oxford world’s classics SELECTED POEMS Federico García Lorca was born into a landowning family in the vale of Granada in 1898. Eleven years later, his family moved to Granada itself, the scene of his formative artistic and intellectual contacts. After abandoning early plans for a musical career, Federico turned to literature; Impressions and Landscapesappeared in 1918. A year later began his long association with the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid. His many friends there included the poets Guillén and Alberti, the future film director Buñuel, and most importantly for Lorca, Salvador Dalí. Lorca’s early plays and poems draw on aspects of Andalusian tradition, but always as part of a sophisticated language of highly personal expression. Dalí too encouraged him to make the exploration of his own unconscious a spur to more radical literary experiment. Thus when in 1928hisGypsy Balladsachieved its out- standing popular success, Lorca had in a sense already moved beyond it. Partly in reaction to an unhappy homosexual love-affair he left Spain in 1929to study at Columbia University. In the event his New York experiences sharpened his sense of crisis, confirming his sexual orientation and introducing new extremes of experiment into his writing: Poet in New Yorkand the ‘unperformable’ drama, The Public. In 1931, the year following his return to Spain, the Second Republic was established. It brought Lorca a new commitment as director of the student theatre company ‘La barraca’, touring classic Spanish plays about the country. His literary projects of the early 1930s included new poetic ventures—The Tamarit Divan; the Lament for his bullfighter friend, Ignacio Sánchez Mejías—and, in Blood Wedding,Yerma, and Doña Rosita the Spinstera new kind of theatre: poetic, radical, questioning, but also accessible and popular. His success in this, his broad identification with progressive public causes, and his seemingly inexhaustible creativity made the Republican years a rewarding time for him. That was cut short when, in August 1936, a few weeksinto the Civil War, and soon after finishingThe House of Bernarda Alba, he was arrested and murdered by the Nationalist authorities in Granada. Martin Sorrell is Emeritus Professor of Literary Translation at the University of Exeter, where he has spent most of his career teach- ing and researching French literature. For Oxford World’s Classics he has translated volumes of verse by Rimbaud and Verlaine. D.GarethWaltersis professor of Hispanic Studies at University of Wales, Swansea. He has written widely on Lorca and is the author of An Introduction to Spanish Poetry: Spain and Spanish America(2002). oxford world’s classics For over 100years Oxford World’s Classics have brought readers closer to the world’s great literature. Now with over 700 titles—from the 4,000-year-old myths of Mesopotamia to the twentieth century’s greatest novels—the series makes available lesser-known as well as celebrated writing. The pocket-sized hardbacks of the early years contained introductions by Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, Graham Greene, and other literary figures which enriched the experience of reading. Today the series is recognized for its fine scholarship and reliability in texts that span world literature, drama and poetry, religion, philosophy and politics. Each edition includes perceptive commentary and essential background information to meet the changing needs of readers. OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS FEDERICO GARCÍA LORCA Selected Poems Translated by MARTIN SORRELL With an Introduction and Notes by D. GARETH WALTERS 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox26dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in OxfordNew York AucklandCape TownDar es SalaamHong KongKarachi Kuala LumpurMadridMelbourneMexico CityNairobi New DelhiShanghaiTaipeiToronto