Francisco de Goya y Lucientes - Duelo a garrotazos

''The two Spains'' ( es, las dos Españas) is a phrase from a short poem by

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

poet

Antonio Machado Antonio Cipriano José María y Francisco de Santa Ana Machado y Ruiz (26 July 1875 – 22 February 1939), known as Antonio Machado, was a Spanish poet and one of the leading figures of the Spanish literary movement known as the Generation ...

. The phrase, referring to the left-right political divisions that later led to the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

, originated in a short, untitled poem, number LIII of his ''Proverbios y Cantares''
Proverbios y Cantares
' , LIII, Antonio Machado. (''Proverbs and Songs''). Antonio Machado himself is an example of this split. While he wrote a poem to honor the Communist General

Enrique Líster Enrique Líster Forján (21 April 1907 – 8 December 1994) was a Spanish communist politician and military officer. Early life Líster was born in 1907 at Ameneiro, A Coruña. A stonemason, he spent his adolescence in Cuba, before returni ...

,
A Líster, jefe en los ejércitos del Ebro
', Antonio Machado, June 1938. his brother Manuel Machado dedicated another poem to the saber of the rebel Generalissimo

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 ...

. The idea of a divided Spain, each half antagonistic to the other half, dates back at least to 19th-century Spanish satirist

Mariano José de Larra Mariano José de Larra y Sánchez de Castro (24 March 1809 – 13 February 1837) was a Spanish romantic writer and journalist best known for his numerous essays and his infamous suicide. His works were often satirical and critical of the 19th- ...

, who, in his article "

All Souls' Day All Souls' Day, also called ''The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed'', is a day of prayer and remembrance for the faithful departed, observed by certain Christian denominations on 2 November. Through prayer, intercessions, alms and ...

1836" Día de difuntos de 1836"wrote "Here lies half of Spain. It died of the other half." Later, philosopher

Miguel de Unamuno Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (29 September 1864 – 31 December 1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor of Greek and Classics, and later rector at the University of Salamanca. His major philosophical essay w ...

, Machado's contemporary, developed the idea through the Biblical story of

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...

and

Esau Esau ''Ēsaû''; la, Hesau, Esau; ar, عِيسَوْ ''‘Īsaw''; meaning "hairy"Easton, M. ''Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', (, , 2006, p. 236 or "rough".Mandel, D. ''The Ultimate Who's Who in the Bible'', (.), 2007, p. 175 is the elder son o ...

struggling for dominance in their mother's womb, as in the article "Rebeca" (1914), which may pre-date Machado's quatrain. But historians trace the idea still further back, to the 17th and 18th centuries and the formation of the Spanish character. Historian Charles J. Esdaile describes Machado's "two Spains" as "the one

clerical Clerical may refer to: * Pertaining to the clergy * Pertaining to a clerical worker * Clerical script, a style of Chinese calligraphy * Clerical People's Party See also * Cleric (disambiguation) Cleric is a member of the clergy. Cleric may a ...

, absolutist and

reactionary In political science, a reactionary or a reactionist is a person who holds political views that favor a return to the ''status quo ante'', the previous political state of society, which that person believes possessed positive characteristics abse ...

, and the other

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

and progressive," but views this picture of the first Spain as "far too simplistic", in that it lumps the

enlightened absolutism Enlightened absolutism (also called enlightened despotism) refers to the conduct and policies of European absolute monarchs during the 18th and early 19th centuries who were influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, espousing them to enhance ...

of the 18th century

Bourbon Bourbon may refer to: Food and drink * Bourbon whiskey, an American whiskey made using a corn-based mash * Bourbon barrel aged beer, a type of beer aged in bourbon barrels * Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit * A beer produced by Bras ...

monarchs with the reactionary politics that simply wanted to restore the "untrammeled enjoyment" of the privileges of the Church and aristocracy. In addition, he states that the ''populacho''—the mass of the common people "pursuing a dimly perceived agenda of their own"—were not loyal to any of these on any long term basis.Charles J. Esdaile, ''Spain in the Liberal Age'', Blackwell, 2000. . p. 40–41.

References

External links

Original Spanish-language text of Machado's poem
{{DEFAULTSORT:Two Spains, The Historiography of Spain Phrases Political history of Spain Spanish Civil War poems