In 1901 he had his first poems published in the
literary journal 'Electra'. His first book of poetry was published in 1903 with
the title Soledades. Over the next few years he gradually amended the
collection, removing some and adding many more, and in 1907 the definitive
collection was published with the title Soledades. Galerías. Otros Poemas.
In the same year Machado was offered the job of
Professor of French at the school in Soria. Here he met Leonor Izquierdo,
daughter of the owners of the boarding house Machado was staying in. They were
married in 1909: he was 34; Leonor was 15. Early in 1911 the couple went to live
in Paris where Machado read more French literature and studied philosophy. In
the summer however Leonor was diagnosed with advanced tuberculosis and they
returned to Spain. On 1 August 1912 Leonor died, just a few weeks after the
publication of Campos de Castilla. Machado was devastated and left Soria, the
city that had inspired the poetry of Campos, never to return. He went to live in
Baeza, Andalucia, where he stayed until 1919. Here he wrote a series of poems
dealing with the death of Leonor which were added to a new (and now definitive)
edition of Campos de Castilla published in 1916 along with the first edition of
Nuevas canciones
While his earlier poems are in an ornate,
Modernist style, with the publication of "Campos de Castilla" he showed an
evolution toward greater simplicity, a characteristic that was to distingush his
poetry from then on.
Between 1919 and 1931 Machado was Professor of
French in Segovia. He moved here to be nearer to Madrid, where Manuel lived. The
brothers would meet at weekends to work together on a number of plays, the
performances of which earned them great popularity. It was here also that
Antonio had a secret affair with Pilar Valderrama, a married woman with three
children, to whom he would refer in his work by the name Guiomar.
When
Francisco Franco launched his coup d'état in July 1936 Machado was in Madrid.
The coup was to separate him forever from his brother Manuel who was trapped in
the Nationalist zone
