Antonio Machado

Born in Seville in 1875, Antonio Machado became one of the leading writers of Spain’s Generation of ’98. He studied in Madrid, spent time at the Sorbonne in Paris, and later worked as a secondary-school French teacher.

His poetry changed over time: the early books Soledades and Soledades, galerías, y otros poemas are inward and dreamlike, while Campos de Castilla turns toward the land and spirit of Spain, especially the stark landscape of Castile. Readers still return to him for the plainspoken depth of his poems, including the much-loved lines often translated as “Traveler, there is no road.”

Machado supported the Spanish Republic during the Civil War and fled across the Pyrenees near the end of the conflict. He died in Collioure, France, on February 22, 1939, just days after arriving there.