A new book of poetry translation that enhances the ordinary Antonio Machado, a school
teacher and philosopher and one of Spain's foremost poets of the twentieth century, writes of
the mountains, the skies, the farms and the sentiments of his homeland clearly and without
narcissism:" Just as before, I'm interested/in water held in;/but now water in the living/rock of
my chest."" Machado has vowed not to soar too much; he wants to'go down to the hells' or
stick to the ordinary," Robert Bly writes in his introduction. He brings to the ordinary—to time …

Antonio Machado (1875–1939) is Spain's master poet, the explorer of dream and
landscape, and of consciousness below language. Widely regarded as the greatest
twentieth century poet who wrote in Spanish, Machado—like his contemporary Rilke—is
intensely introspective and meditative. In this collection, the unparalleled Translated by
Willis Barnstone, returns to the poet with whom he first started his distinguished career,
offering a new bilingual edition which provides a sweeping assessment of Machado's work …