Culture Submersion
Just a bit of Spanish poetry I'd through out for the heck of it.
I've been a spanish language student for the past four years and I really am someone who enjoys digging into different languages and the cultures they belong to. I often found myself excited for reading comprehension and literary work in class while my friend, Michelle, sat next to me and sighed. We created two halves of one brain, she and I. I understood all of the reading and discussion while she dominated all of the tenses and their correct terms of use.
So. Here's my part of the brain.
A bit of lyrical poetry by the very interesting and very odd Federico Garcia Lorca from Granada, Spain.
I'm a little rusty on my translation so bare with me.
Malaguena
La muerte
entra y sale
de la taberna.
Pasan caballos negros
y gente siniestra
por los hondos caminos
de la guitarra.
Y hay un olor a sal
y a sangre de hembra,
en los nardos febriles
de la marina.
La muerte
entra y sale,
y sale y entra
la muerte
de la taberna.
(rough translation)
The dead
enter and leave
the bar.
They pass black horses
and sinister people
by the deep roads
of the guitar.
And there is a smell of salt
and of the blood of women,
in the feverish nards of the marina.
The dead
enter and leave,
and leave and enter
the dead
of the bar.
At a quick glance through the translation, this looks like a rather depressing poem. La Malaguena, which is where the title came from, is a type of song that was popular in Andalucia due to its reference to the sea.
From the looks of it, the ports and marinas don't seem to have been a safe place to hang out back in nineteenth century Spain.
Is it odd or dorky that the lines of "the dead enter and leave" reminded me of The Return of the King? You know, "The way is shut, it was made by those who are dead, and the dead keep it"? ...k. Guess it was just me then.
So. Chew on the words for a bit and see if you can find a reason as to why Lorca would have written them.
And if you have any translation corrections or tips for me then by all means please let me know.
They would be greatly appreciated :)
(p.s. Do forgive me for the lack of accents and whatnot, I can't figure out how to type them in yet >.<)