With offices in ArgentinaAustriaBrazilChileCzech RepublicFranceGreece GuatemalaHungaryItalyJapanPolandPortugalSingapore South KoreaSwitzerlandThailandTurkeyUkraineVietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York Spanish-language works by Federico García Lorca copyright © Herederos de Federico García Lorca. Translations by Martin Sorrell copyright © Herederos de Federico García Lorca and Martin Sorrell 2007 Introduction and Explanatory Notes © D. Gareth Walters 2007 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published as an Oxford World’s Classics paperback 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data García Lorca, Federico, 1898–1936. [Poems. English. Selections] Selected poems / Federico García Lorca; translated by Martin Sorrell; with an introduction and notes by D. Gareth Walters. p. cm. — (Oxford world’s classics) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978–0–19–280565–2 (alk. paper) 1.García Lorca, Federico, 1898—1936— Translations into English. I. Sorrell, Martin. II. Title. III. Series. PQ6613.A763A2 2007 861′.62—dc22 2007011367 Typeset by Cepha Imaging Private Ltd., Bangalore, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc ISBN978-0-19-280565-2 13579108642 CONTENTS Introduction ix Note on the Text and Translation xxv Select Bibliography xxvii A Chronology of Federico García Lorca xxix SELECTED POEMS FromBook of Poems Canción otoñal 2 Autumn Song 3 Canción menor 6 Minor Song 7 Balada triste 8 Sad Ballad 9 Elegía 12 Elegy 13 Aire de nocturno 16 Nocturnal Air 17 Canción primaveral 18 Spring Song 19 Sueño 20 Dream 21 Balada de la placeta 22 Ballad of the Little Square 23 La balada del agua del mar 26 Seawater Ballad 27 Sueño 28 Dream 29 Otra canción 30 Another Song 31 El macho cabrío 32 The Billy Goat 33 FromSuites Canción con reflejo 38 Song with Reflection 39 Sésamo 40 Sesame 41 Canción bajo lágrimas 40 Song beneath Tears 41 Paisaje sin canción 42 Landscape without Song 43 Horizonte 42 Horizon 43 Pescadores 42 Fishermen 43 Delirio 44 Delirium 45 En el jardín de las toronjas In the Garden of Lunar de luna 44 Grapefruit 45 FromPoem of the Cante Jondo Paisaje 48 Landscape 49 La guitarra 48 The Guitar 49 El grito 50 The Shout 51 El silencio 52 The Silence 53 vi Contents El paso de la Siguiriya 52 Dancing the Siguiriya 53 Después de pasar 52 After Passing By 53 Y después 54 And After 55 Tierra seca 54 Parched Land 55 Pueblo 56 Town 57 Puñal 56 Dagger 57 Encrucijada 58 Crossroads 59 ¡Ay! 58 Ay! 59 Sorpresa 60 Surprise 61 La Soleá 60 TheSoleá 61 Cueva 62 Cave 63 Encuentro 64 Meeting 65 Alba 64 Dawn 65 Arqueros 66 Bowmen 67 Noche 66 Night 67 Sevilla 68 Seville 69 Procesión 70 Procession 71 Paso 70 Float, Holy Week 71 Saeta 70 Saeta 71 Balcón 72 Balcony 73 Madrugada 72 Dawn 73 FromSongs Nocturnos de la ventana 76 Nocturnes at the Window 77 Canción tonta 80 Foolish Song 81 Canción de jinete 80 Horseman’s Song 81 ¡Es verdad! 82 It’s true! 83 Verlaine 82 Verlaine 83 Baco 84 Bacchus 85 Juan Ramón Jiménez 84 Juan Ramón Jiménez 85 Venus 86 Venus 87 Debussy 86 Debussy 87 Narciso 88 Narcissus 89 Al oído de una muchacha 88 In a Girl’s Ear 89 La luna asoma 90 The Moon Appears 91 Murió al amanecer 90 He Died at Dawn 91 Primer aniversario 92 First Anniversary 93 Segundo aniversario 92 Second Anniversary 93 Lucía Martínez 94 Lucía Martínez 95 La soltera en misa 94 The Spinster at Mass 95 Malestar y noche 94 Malaise and Night 95 Desposorio 96 Betrothal 97 Despedida 98 Parting 99 En el instituto y en la In the Institute and in the universidad 98 University 99 Contents vii Madrigalillo 100 Light Madrigal 101 Preludio 100 Prelude 101 De otro modo 102 Another Way 103 Canción de noviembre y abril 102 Song of November and April 103 Canción del naranjo seco 104 Song of the Dry Orange Tree 105 FromGypsy Ballads Romance de la luna, luna 106 Ballad of the Moon, the Moon 107 Romance sonámbulo 108 Dreamwalker Ballad 109 La monja