Analysis of Gacela of the Dark Death

Federico García Lorca 1898 (Fuente Vaqueros) – 1936 (Alfacar)



I want to sleep the dream of the apples,
to withdraw from the tumult of cemetries.
I want to sleep the dream of that child
who wanted to cut his heart on the high seas.

I don't want to hear again that the dead do not lose their blood,
that the putrid mouth goes on asking for water.
I don't want to learn of the tortures of the grass,
nor of the moon with a serpent's mouth
that labors before dawn.

I want to sleep awhile,
awhile, a minute, a century;
but all must know that I have not died;
that there is a stable of gold in my lips;
that I am the small friend of the West wing;
that I am the intense shadows of my tears.

Cover me at dawn with a veil,
because dawn will throw fistfuls of ants at me,
and wet with hard water my shoes
so that the pincers of the scorpion slide.

For I want to sleep the dream of the apples,
to learn a lament that will cleanse me to earth;
for I want to live with that dark child
who wanted to cut his heart on the high seas.


Scheme aabC xxxxx xdexxx xdxe axbC
Poetic Form
Metre 1111011010 101101011 111101111 11011111011 111110110111111 101011110110 111111010101 110110101 110011 111101 010100100 111111111 11101011011 1110111011 1110011111 10111101 0111111111 01111011 11010101001 11111011010 11001111111 111111111 11011111011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 942
Words 201
Sentences 8
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 5, 6, 4, 4
Lines Amount 23
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 147
Words per stanza (avg) 40
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 25, 2023

1:01 min read
433

Federico García Lorca

Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He was executed by Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War. In 2008, a Spanish judge opened an investigation into Lorca's death. The García Lorca family eventually dropped objections to the excavation of a potential gravesite near Alfacar. However, no human remains were found. more…

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