A Study Guide for Federico Garcia Lorca's "Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias"

Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías

Federico García Lorca

1935

Introduction

Federico García Lorca's poem Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías was written and published in Spanish in 1935 as Llanto por Ignacio Sánchez Mejías. The poem was never attributed to any of Lorca's Spanish-language poetry collections and was instead released as a stand-alone piece. Lorca's poem was first translated into English in 1937 as Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter, though it is more commonly known today as Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías. Its first appearance in book form in the English language likely occurred in 1955, when the work appeared in The Selected Poems of Federico García Lorca. (A 2005 edition of the volume is also available.)

Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías was widely popular in Spain at the time of its release. This was due to the topical nature of the poem, which is an elegy for the famed Ignacio Sánchez Mejías, a celebrated matador who was gored to death in the bullring in 1934. In fact, several poets of the day wrote elegies dedicated to the bullfighter's death, including Miguel Hernández and Rafael Alberti. Yet, neither poet's work is as celebrated as Lorca's. This is likely because Lorca's poem transcends the real-life matador's goring, encompassing such universal and timeless themes as the simultaneous pointlessness and beauty of a violent death. It does so, also, in a lyrical manner that attempts to capture the very voice of grief itself.

Author Biography

Federico García Lorca was born on June 5, 1898, in Fuente Vaqueros, Granada, Spain. His mother, Vicenta Lorca, with whom Lorca was close, was a pianist and teacher, and his father, Federico García Rodriguez, was a wealthy landowner. Lorca studied law at the University of Granada from 1914 to 1919, though he was also closely affiliated with the Granada Arts Club. His first book, the travelogue Impresiones y paisajes, was inspired