gitana 112 The Gypsy Nun 113 Prendimiento de Antoñito el Capture of Antoñito el Camborio en el camino Camborio on the Seville de Sevilla 116 Road 117 Muerte de Antoñito el Camborio 118 Death of Antoñito el Camborio 119 Muerto de amor 122 Dead from Love 123 FromPoet in New York El rey de Harlem 126 The King of Harlem 127 Crucifixión 132 Crucifixion 133 Grito hacia Roma 136 Cry to Rome 137 Son de negros en Cuba 140 Blacks in Cuba, their Son 141 FromEarth and Moon Pequeño poema infinito 144 Little Infinite Poem 145 FromThe Tamarit Divan Gacela IX Del amor maravilloso 146 Ghazal IX Of Marvellous Love 147 Casida V Del sueño al aire libre 146 Qasida V Of the Open-Air Dream 147 Casida VIII De la muchacha Qasida VIII Of the Golden Girl 149 dorada 148 Gacela del mercado matutino 150 Ghazal of the Morning Marketplace 151 FromSix Galician Poems Romaxe de Nosa Señora Romance of Our Lady of da Barca 152 the Boat 153 Canzón de cuna pra Rosalía Cradle Song for Rosalía Castro, morta 152 Castro, Dead 153 Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías 156 viii Contents FromSonnets of Dark Love El poeta habla por teléfono con The Poet Speaks to his Love on el amor 170 the Telephone 171 ‘¡Ay voz secreta del amor oscuro!’ 170 ‘Ay, Secret Voice of Dark Love’ 171 El amor duerme en el pecho The Lover Asleep on the Poet’s del poeta 172 Breast 173 Noche del amor insomne 172 Night of Sleepless Love 173 Explanatory Notes 177 Index of Titles 185 Index of First Lines 189 INTRODUCTION Federico García Lorcawas born of a well-to-do family on 5June 1898in the village of Fuentevaqueros in the plain of Granada. From his father, a prosperous farmer and landowner, and from the family servants Lorca derived a love and knowledge of peasant life and rural lore that served to shape him as a writer. Before he was 4, he knew dozens of folk songs by heart, and such an early acquaintanceship with this material explains its ready assimilation into his poetry. The childlike quality of the verse and the ease with which Lorca could adopt a child’s perspective may also derive from this exposure to the rich vein of Andalusian popular culture. In 1909, the family moved to Granada so that the educational needs of Federico and his brother and sister could be met. As schoolboy, student, and ultimately as a writer, Lorca was to base himself in Granada for the rest of his life. The spiritual kinship of the poet with the city, in particular with its Arabic heritage, is undoubted, as indeed is the association of Lorca with Andalusia as a whole. Important for his development as a writer, however, were study-visits he undertook as a student in 1916and1917 to other regions of Spain. Of crucial significance, too, for the devel- opment of his art was the period he spent living at the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid in the 1920s. The purpose of this institution, similar to an Oxbridge college, was to bring together the finest young talents of Spain and to help them blossom in an invigorating cultural and intellectual environment. Here Lorca formed close friendships with Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel. Stimulating in a different way was his experience as a student at Columbia University, New York, in1929–30; it is nothing less than culture shock that is registered in a series of poems written during his stay in the city. Less inspiring, though certainly more enjoyable, was his South American tour of 1933–4. His fame was by now considerable in the Spanish-speaking world, and his trip coincided with successful productions of his plays. In 1931the Education Ministry of the new government of the Second Republic had appointed him as director of a travelling theatre company, ‘La barraca’. On his initiative, Spanish plays were performed all over the country, in squares, marketplaces, and barns. The effect on Lorca’s own dramatic production was evident: the most powerful