Federico
Garcia
Lorca
1898-1936
Early Years: 1898-1919
 He was born in a small town a
few miles from Granada, his
father owned a small farm.
 He moved to Granada itself,
strongly influencing his interest in
gypsy culture.
 He studied law at sacred heart
university.
 In 1919, Lorca gave up his
official studies to pursue his art
and moved to Madrid where he
remained for 15 years.
http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/
(Federico Garcia Lorca as a child)
Adulthood: 1919-1936
 Shot to death by supporters of
General Francisco Franco over
the grave of his brother in law.
His books were then burned in
the streets.
 He was friends with famous
Spanish artist Dali, but their
relationship ended devastatingly
to Lorca after Dali refused
romantic advances.
 Lorca’s talents flourished under
the new republican gov. of 1931
which allowed for much more
individual and artistic freedom.
He became a public star.
www.biography.com
(Lorca)
Writing Highlights
 One of his most famous collections was his series of Gypsy
Ballads or Romancero Gitano. It was famous for its exploration of
sexual themes. Walking Asleep was part of this collection.
 Many of his works were infused with popular themes like
Flamenco and Gypsy culture.
 This collection of works was inspired by traditional Spanish
romance poetry.
 Although the author was famous for many works, people loved
most the plays and poems that he wrote about gypsy culture,
while he himself felt that he did not want to be pigeonholed into
that topic.
Historical Context: Long Work
 The subject of a very young woman married to a much
older man is a traditional Spanish subject and can also be
seen in his next work, “The Love of Don Perlimplin”.
 The play seeks to take the traditional subject, but put it in
modern context with a twist.
 The play was well received for it accurately captured the
small town and closed neighborhood feel of southern
Spain.
 Spanish machismo still exists today, but was much more
culturally prevalent at the time this work existed. Several of
the characters, especially the mayor, portray this trait.
Highlights: The Shoemaker’s
Wonderful Wife
The Macho Mayor: he thinks he’s good with the
ladies, but his four dead wives beg to differ.
2. Puppets within a play: Lorca’s childhood putting a
twist on a classic device.
3. The “Illuminating Moment”: Love is never what we
want it to be, but if we let it, its what it ought to be.
1.
Historical Context: “Walking Asleep”
 Virginity is a requirement for a bride in Romani (or gypsy)
culture in almost every sub-cultural group of the Roma.
 The publication was written in 1928. This was before the
Spanish Civil War.
 Many people were convinced Lorca was a Gypsy because of
the great detail and romanticism of his portrayal of Gypsy life,
but he was certainly not.
 Gypsy culture of the Andalusian population was highly
idealized by the general Spanish population because of its
portrayal in works of famous travelers and writers.
Brief Summary: “Walking Asleep”
The poem begins in a sort of surrealist description between the ideal
green of the mans love and the green she is. It alludes to the fact she is
dead. The poem then transfers to a dialogue between a young man and an
old man who is later known to be the father of the dead girl in the
beginning. Then young man asks for rest and a place to sleep and die, but
the old man says that he cannot give him what he seeks. The two then
begin climbing towards the rail that the dead girl is waiting at (a climb
which we will see can be symbolic for many things). The two men leave a
trail of blood and tears on their climb. The poem ends with the old man’s
confession that the woman is dead and the arrival of drunken civil guards,
presumably to arrest the young man. The man then reflects again on the
green he wished his love to be (youthful green, not rotting).
Concepts WA: Ballad
Many aspects of “Walking Asleep” indicate that it is a traditional medieval
ballad, including that its original Spanish title is more directly translated
as “Ballad of a Sleep Walking Person”.
Contains these elements that are essential in Balladry:
 A third person narrative.
 A regular rhyme scheme and rhythm. (More apparent in the original
Spanish text).
Contains these often seen elements of Balladry:
 Imagery of color
 A repeated line or refrain
 Dialogue within some of the lines
Though it is written in the style of traditional Spanish Balladry, it
contains many stylistic elements that were more modern.
Concepts WA: Imagery and
Symbolism
Imagery and symbolism are the two primary devices that convey emotion and
meaning in this poem. The most important image in this poem is the color
green and the most important symbol is the climb the two men face.
Green: The image of green in the start is the ideal green of youth and
adventure and of the free things in nature. The green the girl has become is of
rotting green flesh and hair. This contributes to the surrealist elements of the
poem as it takes something as abstract as green and uses two very different
abstract perceptions of it through the eyes of the dreamer.
The Climb: When looking at various interpretations of this story, the climb
was interpreted to mean a variety of different things, but in every
interpretation I read, it was symbolic of something, not an actual climb. One
of the most common (and I believe valid) interpretations of the symbol is
that of death. The two men climb to the girl, the lover and the father,
meaning that they attempt to join her in death. Only the young man makes it.
Concepts WA: Interpreting Abstract
Poetry and Surrealism
There is a lot of people who believe that this poem is about a wounded
smuggler or a wounded soldier or a prisoner or a sailor, but each of these
interpretations see, to rely heavily on a specific part of the poem for
validity while largely ignoring the rest of the poem. The poem is written
in surrealist fashion. With that known, one con understand the poem
more fully. Nothing in the poem is meant to narrate the actuality of the
story being told. It is filled with symbols of the reality of the gypsy man’s
tale (the boats, the mountains, the cistern, the moon) and distorted with
the disconnect of the dream he is perceiving his reality in (cats claws,
icicle, the climb, even possibly his wound). Even Lorca himself said that
the poem was not meant to tell a specific story. What is important is to
understand the general scenario that the real images create and then to
apply the emotions that the surreal elements create to the general
situation.
Love and Hate: Walking Asleep
“Walking Asleep” tends towards the love side of this theme.
In the tradition of the Ballad, this tale centers around the
tragic romance of two young lovers. I think that there are
three main points this poem makes about love.
1. What we want love to be. The green of youth and
adventure.
2. What we will do for love. The waiting of the girl and the
quest of the man and the father.
3. The overpowering forces of the rest of the world can
overcome love and break even our best efforts.
What I Learned: Gitanos
 Though they are often viewed
negatively from an economic
perspective, Romani culture
is often celebrated by Spanish
pop culture.
 The most common religion
among them is Roman
Catholic, though they are not
common church goers.
 Even today, many gitanos live
a nomadic life style.
 Ethnically, gypses recognize
each other, but have very
different regional practices
and cultures.
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/ima
ges/paintings/cmbc/large/wyr_cmbc_1974_661
_large.jpg
What I Learned: Surrealism
 The aim was to "resolve the
previously contradictory
conditions of dream and
reality.“
 Took real life objects and
twisted them into
impossible scenes.
 Tried to attach the strange
reality of dreams to the
supposedly concrete reality
of conscious life.
 Surrealism is famous for
both its written and visual
works. RIGHT: Dali
Works Cited
“Federico García Lorca.” 2014. The Biography.com website. Apr 15 2014.
http://www.biography.com/people/federico-garcía-lorca-9386246
“Federico García Lorca.” 2014. Academy of American Poets. www.poets.org website. Apr
15 2014. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/163
“Romancero Gitano.” 2014. Encyclopedia Britannica website. Apr 16 2014.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/225659/Federico-GarciaLorca/215003/Romancero-gitano
Federico García Lorca Plays: Two. Methuen Drama World Classics. Great Brittan. 1990.
Translated. Print.
“Walking Asleep.” Lorca. Themes in World Literature. Ed. 1970. Pg. 597-598. Houghton
Mifflin Company, Boston.