Metaphysical Poetry Entropy | 11 Aug 2008
The Siguiriya’s steps
My friend Nimesh shared The wonderful poetry of the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) which is marked by brilliance, originality. Please also care to read poems meaningful & penetrating interpretation by our literary mentor Max Babi also being appended
Among black butterflies
Goes a Moorish girl
beside a white serpent
of mist.
Earth of light,
sky of earth.
She goes chained to the tremor
of a rhythm that never settles;
she has a heart of silver
she handles a dagger in her hand.
Where are you going, Siguiriya,
with that headless rythm?
What moon will gather up
your pain of lime and oleander?
Earth of light
sky of earth
By Federico Garcia Lorca
Translated by Gilles de Seze
Notes By Max:
As this is a magic realism poem and a mystic one, we are facing a double trouble, of penetrating the meaning. Obviously the topic is a sort of cross cultural comment, a Spanish man looking at a young Arab-Spanish girl prancing to an unfamiliar that does not seem to have regular breaks (you have to listen to Arabian music to appreciate this -unlike popular Spanish music, it may not have clear cut easily countable beats…it may go on an on…
A heart of silver may imply several things : an unaffected, sturdy heart unlike ours made of flesh, it may even hint at a love for money or power, being an alien girl. A dagger in her hand is a symbol of self-protection, self-worth and even self-love. She nor her body language may permit aliens to go too close to her.
But she is dancing to the tune of a Spanish Siguiriya, hence the poet enquires philosophically where the song is leading the young girl to? Away from her own highly suppressed culture into the passionate unbridled ways of the Spanish, or somewhere else?
Lime and oleander are symbolic too. When you grow a lime tree you are enamoured of the future, when the fruit will grow and ripen, but the risk of thorns cannot be ruled out. This is metaphorically the young girl, attractive but dangerous. Oleander (karain) is a pink coloured very attractive flower that has no smell and there is a popular myth saying you will have bleeding nostrils if you smell it.
Thus the ‘pain of lime and oleander’ is a very poetic way of describing the poet’s secret fascination that must remained checked in for his own good. The reference to the moon is because of implied romantic leanings, males often to berserk in the moonlight on seeing an exotic girl, and a hint of madness is implied too.
The repetition of ‘ earth of light, and sky of earth’ means that the poet is building castles in the air. His mental universe is simply as weightless and massless as if made from light beams, thus just an illusion like a laser beam world. When the earth becomes the sky, it means the poet is looking inwards and searching for meanings. Inward looks imply trying to discover universes within one’s own personality.
Great poem -an amazingly complex set of metaphors
on 30 Aug 2008 at 4:49 pm 1.Nimesh Dadia said …
Dear Lao Aju
Thank you for posting this poem. Its a ensnaring poem brimming with metaphors and symbolic imagery in every phrase.All these metaphors are multilayered like a Millefeuille.
This poem hit me like a dagger and not knowing where it hit me. Lorca speaks with an intangible yet palpable moods which are laced with Music and Imagery. There is an inherent rhythm and beat in every word of every sentence in this poem. It completely consumes one.
A friend of mine has thrown light upon the dynamic contracts in the poem. THe poem begins with the Black Butterflies and a White Serpent. The butterfly, a being light and ephemeral who metaphorphoses and a serpent who glides on the earth and is considered sacred in moorish and also Indian Culture. Than on the second level , the Butterfly is black and Serpent White. Black symbolising sorrow or bad omen and white for the purity and eternity. This forms the dynamic premise to what is in store in the subsequent lines. The recurring lines “Earth of Light and Sky of Earth.” which were so brilliantly explained by Max Guruji.
The dynamism of contrasts and dynamism of emotions is lends a magicl realism to this poem.
Lorca cannot be analysed, it should rather be internalised. He speaks like a Sufi like a mystic in riddles.
When one reads Lorca one smells the exotic spices emanating in a moorish arabic bazaar, the faint smell of the sandal far removed from the occidental world, it directly steeps itself into the world of eastern mysticisim.
After several readings of this poem, i discovered magic at every reading. Permit me at this juncture to go off on a tangent and share a personal perspective of mine.
To me reading this poem is like visiting Hindou temple. The moment we enter the temple, it tries to entice our all five senses. The Smell emanating form the incense, the sound of the Bell, than we touch the deity and and adorn him with flowers and vermillion. A pleasing sight to the eye.
After we have offered our prayers , we receive the Prasad ( a Sweet, sucrerie) for taste. A complete experience tantalising all five senses. The contradiction here is that the Hindou Vedic texts repeatedly state the “The whole world is Maya, its all an illusion, the eternal truth and the eternal being is the soul”
The idea is to transcend from the enticing worldly desires and to attain salavation or rather a state of nothingness.
The opening lines of the poem Among Black Butterflies ( a visually beautiful creature), goes a Moorish Girl ( (The Seeker or a devotee) ,beside a white serpent of mist (IN a Shiva temple and even in the egyptian culture, a serpent is worshipped and its a creature blessed with longevity ).
Earth of Light , Sky of Earth; symbolising the very teachings of Hinduism, the worldly desires and worldly ways of living are ephemeral and illussional like the Earth formed of Light, so light and unreal. Sky of Earth , the soul is the only eternal truth and meaning of ones existing.
The seeker is time and again made to realise again and again of the futility of worldly desires. Lorca too , in his poem entices the reader and states the pointlessness of world, we live in.
on 31 Aug 2008 at 3:31 pm 2.Max Babi said …
Dear Ajay and Nimesh,
Interesting, very interesting.
A good poem should be able to inspire a thousand interpretations….
we all have made a humble start !
Cheerz!
Max