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Poet in Spain
For the first time in a quarter century, a major new volume of translations of the beloved poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca, presented in a beautiful bilingual edition
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.
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.
576 pages, Paperback
Published May 5, 2020
35 people are currently reading
226 people want to read
About the author
Federico García Lorca
1,588 books3,094 followersBorn in Fuente Vaqueros, Granada, Spain, June 5 1898; died near Granada, August 19 1936, García Lorca is one of Spain's most deeply appreciated and highly revered poets and dramatists. His murder by the Nationalists at the start of the Spanish civil war brought sudden international fame, accompanied by an excess of political rhetoric which led a later generation to question his merits; after the inevitable slump, his reputation has recovered (largely with a shift in interest to the less obvious works). He must now be bracketed with Machado as one of the two greatest poets Spain has produced in the 20th century, and he is certainly Spain's greatest dramatist since the Golden Age.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 2, 2018
A new selection in English of works by one of Spain's greatest poets.
Poetry Review: Poet in Spain is a new translation (by Sarah Arvio) of a variety of works by my favorite poet, Federico Garcia Lorca. She includes a section ("Poems") containing a large, personal selection of poems from various of Lorca's works; a generous selection from Poem of the Deep Song (Poema del cante jondo); all of the Gypsy Ballads (Primero romancero gitano); the Divan of the Tamarit (Divan del Tamarit); the Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias (Llanto por Ignacio Sanchez Mejias); the Sonnets of Dark Love (Sonetos del amor oscuro); and a play, Blood Wedding (Bodas de sangre). This roster includes work from most of Lorca's career (the translator chose not to include poems from his Poet in New York as not being as "Spanish" as the poems she selected, in conformance with the volume's title).
Any collection of Lorca's work is worth reading. What's unique about Poet in Spain is the creative effort taken by the translator, Sarah Arvio, herself a published poet. Arvio has chosen to have Lorca's work conform to her artistic vision. A representative example is a short section (cited by Arvio herself) from the long poem Lament for Igancio Sanchez Mejias. Here Lorca expresses his horror even at the mere time of his friend's death:
Lorca's Original:
A las cinco de la tarde.
Ay que terribles cinco de la tarde!
Eran las cinco en todos los relojes!
Eran las cinco en sombra de la tarde!
Literal translation:
At five in the afternoon.
Ay that terrible five in the afternoon!
It was five on all the clocks!
It was five in the afternoon shade!
Arvio's translation:
At five o'clock
Ay what terrible fives
it was five on all the clocks
In the afternoon shadows
All translators make choices. Even for those who don't read Spanish, it's clear that Arvio has chosen to dispense with Lorca's punctuation. She also removes his variations on the refrain "five in the afternoon" (cinco de la tarde). Arvio's version seems more modern, cleaner perhaps, certainly more concise. But for me there's a loss. First, is simply the accurate representation of Lorca's creation. But second is the rhythm, the drumbeat, the repetition that emphasizes the poet's horror, the music of Lorca's words. Mejias was a matador, which influences both the importance of the time and my translation of sombra as "shade" instead of "shadow" (both are literally correct).
Arvio herself states of her translations: "I've used almost no punctuation; this was my style of composition." (Lorca's punctuation could be quite lively.) "I didn't imitate or replicate Lorca's prosodic strategies directly. I tried to reflect the poems -- to catch their essence."
