Antonio Machado is, without a doubt, the father of modern Spanish lyric poetry: a bridge that stretches between Becquer, Ruben Dario and the generation of Jimenez, Lorca, Alberti, Guillen and Aleixandre. Born in Seville in 1875, he lived a reticent life as a poet and schoolmaster; he died a refugee in France after escaping from Franco's new Spain.