The Guitar
by
Federico Garcia
Lorca
Federico Garcia Lorca
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(June 5, 1898-August 19, 1936)
Born in Fuente Vaqueros, Spain in 1898.
One of the most important Spanish poets in the
twentieth century.
Came from a wealthy family
Was not a very successful student, took nine
years to graduate from the University of
Granada.
Very gifted musician
The Guitar relates to Realism, the idea of
focusing on one's life and all things that come
with life; the obstacles, the ups, and the downs.
Towards the end of the 1920’s he became
increasingly depressed.
He lived during the Spanish Civil War.
Brutally murdered in 1936 by Nationalist
soldiers during the Spanish Civil War.
Monument built by Spain fifty years later in
honor of him.
Vocabulary
goblet - a bowl shaped drinking vessel
without handles
monotonously - in a dull, unvarying way
camellias - a flower found in East and
Southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to
Japan and Indonesia. They are economically
important in the Indian subcontinent and Asia
since the leaves of Camellia sinensis are
processed to create tea. (The flower is also a
symbol for death.)
yearning - a feeling of intense longing for
something
It weeps monotonously 11
The Guitar by
Federico Garcia Lorca
as water weeps 12
as the wind weeps 13
over snowfields. 14
Impossible 15
to silence it. 16
It weeps for distant 17
The weeping of the guitar 1
things. 18
begins. 2
Hot southern sands 19
The goblets of dawn 3
yearning for white camellias. 20
are smashed. 4
Weeps arrow without target 21
The weeping of the guitar 5
evening without morning
begins. 6
and the first dead bird
Useless 7
on the branch. 24
to silence it. 8
Oh, guitar! 25
Impossible 9
Heart mortally wounded 26
to silence it. 10
by five swords. 27
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Literary
Devices
alliteration
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“water weeps” (12)
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“wind weeps” (13)
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“southern sands” (19)
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“bird on the branch” (23-24)
assonance
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“goblets of dawn” (3)
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“over snowfields” (14)
caesura
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“Oh, guitar!” (25)
free verse
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no rhyme scheme
personification
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“the weeping of the guitar” (1), “water weeps” (12), “the
wind weeps” (13), “hot southern sands yearning for white
camellias” (19-20), “weeps arrow without target” (21)
extended metaphor
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the playing of the guitar represents a wounded person
crying. As the guitar begins to play as a person would cry, it
cannot stop playing, and there is no use to try and stop it.
symbolism
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the weeping guitar is a symbol for the despair the speaker
feels. The guitar's song is “impossible to silence” just as it is
impossible for the speaker to combat the sorrow he/she
feels.
repetition
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Throughout the poem. repetition is used when it repeatedly
refers to how the guitar is “impossible to silence.” This
repetition emphasizes the severity of the sadness the
speaker feels.
sight
Imagery
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“first dead bird on the branch” (23-24)
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“the goblets of dawn are smashed” (3-4)
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“over snowfields” (14)
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“distant things” (17-18)
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“heart mortally wounded by five swords” (26-27)
hearing
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“the weeping of the guitar begins” (1-2)
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“it weeps monotonously as water weeps as the
wind weeps” (11-13)
touch
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“hot southern sands” (19)
smell
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“white camellias” (20)
The weeping of the
guitar
Tone & Theme
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Words like “weeping”, “mourns,” “silence”,
“mourns,” “dead,” and as well as “yearning”
and “smashed” project a strong sad, negative,
even miserable tone
it maintains the same type of emotion
throughout the poem.
begins.
The goblets of dawn
are smashed.
The weeping of the
guitar
begins.
Useless
to silence it.
Theme:
The Guitar represents a timeline of emotional
events that happened in a persons life and
each string is a heartbeat that the more it
plays the longer the song of life continues
Impossible
to silence it.
It weeps monotonously
as water weeps
as the wind weeps
over snowfields.
Impossible
to silence it.
It weeps for distant
things.
Hot southern sands
yearning for white
camellias.
Weeps arrow without
target
evening without
morning
and the first dead bird
on the branch.
Oh, guitar!
Heart mortally
wounded
by five swords.
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Analysis
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Lorca uses the guitar metaphorically to
represent the imminence of life and death, love
and hatred, and how the guitar can represent
all these things that just do not stop happening
throughout someone's existence.
Lorca expresses himself through the sad sound
of a guitar.
