The significance of 'el paisaje' in the poetry of Antonio Machado

This thesis deals with the significance of what is perhaps the major unifying element of the poetry of Antonio Machado, which is "paisaje." A detailed meaning of "paisaje" -- the landscape, the natural phisiognomy of Spain -- has been given in the first chapter, emphasizing that it was an important theme for all the major Spanish writers contemporary to Antonio Machado. In this paper the significance of the "paisaje" is associated directly with the work of the poet in question by demonstrating that his principal poetical themes -- Time, Love, and "Sueno" (inner-reflection)--were to be found symbolically expressed in the natural landscape of Spain. The discussion of "Sueno" reveals that the reflective dreams, or the poet's intuitions of reality are not only symbolized in the "paisaje" but that the face of Spain serves as a source in Machado's experience to stimulate the creation of a "paisaje" existent within the poet's mind; the "paisaje" of Machado's inner-reality. [...]