Lorca's "Cielo vivo, " the Other Lake Eden Poem. Issue 1 (2nd January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Anderson, Andrew A.
• Is Part Of: Symposium. Volume 71:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 28
• Page End: 37
• Publication Date: 2017-01-02
• Subjects: Afterlife -- imagery -- mortality -- mutability -- nature -- Poeta en Nueva York -- temporality; Literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Philology, Modern -- Periodicals; Romance literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; 809.03
• DOI: 10.1080/00397709.2017.1277871
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0039-7709

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Section IV, "Poemas del Lago Eden Mills, " of Federico García Lorca's Poeta en Nueva York contains just two poems: "Poema doble del Lago Eden" and "Cielo vivo." This article offers a close reading of the second poem, which is often neglected in commentaries on the collection. The speaker contemplates his mortality, contrasting the mutability of the natural world with a kind of ideal—though ultimately unattainable—afterlife of which the contours are informed by the original plenitude associated with the Garden of Eden and the womb. Thematically, then, "Cielo vivo" can be seen as complementing "Poema doble": It looks to the future, while in the other poem, the speaker is principally concerned with his existential dilemmas as they affect him in the present.