Leonor Izquierdo

Leonor Izquierdo (12 June 1894 – 1 August 1912) was the muse and wife of the poet Antonio Machado, who met her at the age of thirteen when he was working as a teacher in Soria.

Leonor Izquierdo
Born	Leonor Izquierdo Cuevas 12 June 1894 Almenar de Soria, Spain
Died	1 August 1912 (aged 18) Soria, Spain
Burial place	Soria
Spouse(s)	Antonio Machado ​ ​ (m. 1909; died 1912)​

Leonor was the daughter of Isabel Cuevas and Ceferino Izquierdo, sergeant of the Guardia Civil.[1] She was born at Almenar de Soria where her father was based.

Antonio Machado agreed with Isabel Cuevas to get married with Leonor.[2] At 10:00 am on 30 July 1909 they got married at the Church of Santa María la Mayor in Soria.[3] At the time, she was fifteen years old; the average age of marriage for women at the time was twenty five.[4]

The couple was living in Paris in 1911. After being diagnosed with advanced tuberculosis, she returned to Soria to get rest and died on 1 August 1912. She was buried there in Cementerio del Espino (Hawthorn Cemetery).[5] Machado wrote a series of poems dealing with the loss of Leonor, but he never returned to Soria after her death.

Machado's friend visited her grave to put the next poem by the poet:[6]

Con los primeros lirios
y las primeras rosas de las huertas,
en una tarde azul sube al Espino,
al alto Espino donde está su tierra.

Pick the first iris
and the first roses,
and on a blue afternoon go to the (Cementerio del) Espino,
high there in the Espino where her burial is.

References

1. Fernández Palmeral, Ramón. "Buscando a Antonio Machado en Soria y Baeza : (I Centenario de la llegada de Antonio Machado a Soria 1907-2007)". Expediente militar de Ceferino Izquierdo Caballero, suegro de Antonio Machado. Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes.
2. Gibson, Ian (2006). Ligero de equipaje. Madrid: Santillana Editores G. p. 210. ISBN 84-03-09686-0.
3. González, Ángel (1986). Antonio Machado. Madrid: Ediciones Jucar. p. 30. ISBN 84-334-3018-1.
4. Ansede, Manuel (22 February 2019). "Se cumplen 80 años de la muerte de Antonio Machado, nuestro gran poeta pedófilo, que tenía 32 años cuando se obsesionó con Leonor, una niña de 13 años. Ya era ilegal y extraño. Tuvo que esperar a que cumpliera 15 para casarse. Lo habitual en las mujeres era casarse a los 25 añospic.twitter.com/eHfMaYQ6aP". @manuelansede (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 January 2020.
5. Cano 1986, pp. 77–114.
6. Cano 1986, p. 110.

Bibliography

• Cano, José Luis (1986). Antonio Machado. Barcelona: Salvat Editores. ISBN 84-345-8186-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)