Customer Reviews

Collected Poems

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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I usually find most modern poetry boring. Not Lorca's. His poems are short but potent and piercing, full of vivid imagery. His Spanish is difficult to translate literally into English while still retaining vibrancy, but this translator did a good job. The Spanish poetry is presented on the left-hand pages and its English version on the right-hand pages for easy comparison. Not a literal translation by any means, but a very effective one. A strong recommend.

When I first came across this book in my library I was so smitten with it I tried to gulp it all down in one swallow. As a poet myself, though, I am still eating and enjoying every bite. Burdened by the beauty of his metaphors it has been a challenge to read him without weeping. Though my only famil- iarity with him is through the translations in this volume, I am Latin enough to feel the intense passion, sorrow and melancholy he seems to have been possessed of in his lifetime. His struggle with himself, his love for his country and its ancient symbolism, his devotion to the Old Songs, his sadness at the death of a friend who was a Bullfgihter, his generous respect for the Gypsies, are all painted with the deep colors of language ... sometimes sweet, sometimes tongue-in-cheek humerous sometimes sardonic, sometimes satirical ... even ironical. But there is a mysticism that illuminates it all ... even his sorrow shines. He is a true wanderer ... he roams his! own world and ours and leaves us all mystified, a little confused, and wondering.. What is his "green" ... what does it, can it, truly, signify? Will anyone ever know? This volume is an accumulation of poems that demonstrates a rare and prodigious talent. His assassination at the hands of his enemies deprives us of more of his great work. This is a luminour opus! It is a shame it is out of print. Every poet, every wanna-be-poet, should read and re-read this book!

I don't know if this is the best way to work on learning Spanish, but it's certainly one of the least painful. It's great to have the original Spanish and the English translation opposite each other. I can't think of a better way to work on your pronunciation than to read these poems out loud to yourself [or others if they're interested]. The musical sound of the poetry makes you love the language and want to learn it. Maybe someday I finally will. In the meantime just reading and speaking it is it's own reward.

Lorca was such an amazing poet and this book captures him in all his dynamic beauty and magic. The translations are wonderful and its bilingual and the selection vast. If you like poetry, get this book.

This volume is really superb. The translations are of consistently high quality. I particularly enjoyed Jerome Rothenberg's "Suites." Too bad this book is out of print!

Frederico Garcia Lorca is wonderful as always. This gives my granddaughters who know some Spanish and my friends who do not speak an opportunity to read and enjoy him.

The translations in this book tend to be very good, considering the limitations of translating verse as opposed to prose or technical translations. Of course, one must learn Spanish in order to enjoy the rhythms of the original poems, but overall the translations are some of the best I've ever seen, especially of Romancer Gitano. If you love the poetry of Lorca, but cannot share it with someone who only speaks English, this book is perfect for them, and perhaps it will inspire them to learn Spanish.

Lorca's poems flutter your heart, and Christopher Mauer really knows Lorca, the translations are true to Lorca's magic.

This is a very hefty text. It has the majority of his poems in English and in Spanish, and complete translations of all of his renowned texts. I just finished reading the entire thing in English. It's really incredible, and the translations seem excellent. I did not bother comparing the English to the Spanish, but can say that the poems in English are masterpieces in their own right. It's the most comprehensive Lorca collection that I know of, so if you like large texts (nearly 1000 pages altogether with some extras), and if you know that you like Lorca, go for it. Lorca's poetry is sublime, and the majority of this text really shines. I only wish that I had more Lorca poetry to read.

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Garcia Lorca's poems are beautiful in Spanish. The translations in English seem a little heavy or awkward. But, in Spanish, they're lovely.