SESSION 6 — Musical Metaphors

Photo by Jefferson Santos on Unsplash

Discussion:

• Of all the arts, music seems to be the most resonant (see what I did there?), evoking feeling and memory, and reaching parts of us that nothing else can.

• Poets, connoisseurs of feeling, have tried to capture the power of music in words. Do you think Federico García Lorca succeeds?

• What metaphors, images and other poetic devices does he use in this poem to convey the emotion that the guitar awakens in him?

Federico García Lorca (1898 –1936) was a significant Spanish poet, playwright, and theater director, renowned for his influential works in 20th-century literature. His major contributions include several volumes of poetry and important plays that reflect the cultural and social issues of his time. He was tragically executed during the Spanish Civil War, which has made his life and work particularly poignant in literary history.

La Guitarra

Empieza el llanto
de la guitarra.
Se rompen las copas
de la madrugada.
Empieza el llanto
de la guitarra.
Es inútil callarla.
Es imposible
callarla.
Llora monótona
como llora el agua,
como llora el viento
sobre la nevada.
Es imposible
callarla.
Llora por cosas
lejanas.
Arena del Sur caliente
que pide camelias blancas.
Llora flecha sin blanco,
la tarde sin mañana,
y el primer pájaro muerto
sobre la rama.
¡Oh, guitarra!
Corazón malherido
por cinco espadas.

The Guitar (English Translation)

The weeping of the guitar
begins.
The goblets of dawn
are smashed.
The weeping of the guitar
begins.
Useless
to silence it.
Impossible
to silence it.
It weeps monotonously
as water weeps
as the wind weeps
over snowfields.
Impossible
to silence it.
It weeps for distant
things.
Hot southern sands
yearning for white camellias.
Weeps arrow without target
evening without morning
and the first dead bird
on the branch.
Oh, guitar!
Heart mortally wounded
by five swords.

Writing Prompt

• Can you remember a time when music moved you? Do you have a favourite instrument or a favourite song? What if you were to write a poem where you used that instrument or song as a metaphor or gateway into something deeper?

• Or you can do it the other way: think about an experience, a person, or a thing, and think about what instrument or piece of music you would compare them to, if you were to capture their essence.

• Either way, have fun with it! Don’t worry too much about ‘getting it right’—just let the music take you somewhere and see what unfolds.

If you’d like to share your new creation with us, click below. We’d love to read your work!