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He twice makes it clear that there is no way to quiet the sound of the guitar (Lines 7-10) and compares the guitar’s crying to the crying of wind and water (Lines 11-14). Lorca then repeats the imagery of the guitar weeping (Line 5). The poem introduces personification of the guitar and a related melancholic mood with the imagery of a guitar weeping followed by the breaking of glasses. This poem is inspired by Lorca’s interest in the history of flamenco music and the Modernismo movement of poets in the late 19th and early 20th century Spain, which emphasized national pride, cultural maturity, a search for beauty, and Romantic ideals (with an emphasis on the melodramatic). In “The Guitar,” Lorca personifies the dramatic capabilities of the instrument, also bringing to light the longing and suffering of the human experience. This poem is famous in Spain, akin to the “Star Spangled Banner” in the United States, and its lyrical recitation is often accompanied by flamenco guitar playing. While this was originally a collection of 55 poems, Lorca added two dialogues in 1925. It was written in November 1921, among other poems, in preparation for a flamenco festival in Granada the following year and was published in the collection Poem of the Deep Song, or Poem of the Cante Jondo. “The Guitar,” or in its original Spanish “La Guitarra,” is a free verse lyrical poem by Spanish poet, playwright, and amateur musician Federico Garcia Lorca.
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