Selected Poems

Book excerpt: Federico Garcia Lorca is perhaps the most celebrated of all twentieth-century Spanish writers, known not only for his plays but also for several collections of poems published both in his short lifetime and after. Lorca's poetry is steeped in the land, climate, and folklore of his native Andalusia, though he writes memorably of New York and Cuba too. Writing often in modernist idiom, and full of startling imagery, he evokes a world of intense feelings, silent suffering, and dangerous love. This unique parallel-text edition balances poems from Lorca's early collections with his better-known later work, providing a clear vision of his poetic development and drawing attention to the brilliance and originality of some of the earlier work. Key poems from all Lorca's collections appear here, including the recently discovered Sonnets of Dark Love. Martin Sorrell's translations are thoughtful and accomplished, and D. Gareth Walters's shrewd Introduction, with its distinctive focus on the achievements of the poet, gives a clear and balanced appraisal of the poetry, while steering away from the tendency to mythologize Lorca's life and death. This edition also includes helpful notes, a bibliography, a chronology, and an index of titles."