Somnambule Ballad (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Federico García Lorca
- First Published: 1928
- Type of Work: Lyric/ballad
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry, Ballad
- Subjects: Police, Escapes, Dreams, Smuggling or smugglers, Horses, Spain or Spanish people, Moon or moons, Gypsies
The Poem
Despite the poet’s declaration that he himself did not know what was going on in the poem, “Somnambule Ballad,” Federico García Lorca’s supreme dream poem, readily yields most of its secrets to the patient reader. It narrates the plight of a wounded gypsy smuggler seeking refuge from the Guardia Civil (Civil Guards, the rural Spanish police force, at one time noted for its harshness) in the house where his sweetheart lived. Incantatory phrases, haunting images, and a confusion of the real and dream worlds form the background against which this ballad’s...
[The entire page is 1496 words long]
