Analysis of The Gypsy and the Wind
Federico García Lorca 1898 (Fuente Vaqueros) – 1936 (Alfacar)
Playing her parchment moon
Precosia comes
along a watery path of laurels and crystal lights.
The starless silence, fleeing
from her rhythmic tambourine,
falls where the sea whips and sings,
his night filled with silvery swarms.
High atop the mountain peaks
the sentinels are weeping;
they guard the tall white towers
of the English consulate.
And gypsies of the water
for their pleasure erect
little castles of conch shells
and arbors of greening pine.
Playing her parchment moon
Precosia comes.
The wind sees her and rises,
the wind that never slumbers.
Naked Saint Christopher swells,
watching the girl as he plays
with tongues of celestial bells
on an invisible bagpipe.
Gypsy, let me lift your skirt
and have a look at you.
Open in my ancient fingers
the blue rose of your womb.
Precosia throws the tambourine
and runs away in terror.
But the virile wind pursues her
with his breathing and burning sword.
The sea darkens and roars,
while the olive trees turn pale.
The flutes of darkness sound,
and a muted gong of the snow.
Precosia, run, Precosia!
Or the green wind will catch you!
Precosia, run, Precosia!
And look how fast he comes!
A satyr of low-born stars
with their long and glistening tongues.
Precosia, filled with fear,
now makes her way to that house
beyond the tall green pines
where the English consul lives.
Alarmed by the anguished cries,
three riflemen come running,
their black capes tightly drawn,
and berets down over their brow.
The Englishman gives the gypsy
a glass of tepid milk
and a shot of Holland gin
which Precosia does not drink.
And while she tells them, weeping,
of her strange adventure,
the wind furiously gnashes
against the slate roof tiles.
Scheme | ABxcdxxxcexfxgx ABxbgxgx xhex dffx xxxx IhIbxx xxxx xcxx xxxx cfbx |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 100101 11 01010011100101 011010 101001 1101101 11111001 1010101 0100110 1101110 1010100 0101010 111001 1010111 011101 100101 11 0110010 011101 1011001 1001111 1110101 1101001 1011111 010111 10011010 011111 11001 0101010 10101010 11100101 01101 1010111 011101 00101101 111 1011111 111 011111 011111 11101001 1111 1101111 010111 1010101 0110101 11110 111101 01011011 01001010 011101 0011101 11111 0111110 101010 0110001 010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,633 |
Words | 290 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 15, 8, 4, 4, 4, 6, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 57 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 135 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 17, 2023
- 1:27 min read
- 143 Views
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