The aura of Antonio Machado surrounds the students of the Soria institute where he taught

“You will see war plains and ascetic wastelands, the biblical garden was not in these fields.” It is, surprise, teenagers reciting poetry during school hours, standing solemnly before a lectern while in the background other kids crack up when they see their classmate reading aloud the fine verses of Antonio Machado, who is being honoured these days in Soria for the 150th anniversary of his birth. The Sevillian forged his literary legend on the banks of the Duero River, glossing the curves of the crossbow and using the blood of the Castilian fields as ink. Soria, full of statues and allusions to the poet in its street directory, paid tribute to him this Monday by involving the students of the institute where the poet taught in a 12-hour recital of poetry readings.

“What does Machado have that makes him so important?” asks a teacher. “Aura,” the teenagers respond, using a term that is fashionable among those born in 2008 to praise their idols and probably never used to praise a poet born two centuries ago. The teachers strive to contain their pupils’ jokes while in the classroom their classmates recite “the hospice, the old provincial hospice, the ruined house with blackened tiles where the swifts nest in summer,” some stumbling over terms that are more literary than streetwise. In the classroom there are several desks from the poet’s time, who arrived in Soria in 1907 at the age of 32, as well as manuscripts by the writer, photographs from the period and verses and more verses hanging on the walls. The different classes parade through the room, reading Machado’s quartets one by one in a long circle of poetry . There are ripped trousers, exposed midriffs, blonde streaks, high-top trainers, acne, moustaches, blush on the stage, fashionable tracksuits, loose sweatshirts and side-swept hair with a perm on top. There are also a variety of opinions about the author and his influence in the smallest provincial capital in Spain (36,000 inhabitants).

A second-year high school student jokes that he knows about Machado's love affairs and gossip with Leonor, a 13-year-old from Soria, when he met her, the daughter of the owners of a boarding house where he settled. Another boy exclaims: “He's cool for missing class!” Shortly after the hormonal outbursts, common sense emerges. Martín Navas, 17, boasts: “Everyone knows which institute we go to and we learn through the activities. They tell us the history of Machado since we were little, it's a small city with important people who give it prestige.” Gerardo Diego or Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer , among others. They all agree that Soria exhibits the poet's legacy and that people even talk about him at home. Inés García, 18, quotes her grandmother: “She's a big fan of Machado's poetry: she has a ton of books and I feel close and prioritized because she's from Soria.” Pilar García, 17, adds that thanks to initiatives like these, they read in their free time, which is unusual. The political sphere also comes up when they are asked why the author died in Collioure (France) in 1939. “He went into exile,” answers one boy, and another corrects: “They kicked him out!”

-Because?

—He was opposed to the political system, he was a republican. Thank God we have changed as a society.”

Class change, says her Language and Literature teacher, Juan Carlos Pérez from Almería. “I am proud to be here, although there is less and less passion for these subjects,” the teacher resigns himself, although he appreciates that the older students have concerns and reflective capacity. “Castilla, your decrepit cities! The bitter melancholy that populates your sombre solitudes! Manly Castilla, austere land, Castilla of disdain against fate, Castilla of pain and war, immortal land, Castilla of death!” reads another boy, cheered on at the end. The average age of the audience increases as older people from Soria enter this open recital. Esther Villar, 75 years old, listens excitedly remembering when decades ago she, “from a village, a woman and daughter of a worker”, was able to study in that same institute while the young gentlemen of the city laughed. “During Franco's regime the classroom was closed and we looked through the peephole; We only saw it once, when some carpenters opened it,” recalls Villar: “Machado remains eternal, it just needs to be read with emotion.”

The director of the centre, Miguel Ángel Delgado, 57, smiles with satisfaction as he looks at the young people. “It is a collaboration between the centre, the City Council and the Association of Friends of the Institute. Every 22nd of February [the day of Machado’s death], the association does two hours of readings and for the 150th anniversary we decided to do 12 uninterrupted hours. The students who study at the Machado Institute have a bonus in learning about him,” Delgado observes. “It was a clear afternoon, sad and sleepy summer afternoon,” can be heard during the break time of this radiant spring morning amid the roars of those enjoying the playground. María Jesús Gómez, 69, faces the lectern and, after reciting the poet, confesses: “It is the first time I have read in public.” The Soria native has regularly travelled to Colliure to leave flowers and read at the poet’s grave: “I have read Machado many times, he means a lot to me and he is an exceptional poet.”

The kids are still circulating. Teacher Raquel Calvo is shepherding. “Take seriously the beauty of reading verses by Don Antonio Machado, it is not just anything,” demands the former student of the IES Antonio Machado : “We all want Machado to be with us for generations and generations.” Mohamed Sadeq, 17, comments that “it is a special day to be reading poems” and Paula Torres, 16, admits not being a reader, but that the poet’s work “is like seeing the love he had for Soria.” The teacher demands some nerve and selects the students well: “This one is called A criminal, so you have to read it with effort. Pablo and Manuel, read it both!” The kids do well and the teacher says: “One day we skip class and go to the museum and the archive of Antonio Machado .” Applause.