Readers may appreciate Arvio's interpretations of Lorca's poetry and a more contemporary accessibility. If they buy this book, however, they should do so aware that at times these translations may not closely reflect Lorca's words and so (arguably) may not capture his meaning. This may not be the volume to cite when quoting Lorca in an academic paper. Many translators attempt to remain invisible, to create as little distance as possible between the words of the poet and the reader. Here Sarah Arvio makes herself visible as a poet. As such, some of these poems are more variations or "imitations" (as Robert Lowell called them). Although Arvio's style of translation is not the same as mine, Poet in Spain is clearly a labor of love, taking the time to translate a number of Lorca's poems, in fact complete books, including hard to find works. I'm happy to own it. For those interested in translations closer to Lorca's own creations, large editions of both Lorca's Selected Verse and Collected Poems are available in English from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Additionally, both Oxford University Press and New Directions have excellent (smaller, cheaper) editions of Lorca's Selected Poems (either fits well in a backpack, purse, or book bag). Every translator makes choices and can be second-guessed to death. Poet in Spain is a welcome addition to the debate. [3½★]
Poetry Review: Poet in Spain is a new translation (by Sarah Arvio) of a variety of works by my favorite poet, Federico Garcia Lorca. She includes a section ("Poems") containing a large, personal selection of poems from various of Lorca's works; a generous selection from Poem of the Deep Song (Poema del cante jondo); all of the Gypsy Ballads (Primero romancero gitano); the Divan of the Tamarit (Divan del Tamarit); the Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias (Llanto por Ignacio Sanchez Mejias); the Sonnets of Dark Love (Sonetos del amor oscuro); and a play, Blood Wedding (Bodas de sangre). This roster includes work from most of Lorca's career (the translator chose not to include poems from his Poet in New York as not being as "Spanish" as the poems she selected, in conformance with the volume's title).
Any collection of Lorca's work is worth reading. What's unique about Poet in Spain is the creative effort taken by the translator, Sarah Arvio, herself a published poet. Arvio has chosen to have Lorca's work conform to her artistic vision. A representative example is a short section (cited by Arvio herself) from the long poem Lament for Igancio Sanchez Mejias. Here Lorca expresses his horror even at the mere time of his friend's death:
Lorca's Original:
A las cinco de la tarde.
Ay que terribles cinco de la tarde!
Eran las cinco en todos los relojes!
Eran las cinco en sombra de la tarde!
Literal translation:
At five in the afternoon.
Ay that terrible five in the afternoon!
It was five on all the clocks!
It was five in the afternoon shade!
Arvio's translation:
At five o'clock
Ay what terrible fives
it was five on all the clocks
In the afternoon shadows
All translators make choices. Even for those who don't read Spanish, it's clear that Arvio has chosen to dispense with Lorca's punctuation. She also removes his variations on the refrain "five in the afternoon" (cinco de la tarde). Arvio's version seems more modern, cleaner perhaps, certainly more concise. But for me there's a loss. First, is simply the accurate representation of Lorca's creation. But second is the rhythm, the drumbeat, the repetition that emphasizes the poet's horror, the music of Lorca's words. Mejias was a matador, which influences both the importance of the time and my translation of sombra as "shade" instead of "shadow" (both are literally correct).
Arvio herself states of her translations: "I've used almost no punctuation; this was my style of composition." (Lorca's punctuation could be quite lively.) "I didn't imitate or replicate Lorca's prosodic strategies directly. I tried to reflect the poems -- to catch their essence."
Readers may appreciate Arvio's interpretations of Lorca's poetry and a more contemporary accessibility. If they buy this book, however, they should do so aware that at times these translations may not closely reflect Lorca's words and so (arguably) may not capture his meaning. This may not be the volume to cite when quoting Lorca in an academic paper. Many translators attempt to remain invisible, to create as little distance as possible between the words of the poet and the reader. Here Sarah Arvio makes herself visible as a poet. As such, some of these poems are more variations or "imitations" (as Robert Lowell called them). Although Arvio's style of translation is not the same as mine, Poet in Spain is clearly a labor of love, taking the time to translate a number of Lorca's poems, in fact complete books, including hard to find works. I'm happy to own it. For those interested in translations closer to Lorca's own creations, large editions of both Lorca's Selected Verse and Collected Poems are available in English from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Additionally, both Oxford University Press and New Directions have excellent (smaller, cheaper) editions of Lorca's Selected Poems (either fits well in a backpack, purse, or book bag). Every translator makes choices and can be second-guessed to death. Poet in Spain is a welcome addition to the debate. [3½★]
February 15, 2018
He Died at Daybreak
Night of four moons
and only one tree,
with only one shadow
and only one bird.
