The Selected Poems of Federico García Lorca (New Directions Paperbook)

Reading Federico García Lorca reminds one that surrealism, in poetry, doesn't have to be facile, that stanzas like: "La muchacha de lágrimas / se bañaba entre llamas / y el ruiseñor lloraba / con las allas quemadas," can elicit and deserve reactions more heartfelt than "wow, that's weird." In W.S. Merwin's translation the passage above is: "The girl of tears / bathed among flames / and the nightingale wept / with charred wings." Like most of the renderings (by a variety of translators) in this edition it seems to me well-done, and was certainly helpful to me as I puzzled my way through the Spanish on the left-hand pages, enjoying García Lorca's music, even as the meaning, at times—before a quick glance over at the right-hand page—eluded me.