Antonio Machado was a very famous Spanish poet. He was born in 1875 in Seville.

His father was a professor, but he died in 1893 and he left his family without financial support, so Machado and his brother turned to writing and acting to support themselves. His brother, Manuel, was also a famous poet.

When Antonio Machado was 8, he moved with his family to Madrid and he studied in the "Institución Libre de Enseñanza". In 1899, when he was 24, he travelled with his brother Manuel to Paris, where they found job as translators.

He obtained a degree from the University of Madrid and became a teacher. He worked as French professor in various cities in Spain: Soria, Baza... When he was living in Soria, he married Leonor, who unfortunately died very young.

His best poetry was very influenced by the sober and dramatic Castilian landscape. He wrote a lot of very famous poems. In 1903 he wrote "Soledades", in 1912 "Campos de Castilla" and in 1936 "Poesías Completas".

He was commited to the Republican cause, so in 1936, when the Spanish Civil War began, he moved to Valencia. In 1939 he was exiled in France, and few months later, he died in Collioure, a little French town near Spanish frontier.

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