The poem all together, is just an extended
metaphor.
This poem belongs to the book Poema del
Cante Jondo.
Analysis (cont.)
The weeping of the guitar
begins.
The goblets of dawn
are smashed.
The weeping of the guitar
begins.
Useless
to silence it.
Impossible
to silence it.
It weeps monotonously
as water weeps
The sound of the guitar is like a wail
(llanto), the same word that refers to the
flamenco singing. “The weeping of the
guitar begins” is the opening line of the
poem, and it is repeated two lines later.
The guitar’s weeping is monotonous and
repetitious (like the wind and the rain),
and García Lorca achieves this effect
through further repetition.
The guitar plays so loudly that the
guitar shatters.
Three times he writes the phrase, “It is
impossible to silence it,” or writes
something similar.
Meanwhile, the
strength of the guitar’s sound is sufficient
to break the wine cups of dawn.
as the wind weeps
over snowfields.
Impossible
to silence it.
It weeps for distant
things.
Hot southern sands
yearning for white camellias.
Weeps arrow without target
evening without morning
and the first dead bird
on the branch.
Oh, guitar!
Heart mortally wounded
by five swords.
In a series of metaphors, García Lorca
supplies some answers ask to what the
guitar wails for, summarized in the lines,
“It weeps for distant things.” “Hot
southern sands/yearning for white
camellias” associates the guitar with
Andalusia, situated on the Mediterranean
Sea with its beaches and flowers.
“It weeps arrow without target/ evening
without morning.” Arrows without
targets and evenings without mornings
are metaphors of disorientation. “The
first dead bird/ upon the branch,”is a
reference to the loss of innocence.
The five swords are a representation of
fingers. The body of the guitar
represents the heart, and is wounded
by the fingers of the person playing it.
And like the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
wounded by the grief of the world.
While My Guitar
Gently Weeps by
George Harrison
Although the song is similar to the poem, it was
not inspired by Lorca but rather the Book of
Changes.
Harrison was committed to write a song based
on the first words he saw upon opening the book.
Those words being, “gently weeps.”
Llora monótona
como llora el agua,
como llora el viento
sobre la nevada.
La Guitarra
Es imposible
callarla.
Llora por cosas
Empieza el llanto
lejanas.
de la guitarra.
Arena del Sur caliente
Se rompen las copas
que pide camelias blancas.
de la madrugada.
Llora flecha sin blanco,
Empieza el llanto
la tarde sin mañana,
de la guitarra.
y el primer pájaro muerto
Es inútil
sobre la rama.
callarla.
¡Oh guitarra!
Es imposible
Corazón malherido
callarla.
por cinco espadas.
Lorca intended for the poem to sound similar
to a Flamenco style song "cante jondo".
spanish translation
analysis
In the Spanish version it uses two different
words with similar meanings, llanto and llora.
Llanto is to cry loudly much like "weep" or
"wail" while llora would simply mean "cry". The
word weep has a much more negative
connotation.
The connotation of the words used in the
translation are much more dramatic and heavy
in the English translation.
Quiz
1.
2.
3.
4.
Where was Federico Garcia Lorca born?
a) Fuente Vaqueros
b) Granada
c) Madrid
d) Valencia
Federico Garcia Lorca was a very gifted ________.
a) Musician
b) Writer
c) Poet
d) All of the above
What song is very similar to the poem?
a) “Teardrops on My Guitar”
b) “Guitar Man”
c) “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
d) “Heart Shaped Guitar”
What is the tone of the poem?
a) playful
b) ironic
c) calm
d) sad
5. Is there a rhyme scheme in the poem?
a) Yes
b) No
6. In the poem, “hot southern sands” refers to
a) the region of Andalusia
b) the desert
c) the beaches in South America
d) an island
7. Which line is repeated twice throughout the poem?
a) useless to silence it
b) the guitar starts to cry
c) impossible to silence it
d) both b and c
8. Why does “the guitar weep"?
a) it yearns for white camellias
b) it longs for distant things
c) it has regrets from the past
c) it mourns the dead bird
Quiz
9. What is the guitar a metaphor for?
a. the despair the speaker feels
b. someone's heartbreak after a lost love
c. longing for home
d. a death in the speaker's life
10. The original poem differs from the translated version in that
a. there's a rhyme scheme in the original
b. there is personification in the translated poem
c. the metaphors have different meanings in the original
d. the original is written to sound like a song