I search my skin for
the mark of your lips.
The water kisses the wind
without touching it.
I have the No you gave me,
in the palm of my hand,
like a wax lemon
almost white.
Night of four moons
and only one tree .
On the point of a needle,
my love spins.
Night of four moons
and only one tree,
with only one shadow
and only one bird.
I search my skin for
the mark of your lips.
The water kisses the wind
without touching it.
I have the No you gave me,
in the palm of my hand,
like a wax lemon
almost white.
Night of four moons
and only one tree .
On the point of a needle,
my love spins.
August 25, 2018
Good!
After reading Poet in New York in grad school circa 2011, I was blown away by Lorca and tried to delve into his complete works, but somehow I couldn't get into it. This time, with this new translation, I wanted to give it another chance, and I'm glad I did. I was still not a big fan of his Gypsy Ballads, but this time around I really enjoyed his earlier and later poems. I also read Blood Wedding for the first time since college, and it was pretty cool to reread it afer such a long time (even though I wasn't a big fan of the work, or maybe the translation of it).
If you like Lorca's Poet in New York, this is a must-read for sure.
After reading Poet in New York in grad school circa 2011, I was blown away by Lorca and tried to delve into his complete works, but somehow I couldn't get into it. This time, with this new translation, I wanted to give it another chance, and I'm glad I did. I was still not a big fan of his Gypsy Ballads, but this time around I really enjoyed his earlier and later poems. I also read Blood Wedding for the first time since college, and it was pretty cool to reread it afer such a long time (even though I wasn't a big fan of the work, or maybe the translation of it).
If you like Lorca's Poet in New York, this is a must-read for sure.
March 7, 2020
Some of these poems I found I couldn't get out of my head. I particularly liked Limonar. All very sensual, gentle, longing...I’ve heard that the ‘gypsy ballad’ poems are sometimes criticized for being fluffy. It’s definitely easy for love poems to come across as overly sentimental. For me, the vast majority of these rang true as very human
March 4, 2022
I started reading this collection in the fall for a play I was in and had to continue on until I finished. The poetry is so beautiful - rich imagery rooted in both nature and human flesh. Of love, longing, life and death. I really enjoy reading these larger collections because you can see the contrast between the much simpler, shorter poems and the long epics with more weighted language - and yet they all stimulate the senses equally and leave you incredibly moved. This collection also includes Blood Wedding, a play I already admired but appreciate more after reading so much of his poetry immediately beforehand.
April 8, 2018
A recently published bi-lingual edition was a challenge. Since my Spanish
is elementary, I had to work on each poem with care. But well-worth the effort.
Many of these poems selected were about the Spanish Civil War and his resistance
to Franco. Others were about the expected violence, battles, and death of soldiers
and the voluntary fighters. A dark book. But his lyricism takes flight with some of
the love ballads and folk-like songs. Recommend if you have an interest in Spanish
poetry.
is elementary, I had to work on each poem with care. But well-worth the effort.
Many of these poems selected were about the Spanish Civil War and his resistance
to Franco. Others were about the expected violence, battles, and death of soldiers
and the voluntary fighters. A dark book. But his lyricism takes flight with some of
the love ballads and folk-like songs. Recommend if you have an interest in Spanish
poetry.
October 5, 2018
"And to kiss your pure thighs
what would I give
Raw rose crystal
sediment of the sun"
-- "[To find a kiss of yours]"
"My soul
one delirious
flower
The mown field
and a hazy moon"
-- "[The mown field]"
what would I give
Raw rose crystal
sediment of the sun"
-- "[To find a kiss of yours]"
"My soul
one delirious
flower
The mown field
and a hazy moon"
-- "[The mown field]"
December 25, 2018
He is one of my favorite Spanish poets
January 17, 2021
https://openbooksociety.com/article/p...
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.
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.
May 2, 2023
Stunning to explore Spain's explicator of poetic duende in this new translation from Sarah Arvio reviewed by Dwight Garner in The New York Times:
"Lorca’s poems from Spain are a poetry of dreams and journeys and glimpses from balconies, of sunbaked meadows and realms of erotic yearning. He went to the well often for the same elemental imagery: the sea, the wind, the moon, flowers and trees. His mind worked feverishly enough to induce hallucinations."
