Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In Federico García Lorca's "Guitar," translated by Robert Bly, the emotive power of the guitar is explored as a conduit for human suffering, longing, and the elemental forces that pervade our existence. Lorca's work often involves interplay between the tangible and intangible, between what is seen and unseen, and this poem is no exception. The guitar here is not merely an instrument; it is a living entity, imbued with a sorrow so potent that it transcends human capacity to contain it.

"The crying of the guitar begins," the poem opens, setting an immediate atmosphere of plaintive urgency. The guitar's cry is so overpowering that it breaks "the early morning glasses," a potent symbol that suggests the shattering of tranquility, perhaps even the frail constructs through which we view reality. It's not merely the physicality of the sound that is unsettling, but what it represents-the cry "is useless to silence" and "impossible to silence," indicating a universal suffering that is inherent in existence itself.

Moreover, the guitar "cries monotonously like the water cries, like the wind cries over the snowfall." By likening the guitar's weeping to natural elements-water and wind-the poet universalizes its pain. These aren't merely decorative comparisons; they convey a suffering as consistent and pervasive as nature itself. Water and wind don't literally cry, but their constancy mimics the omnipresent nature of sorrow.

The objects of the guitar's crying are "distant things"-yearnings that are untouchable and visions unattainable. "Hot southern sand that calls for white camellias" encapsulates a longing for something pure and untainted, represented by white camellias, in the midst of an environment that is harsh and unforgiving, represented by "hot southern sand."

"Weep arrow without target, the afternoon without morning, and the first dead bird on the branch," the poem continues. These paradoxes or contradictions evoke a certain aimlessness or loss of direction. An arrow without a target has lost its purpose; an afternoon without morning suggests a disjointed sense of time, while "the first dead bird on the branch" symbolizes the first blush of irreversible loss or the advent of mortality.

"Oh guitar! Heart badly wounded by five swords," the poem concludes, transforming the guitar into a tragic figure, its heart symbolically stabbed by experiences that leave it-and by extension humanity-irreparably damaged. The number five could have various interpretations; it might refer to the five senses, suggesting a complete, bodily sorrow, or perhaps the quintessential sorrows that are part and parcel of human life.

The guitar's music isn't merely a sequence of notes; it is the outpouring of a collective sorrow so deep and eternal that it connects us with the elemental sorrows of the world. Lorca captures this with haunting beauty, crafting a poem that serves as a melancholic hymn to the universality of human suffering.

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...