Poet in Spain
By Federico García Lorca
Sarah Arvio (Translator)
ISBN: 9781524711191
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Caro
Synopsis:
The fluid and mesmeric lines of these new translations by the award-winning poet Sarah Arvio bring us closer than ever to the talismanic perfection of the great Garcia Lorca. Poet in Spain invokes the “wild, innate, local surrealism” of the Spanish voice, in moonlit poems of love and death set among poplars, rivers, low hills, and high sierras. Arvio’s ample and rhythmically rich offering includes, among other essential works, the folkloric yet modernist Gypsy Ballads, the plaintive flamenco Poem of the Cante Jondo, and the turbulent and beautiful Dark Love Sonnets—addressed to Lorca’s homosexual lover–which Lorca was revising at the time of his brutal political murder by Fascist forces in the early days of the Spanish Civil War. Here, too, are several lyrics translated into English for the first time and the play Blood Wedding–also a great tragic poem. Arvio has created a fresh voice for Lorca in English, full of urgency, pathos, and lyricism–showing the poet’s work has grown only more beautiful with the passage of time. (Goodreads)
Review:
As a kid I would always hear someone talk about Garcia Lorca’s work and his short lived life, but it wasn’t until now that I had the opportunity to read more of his poems and plays through Poet In Spain that I understand the beauty of his writing.
His poems range from themes of romance and love to death, the stars, time and nature creating verses that make you praise his creativity and imagination in his writing skills. The reader can see how creative he was through his poems and themes.
To find a kiss of yours
What would I give
A kiss that strayed from your lips
Dead to love
– To find a kiss of yours
Poet In Spain has a number of touching poems that can easily capture even the non avid poem reader’s attention. The translations help understand Lorca’s mind, but if you are able to read them in Spanish you will find them even more interesting and beautifully written, something this book provides along with the English interpretation. Lorca makes surrealism romantic and full of imaginative scenarios.
One hundred green stars
On a green sky
can’t see a hundred
White towers in the snow
– On the green sky
With Sarah Arvio’s carefully translated work, Lorca’s poems come to life in a different language, giving many more the opportunity for Lorca’s beautiful words of romance and enchanted scenarios to reach them and allow them to experience his world of poetry and plays. Without a doubt, Poet In Spain is a book I highly recommend to the lovers of poetry and pure romance writing.
