Jheron Edwards
English II
Mrs. Del Dotto, 7th
March 23, 2016
Ballad Of The Moon - Poem by Federico García Lorca
The moon came into the forge
in her bustle of flowering nard.
The little boy stares at her, stares.
The boy is staring hard.
In the shaken air
the moon moves her arms,
and shows lubricious and pure,
her breasts of hard tin.
"Moon, moon, moon, run!
If the gypsies come,
they will use your heart
to make white necklaces and rings."
"Let me dance, my little one.
When the gypsies come,
they'll find you on the anvil
with your lively eyes closed tight.
"Moon, moon, moon, run!
I can feel their horses come."
"Let me be, my little one,
don't step on me, all starched and white!"
Closer comes the the horseman,
drumming on the plain.
The boy is in the forge;
his eyes are closed.
Through the olive grove
come the gypsies, dream and bronze,
their heads held high,
their hooded eyes.
Oh, how the night owl calls,
calling, calling from its tree!
The moon is climbing through the sky
with the child by the hand.
They are crying in the forge,
all the gypsies, shouting, crying.
The air is viewing all, views all.
The air is at the viewing.
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ballad-of-the-moon/
Five Facts:
- Federico Garcia is his real name, but likes to also be called Lorca
- Federico was accepted in Residencia de Estudiantes in 1919 after moving to Madrid
- Federico’s first poetic publication was Libro de Poems (1921)
- His first poems were written for his first important book Canciones, published in 1927
- In the 1920s, Federico went into playwriting in drama.
Summary of Ballad of the Moon: A little boy has fallen for a beautiful woman in deep lust. He stares at her, struck by her beauty, but they are soon chased by the Gypsies. The Gypsies are trying to capture the boy and woman on their horseman through the forge. The speaker is the narrator of the poem overviewing the boy’s lust for the girl. He is speaking to the readers telling a unique story.
Analysis of Ballad of the Moon: Federico chose the antagonist of the poem to be a Gypsy. He uses Gypsies as characters to represent the natural man whose instincts and vital passions are not repressed by morals and culture training, “When the gypsies come, they’ll find you on the anvil with your lovely eyes closed shut.” As the Gypsies chase the little boy exposed of sexual instincts, it shows that he is forever threatened by repression but somehow breaks out and often leading to death, “They are crying in the forge, all the gypsies, shouting, crying.” “The little boy stares at her, stares. The boy is staring hard,” the boy as deep aspirations of being with this girl and is suffering through deep lust. These quotes impact the story by showing how lust can distract you and persuade you to make hasty decisions. They capture the boy’s instincts and test his morals with to run from the gypsies or stay with the girl. The author uses imagery such as “breasts of hard tin” to capture the close examination the boy has taken upon himself to stare at the girl due to his case of lust. The author uses personification such as “The moon is climbing through the sky” to show that night is arising.
Tone: the tone of the story is passionate at the beginning when the boy has found the beautiful girl and works on approaching her, but takes a disturbed and despairing turn when the gypsies frightening the girl as well as scaring the boy away in tears.
Theme: as you are young, you will find much lustful feelings for someone and those feelings could come at you to take hasty instincts as well as disrupted morals.
This poem shows a fast paced tempo of rhythm. With this, the poetry is bouncy and easy to read. The poet uses nard to reference to the spikenard (a Himalayan plant). The poetry is repeated in some lines to emphasize the importance of his message in his poetry to make it seem more dramatic. The fast paced tempo helps the foreshadow of the poetry and builds up the climax of it. The poem's rhythm makes the poem more fun to read. The impact of the word choice such as "run", "drumming", "calling" draws in the attention of the reader to the point you don't lose interest in the poem.
Your image is extremely related !! I love how it goes with the tone of the poem , well done .
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