Having a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, I was troubled by some of Translator Sarah Arvio's decisions to drop punctuation. Garner offers samples:
Lorca has been tamped down. His poem “Cazador” (“Hunter”), for example, begins with these words: “¡Alto pinar!” Arvio translates this, with a vast diminution in energy, as “High grove of pines.”
Lorca wrote in an exclamatory style that gave his work a flamenco brashness missing from some of these translations. García Lorca uses exclamatory sequences to mimic the effect of a chorus singing and beating their palms to the music of a flamenco performance.
Look at the first stanza of “Árboles” (“Trees”) from 1919:
¡Árboles!
¿Habéis sido flechas
Caídas del azul?
¿Qué terribles guerreros os lanzaron?
¿Han sido las estrellas?
Per Garner, "Arvio renders this in telegraphic yet somewhat lobotomized fashion:"
Were you once arrows
falling from the sky
What terrible warriors shot you
Were they the stars
Lorca's fascination with 14th-century Persian poetry in The Tamarit Divan to his idealization of Andalusia’s Romani history in Gypsy Ballads may be questioned nowadays, but overall these English translations stand up and render the book invaluable to any English-speaker smitten by Lorca’s work.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/bo... and https://yalereview.org/article/poetry...
"Lorca’s poems from Spain are a poetry of dreams and journeys and glimpses from balconies, of sunbaked meadows and realms of erotic yearning. He went to the well often for the same elemental imagery: the sea, the wind, the moon, flowers and trees. His mind worked feverishly enough to induce hallucinations."
Having a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, I was troubled by some of Translator Sarah Arvio's decisions to drop punctuation. Garner offers samples:
Lorca has been tamped down. His poem “Cazador” (“Hunter”), for example, begins with these words: “¡Alto pinar!” Arvio translates this, with a vast diminution in energy, as “High grove of pines.”
Lorca wrote in an exclamatory style that gave his work a flamenco brashness missing from some of these translations. García Lorca uses exclamatory sequences to mimic the effect of a chorus singing and beating their palms to the music of a flamenco performance.
Look at the first stanza of “Árboles” (“Trees”) from 1919:
¡Árboles!
¿Habéis sido flechas
Caídas del azul?
¿Qué terribles guerreros os lanzaron?
¿Han sido las estrellas?
Per Garner, "Arvio renders this in telegraphic yet somewhat lobotomized fashion:"
Were you once arrows
falling from the sky
What terrible warriors shot you
Were they the stars
Lorca's fascination with 14th-century Persian poetry in The Tamarit Divan to his idealization of Andalusia’s Romani history in Gypsy Ballads may be questioned nowadays, but overall these English translations stand up and render the book invaluable to any English-speaker smitten by Lorca’s work.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/bo... and https://yalereview.org/article/poetry...
March 1, 2024
The poems in this book are a perfect example of how poetry SHOULD NOT be translated. The translator takes liberty with punctuation, spacing, and structure to turn the poet’s work into her own. She even translates repeat phrases in the same poem as different things. The poems themselves by Lorca are beautiful but the translation by Arvio are infuriating.
September 10, 2021
Un bello niño de junco,
anchos hombros, fino talle,
piel de nocturna manzana,
boca triste y ojos grandes,
nervio de plata caliente,
ronda la desierta calle
Cuando la cabeza inclina
sobre su pecho de jaspe,
la noche busca llanuras
porque quiere arrodillarse.
anchos hombros, fino talle,
piel de nocturna manzana,
boca triste y ojos grandes,
nervio de plata caliente,
ronda la desierta calle
Cuando la cabeza inclina
sobre su pecho de jaspe,
la noche busca llanuras
porque quiere arrodillarse.
July 22, 2019
The best English translations of Lorca to date.
October 25, 2019
Very good translations of my favourite writer.
August 17, 2023
this was good
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews