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Pedro Salinas, tr. by Ruth Katz Crispin, from Memory in My Hands: The Love Poetry of Pedro Salinas; “The voice I owe to you”

Book Review: Poemas Esenciales by Federico Garcia Lorca

My Favorite poem of the book:

Amor de mis entrañas, viva muerte, en vano espero tu palabra escrita y pienso, con la flor que se marchita que si vivo sin mí quiero perderte. [...] Llena, pues, de palabras mi locura o déjame vivir en mi serena noche del ahora para siempre oscura. // Love of my guts, living death, in vain I await your written word and I think, with the whitering flower that if I live without me I want to lose you. [...] Fill, then, of words my madness or let me live in my serene night of now for ever dark.

My Full Review:

Oh Lorca, dear Lorca: were you set up to dissapoint me by your peers? Were my expectations too high? Is my understanding and knowledge of poetry that shallow? Was this particular selection a disservice to your works?

I think I'm simply not well versed in the style and artistic school of the "Generación del 27", but I couldn't really connect nor enjoy most of the poems included in this book.

Even the most basic symbolisms seemed too vague to me to truly grasp, and I feel so dissapointed in myself, because I really looked forward to finally reading his poetry, but the almost surrealist nature of his verses alienated me.

I hope I can come back to this book and to this poet with kinder eyes, it's the least he deserves from me.

My Other 2024 Readings