who was a great friend of the Manuel's grandfather. Later, the family moved to Madrid, where Manuel progressed in his studies, culminating with a Bachelor of Arts. After that, his family returned to Seville on only a few occasions, but Seville and

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

were in his mind as a living reference, however distant, for the love of his parents towards their land. In Madrid, Manuel began to publicize his first poetry and contributed to several literary publications in Madrid along with writers like Francis and Juan Ramón Jiménez Villaespesa. He was co-founder of the Association of Friends of the Soviet Union on February 11, 1933. Over the years, he became director of Madrid's Municipal Library (now the Municipal Historical Library) and the Municipal Museum. He created several short-lived literary magazines and worked in daily newspapers in Europe and America. Machado contributed strongly to the modernist poetry, and understood its colorful, decadent and cosmopolitan themes, and that giving a hint of Andalusian poetry makes something unique. This has often been opposed to the modernist side of the 98 Generation. In 1936, during the civil war, Manuel was appointed to a seat in the

Royal Spanish Academy The Royal Spanish Academy ( es, Real Academia Española, generally abbreviated as RAE) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with ...

. In collaboration with his brother Antonio, he and Manuel wrote several dramatic works in the Andalusian style. Manuel's most notable work is ''La Lola se va a los puertos'', adapted into film twice. Other dramatic works by Machado were the ''La duquesa de Benamejí'', ''La prima Fernanda'', ''Juan de Mañara'', ''El hombre que murió en la guerra'' and ''Desdichas de la fortuna o Julianillo Valcárcel''. Although the poetry of the two brothers is very different, we can see certain parallels. Thus, both composed autobiographical poems ("Adelfos" Manuel, and "Portrait", by Antonio) using Alexandrine verses organized in serventesios. The civil war separated the brothers, placing them on opposite sides. Upon arrival in Madrid after the Spanish coup of July 1936, Manuel gave the military an encomiastic poetry, "The sword of the Caudillo." This earned him the recognition of the

Nationalists Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

. After the war he returned to his post as director of the Newspaper Library and the Municipal Museum of Madrid, and retired shortly thereafter. He continued to write poetry, mostly

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

in nature. His

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was rekindled during a stay in

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and thanks to the devotion of his wife and the influence of certain

priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in p ...

, such as Bonifacio Zamora. He continued to write eulogies to various figures and symbols of

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

, which earned him the scorn of critics and later poets, who considered him a traitor to the Spanish Second Republic. On January 19, 1947 died in Madrid. After the poet's death, his widow entered a

religious order A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practi ...

dedicated to caring for abandoned and sick children. When the Spanish openness came of the 60s and 70s,

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

gave the youth side to the poets covered by Spain and embraced those who died, or who still lived in exile. Thus, the work and figure of Manuel Machado were eclipsed by those of Antonio Machado, more akin to the taste of the time. Some famous poems by Manuel Machado include: :CANTARES :Vino, sentimiento, guitarra y poesía :hacen los cantares de la patria mía. :Quien dice cantares dice Andalucía. :A la sombra fresca de la vieja parra, :un mozo moreno rasguea la guitarra... :Cantares... :Algo que acaricia y algo que desgarra. :La prima que canta y el bordón que llora... :Y el tiempo callado se va hora tras hora. :Cantares... :Son dejos fatales de la raza mora. :No importa la vida, que ya está perdida, :y, después de todo, ¿qué es eso, la vida?... :Cantares... :Cantando la pena, la pena se olvida. :Madre, pena, suerte, pena, madre, muerte, :ojos negros, negros, y negra la suerte... :Cantares... :En ellos el alma del alma se vierte. :Cantares. Cantares de la patria mía, :quien dice cantares dice Andalucía. :Cantares... :No tiene más notas la guitarra mía. :CASTILLA :El ciego sol se estrella :en las duras aristas de las armas, :llaga de luz los petos y espaldares :y flamea en las puntas de las lanzas. :El ciego sol, la sed y la fatiga. :Por la terrible estepa castellana, :al destierro, con doce de los suyos :—polvo, sudor y hierro—, el Cid cabalga. :Cerrado está el mesón a piedra y lodo. :Nadie responde. Al pomo de la espada :y al cuento de las picas el postigo :va a ceder... ¡Quema el sol, el aire abrasa! :A los terribles golpes, :de eco ronco, una voz pura, de plata :y de cristal responde... Hay una niña :muy débil y muy blanca :en el umbral. Es toda :ojos azules y en los ojos lágrimas. :Oro pálido nimba :su carita curiosa y asustada. :«¡Buen Cid, pasad...! El rey nos dará muerte, :arruinará la casa, :y sembrará de sal el pobre campo :que mi padre trabaja... :Idos. El cielo os colme de venturas... :¡En nuestro mal, oh Cid no ganáis nada!» :Calla la niña y llora sin gemido... :Un sollozo infantil cruza la escuadra :de feroces guerreros, :y una voz inflexible grita «¡En marcha!» :El ciego sol, la sed y la fatiga. :Por la terrible estepa castellana, :al destierro, con doce de los suyos :—polvo, sudor y hierro—, el Cid cabalga. :LA COPLA

Sources

Curiosities about Manuel Machado and his family

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Machado, Manuel 1874 births 1947 deaths People from Seville Spanish poets Falangists Writers from Andalusia Members of the Royal Spanish Academy Spanish people of the Spanish Civil War (National faction) Spanish male poets