Antonio Machado's Poetic Tribute to Federico García Lorca

Machado's Poetic Homage to Lorca's Final Moments

This analysis focuses on Antonio Machado's poignant poem dedicated to Federico García Lorca, which vividly portrays Lorca's final days before his execution and his profound emotions. Machado's work serves as a powerful lament for the tragic loss of a fellow poet and friend.

Poem's Narrative and Core Themes

The poem unfolds Lorca's final moments with striking imagery and emotional depth:

• The first four lines describe Lorca's journey through the village with soldiers.
• The subsequent two lines recount his execution at dawn.
• Lines seven through ten explore the suffering of the soldiers who carried out the act.
• Lines eleven to fourteen emphasize that Lorca was killed in his beloved home city, Granada.
• Verses fifteen to eighteen reiterate his death at dawn.
• From line nineteen to thirty-one, Lorca is depicted in a profound dialogue with Death, acknowledging her as his muse yet condemning her cruel embrace. The final seven lines of this section speak of his deep connection to the earth.

Machado then implores readers to remember Lorca's execution in Granada, urging them to create a lasting memorial so that his sacrifice is never forgotten. The central theme is the tragic irony of Lorca being killed in the very city that gave him life, a fact that deeply pained Machado, who understood Lorca's profound love for his land.

The poem evokes powerful imagery, suggesting that even Lorca's executioners felt a sense of loss. Lorca is depicted facing death with immense courage, even preferring to die on his native soil rather than elsewhere. The text reveals two profound emotional states: the feelings a person experiences before dying and the legacy left behind, alongside the pain and indignation of having to die in one's birthplace.

Poetic Structure and Meter

The poem primarily employs the silva metric form. However, in Part 1, this rhythm breaks to incorporate various octosyllabic verses. Notably, in these specific verses, Machado adopts a tone reminiscent of Lorca, a voluntary tribute to the fallen poet.

The poem's opening, “He was seen...”, and its conclusion, “...in Granada”, are particularly striking. This poem, a silva, combines seven-syllable and eleven-syllable (hendecasyllabic) verses. While it does not follow a strict, apparent rule for line length or rhyme scheme, the silva form allows for a flexible combination of freely rhyming or blank verses, providing the poet with significant expressive freedom.

Literary Devices and Style

Several stylistic resources enhance the poem's impact:

• A notable case of anaphora appears in verse 17, where “tower and tower” is repeated, followed by “anvil and anvil” in the subsequent verse.
• Rhetorical questions are found in verse 12: “Blood on your face and lead in the womb?” and the following verse: “Does poor Granada know?”
• A synecdoche is shown in the first verse, where “men with guns” refers to a group of soldiers.