In 1907, Machado met the woman who would become the great love of his life, Leonor Izquierdo.


 Despite the age difference between them (she was 13 and he was 32), Machado was captivated by the girl, and when he was certain that his feelings were reciprocated, he arranged an engagement with Leonor's mother.


They had to wait until she was of legal age to marry, which was 15 at the time.


On July 30, 1909, when Machado was 34 years old, he and Leonor were married in the Church of Santa María la Mayor (Soria).


But three years later, on August 1, 1912, Leonor would die from tuberculosis, leaving her husband completely devastated.


From 1908, and already living in Soria, Machado wrote some poems which, in a first compilation, he sent at the end of 1910 to Gregorio Martínez Sierra, a Spanish writer, playwright and theatrical impresario of modernism, for publication in the Renacimiento publishing house.


But the editor felt there was not enough material, so the book was not published until the end of April 1912.


At first it was thought to title it Lands of Spain, but Machado changed it to Fields of Castile, in which he included the long romance poem The Land of Alvargonzález...

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