Metamorphic Imagination in Antonio Machado's 'El poeta'

Abstract

The reference to the mythological sea god Glaucus at the beginning of Antonio Machado's 'El poeta' conjures up the protean quality of his poetic vision. Water carries a constant transformative element into Machado's poetry and its imagery prompts some of the most lyrical passages of his work. Whilst this aspect has generally been interpreted in connection with the theme of time, water imagery is also related to a worldview dominated by a sense of indeterminacy and fluidity which has its ultimate source in Ovid's Metamorphoses. This metamorphic imagination is at play in 'El poet a', an important but overlooked early poem included in his collection Soledades. Galerías. Otros poemas. A close analysis of this poem reveals that Machado's meditation on the poet's predicament goes beyond the self-referential framework in which his Symbolist poems tend to be read. While the poem's richly allusive texture highlights Machado's increasing confidence as a poet, its embedded dualism shows his sensibility for paradox — a form of discourse which would underlie his whole poetics.