Federico García Lorca
Paperback | Pages: 82 pages Rating: 4.18 | 5545 Users | 241 Reviews
Declare Books Toward Romancero gitano
| Original Title: | Romancero gitano |
| ISBN: | 9871165293 (ISBN13: 9789871165292) |
| Edition Language: | Spanish |
Ilustration Concering Books Romancero gitano
Over the course of 2017, I have read a number of poetry collections both by American born and foreign poets. While I find myself preferring contemporary poetry, I do respect classic collections and have some favorite poets who I prefer. As this is Hispanic Heritage Month, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and read the work of noted poet laureate Federico García Lorca. I had read his play Blood Wedding and Yerma in a Spanish literature course while in college and came to realize the depth of his work; yet, I had never been exposed to his brilliant poetry. While my Hispanic Heritage Month selections are primarily centered on the Latin American experience, I decided upon Garcia Lorca's Gypsy Ballads to show appreciation to the Spanish origins of Hispanic culture.Frederico Garcia Lorca is regarded as the most popular of Spanish poets and playwrights. Gypsy Ballads is considered his best selling work, and many feel it is one of the top poetry collections of all time. Many of his poems focus on the depth of the human experience, which is a main reason I read poetry-- to feel the gamut of emotions over the course of a few moving stanzas. Themes experienced in Garcia Lorca's work include desire, death, as well as human longing and social repression. The latter theme propelled Franco's supporters to kill the poet at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War as a figurehead of the repressed people. I admit, that any pseudo-analysis I give on these ballads will not do justice to the laureate's work. For this reason, I chose to read a translated version by Jane Duran and Gloria Garcia Lorca, the poet's niece, which also includes commentary by noted translator Christopher Maurer as well as an essay by Garcia Lorca himself. Because of the depth of the poems and my love of history, I was actually more intrigued by the essays at the end than some of the harder to grasp albeit beautiful poetry.
The Gypsy Ballads speak to the myth of the people of Andalusia in the south of Spain. In addition to the death already permeating Spain leading up to the Guerra Civil, the ballads feature the patchwork of people that make up Spain's southern province, including the shared history of Christians, Muslims, and Jews. The poetry contains many biblical images which speak to each of these people. In "The Unfaithful Wife," we see, according to Lorca, Soledad Montoya whose pain is emblematic of the Andalusian people. This poem, as much as any in the collection, speaks of the gypsies, as Lorca writes so eloquently, "As a true gypsy. I gave her a large sewing basket of straw-yellow satin, and I did not want to fall in love because, having a husband, she told me she was a maiden when I took her to the river." Other poems include biblical references to archangels Michael, Rafael, and Gabriel. Reading these ballads over the new year gave them an added layer of religiosity that added to the prestige and beauty of these works.
The final poem in the collection Thamar and Amnon reflects on the Jewish and gypsy history of the region. Garcia Lorca notes that Andalusians refer to Tamar as "altas mares" (high seas). The wording in this ballad appears almost mystical in proportion as it speaks of the gypsy culture of Cordoba and Granada. While reading it through, I felt as though the history of hidden Jewish people flowed from the pages. Some highlights include Tamar's dream with imagery of birds, palm trees, and doves, all evoking biblical references. Another stanza alludes to King David's harp as the poet writes, "Furious violator, Amnon flees on his horse. Black men point arrows at him from the walls and watchtowers. And when the four hooves were four echoes, David, with his scissors, cut the strings of his harp." As the conclusion of this moving collection, I thought this ballad summarized the shared religious history of southern Spain, where three religions lived in relative harmony for seven centuries. Unfortunately, with the rise of fascism, minority people were oppressed, with Garcia Lorca's becoming a symbol for gypsies and the other human suffering which he wrote so eloquently about.
Reading the Gypsy Ballads only as poetry collection does not do justice to the brilliance of Spanish poet laureate Federico García Lorca. Reading it combined as art and a history of the Andalusian region of Spain speaks to the beauty of Garcia Lorca's work. In some cases it took me many times to begin to grasp the meaning of the words written on these pages. I did appreciate the essay by the poet at the end of the collection which assisted in bringing meaning to the words which he so beautifully wrote during his brief life. I can see why Gypsy Ballads is one of the top selling poetry collections of all time as I feel the beauty of long, shared multicultural history flow from its pages.
4.5 stars
Details Out Of Books Romancero gitano
| Title | : | Romancero gitano |
| Author | : | Federico García Lorca |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 82 pages |
| Published | : | March 28th 2006 by Agebe (first published 1928) |
| Categories | : | Poetry. Classics. European Literature. Spanish Literature. Cultural. Spain |
Rating Out Of Books Romancero gitano
Ratings: 4.18 From 5545 Users | 241 ReviewsAssessment Out Of Books Romancero gitano
The moon came into the forgein her bustle of flowering nard.The little boy stares at her, stares.The boy is staring hard.In the shaken airthe moon moves her amrs,and shows lubricious and pure,her breasts of hard tin."Moon, moon, moon, run!If the gypsies come,they will use your heartto make white necklaces and rings.""Let me dance, my little one.When the gypsies come,they'll find you on the anvilwith your lively eyes closed tight."Moon, moon, moon, run!I can feelheir horses come.""Let me be, myThe "Firefly" of 20th century poetry--a brief flare whose fiery trail across the sky leaves you running for the horizon to stay caught up with it. Sadly, it burns out and you're left wondering, "Why didn't I get more? We deserve more!". Too bad for you, and probably better that it ended when it did. Supreme poetry.
this isn't the exact version that i read - the one i have is probably a pirated version and is falling apart. but i loved it.
Romancero gitano is Federico García Lorcas most popular poetry collection. It is a slim book, consisting of 18 poems, most of them no longer than three pages. The poems treat of Lorcas native Andalusiawith religious processions, saint days, gypsy singers, civil guards patrolling at night. The collection is perhaps most famous for its iconic Romance sonámbulo, which contains Lorcas most famous lines, ones which every Spaniard knows instinctively: Verde que te quiero verdemade into a well-known
Over the course of 2017, I have read a number of poetry collections both by American born and foreign poets. While I find myself preferring contemporary poetry, I do respect classic collections and have some favorite poets who I prefer. As this is Hispanic Heritage Month, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and read the work of noted poet laureate Federico García Lorca. I had read his play Blood Wedding and Yerma in a Spanish literature course while in college and came to realize the depth
The language and sound is beautiful, especially when read in Spanish. Lorca tends to use a lot of repetition, which really helps with the flow. Some tragedy, as usual.
Rarely is a book more pregnant with ominous hints about an author's destiny than this book is. Lorca, with whom I have been familiar with since high school when my Spanish teacher assigned his play "La Casa De Bernalda Alba" to our class, was certainly far more sympathetic to the gypsies than most people of his time (or ours) are, and this particular short book is full of poems, and meditations on poems, that give the sensitive reader a sense of what was lost when Lorca was put to death by the
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