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Caminante No Hay Camino Analysis

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There is only one path in life. Forward. So why do people live in a way that does not reflect this? Antonio Machado is not an English poet. He is Spanish and writes almost exclusively in his native language of Spanish. Every poem he writes is translated into many, slightly altered versions across the English speaking world, and then across the entire world in more languages. The majority of published poems are translated to reach a larger audience, but poems not written in English are particularly targeted for translations. This becomes an issue when the original poem has an incredible use of imagery or of rhythm and is watered down to make it easier for an English reader to understand. Entire words might be added or taken from the original to make it easier. In Antonio Machado’s, “Caminante No Hay Camino”, the imagery is used to tell the reader to live their own life, but is watered down from the translations from the original Spanish to English. In Machado’s “Caminante No Hay Camino” he uses the meaning “road” to mean something akin to the path of life. Like Machado, many authors use “road” to symbolize the path of life or something to do with life. It is very easy to picture. Close to everyone has seen at least one road or path in their life. They believe, like as one does in a road trip, there is a set destination with sporadic stops along the way. Most road trips are strictly planned out, but many stops can randomly happen at anytime. Also like a road, one cannot go

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