Carneiro Nayrana Carneiro 03/06/2011 Surrealism Seminar New York in a poet- Final Paper In 1929 while attending Columbia

University, Spanish poet Federico Garca Lorca departed from his early style of poetry and wrote Poet in New York. Although

Lorca denied it, this volume was regarded as a product of the surrealist period. Poet in New York is the embodiment of Lorcas experiences of depression and isolation in the chaotic and hostile city of New York and it gives insight to the poets private vision of modern civilization. Through the many poems that compose this volume, Lorca explores the loss of faith, social injustice and capitalism that drive the metropolis. The reason for Lorcas visit to New York remains unknown. Most writers, such as Carl Cobb, however, believe that during that time, Lorca was emotionally unstable. In an attempt to fix the problem, Lorcas father encouraged him to travel with the hope that he would regain his equilibrium (Cobb 32). In a letter to a friend, Garca Lorca confessed that he was going through one of the worst crises he had ever known. He wrote, I now realize what it is that the erotic poets mean by the fire of love We will see if I can accomplish what I want to with my poetry and if I can finally cut these terrible bonds and return to the happiness I once felt (qtd. in Maurer xiii). He was clearly alluding to his break up with Emilio Aladrn, a Spanish sculptor. It is believed that Aladrn did not reciprocate Lorcas love and only used him to gain fame, leaving the poet heart-broken. Lorcas parents suggested that he

Carneiro go abroad to study English at Columbia University, where they hoped Lorca would gain an education, learn to speak the language, and write a book about his experience in America (Maurer xiii). Lorca arrived at Columbia University in the early summer of 1929, and was greeted by professor Angel del Ro. Although he registered as a student in English classes for foreigners it soon became obvious that English would remain a mystery to him. Despite his lack of interest in the language, New York City greatly impacted the poet. Lorca regularly wrote letters to his parents in which he seemed to be enjoying the city life. He told his parents he was adapting well to his new environment and that he didnt see much of the Spaniards and preferred to live

the life of an American (qtd in Stainton 218). Some scholars such as Leslie Stainton, believe this was not the case. Rather, Lorca dropped by ngel del Ros apartment nearly everyday and took part in weekly gatherings at the offices of the Spanishlanguage magazine Alhambra. They also believe that rather then enjoying life, Lorca felt very isolated and found this new environment very strange compared to that of his student days in Madrid. Although he often frequented jazz clubs with his new Spanish friends, his professor, John Crow, revealed that he seemed to be suffering from alienation (Cobb 32). This isolation is what most bibliographers believe was the driving force behind Lorcas Poet in New York. Specialists claim that Lorca went from a state of participation in nature manifested in his earlier poetry, to a state of extreme alienation expressed in the poetry he wrote in New York (Craige 2). Regardless, Poet in New York transcends the poets private vision of modern civilization. It is both a condemnation of modern society- the spiritual emptiness

Carneiro epitomized by New York- and a dark cry of metaphysical loneliness (Maurer xviii). In his book The Poetics of Apocalypse, author Martha Nandorfy notes, Poet in New York is an invitation to death (15). In fact, Garca Lorca once considered entitling the book Introduction to Death alluding to the spiritual death he saw in New York (Maurer xviii). This central idea is expressed through the use of the first-person subject of Poet in New York. Through this character, Lorca expresses his anguish towards the spiritual emptiness of twentieth-century man (Edwards 125).

One of the main focuses of Lorcas writing about New York is humanitys loss of faith. Lorcas Poet in New York is a vision of a civilization that has killed God and now exists without roots. Some bibliographers have paralleled this fall from innocence to that of Adam and Eve after eating from the Tree of Knowledge (Craige 33). Because Adam and Eve lacked faith in God, and desired knowledge, they were eternally separated from divinity. Mans vision turns the world, self, and God into objects of perception, and his subjectivity engulfs the universe (Craige 32). This means that when man gains awareness of himself, he loses harmony with nature. In Lorcas poems, he illustrates how this fall into consciousness happened long ago. However, it was not until later that it fully developed and greatly affected society. In his writings, Lorca shows that when humanity fails to recognize a god, they become their own god. By becoming their own god, men lose the concept of right and wrong and become lost in the world. To illustrate humanitys loss of faith, Garca Lorca writes about hueco- the emptiness and void that lie between innocence and death. Though this is an underlying theme in many of his poems, Nocturno del hueco (Nocturne of the

Carneiro Void) brings this idea to life. This poem fairly represents the entire work in theme, language and structure. Craige notes that Nocturne of the Void is an anguished cry issuing from the consciousness of the isolated poet whose yearning for wholeness is passionate and extreme, however not to be fulfilled (34). The poem illustrates a lonely poet who is desperate to be fulfilled but whose destiny shows otherwise. The best approach to better understanding Nocturne of the Void is a close reading. To begin, the title suggests an image of the darkness of night. Lorca immediately connects the idea of darkness and void foreshadowing the presence of

emptiness throughout the poem. The first line of the poem carries on with the same idea. Lorca writes, In order to see that all has gone, in order to see the hallow ones (Craige 35) not only to illustrate to the reader that the poem comes from a place of desolation but also to demonstrate a sense of absence and loss. Everything that once existed has ceased to exist- including God. In the preceding lines, the character that represents Lorca in the poem, begs his love to help him see the world clearly. It is unknown who his love is and different scholars agree on different interpretations. While some writers believe that it applies to an actual person (Cobb 89), others believe that it is an expression for his endless yearning for completeness (Craige 35). Stanza two follows the same symbolic style of writing as stanza one; however, it is more surrealistic in its language. The poet connects seemingly unrelated images such as wind, snails, worms and apples. In these lines the poet uses the snails and worms to portray a sense of a decaying world. Other surrealists such as Salvador Dal had previously used such images in his paintings to represent the same idea.

Carneiro The wind might represent a force that is trying to drive away destruction, for it blows away the stiff worms from the buds of light. The next stanza talks about impassive faces which row beneath the diminutive cry of grasses. The image of the impassive faces is a synecdoche for the emotionless men who do not realize

what is happening to the world. The fourth stanza describes the setting of the poemIn the great deserted plaza. This atmosphere of emptiness describes the poems central theme of hueco. In line 17, Lorca makes reference to a serpent. This symbol could be connected to the idea of the Garden of Eden and the fall into consciousness that Lorca frequently alludes to in this poem. The refrain is repeated and the character that represents Lorca, once again evokes his great love for guidance. In the fifth stanza Lorca speaks of a world of silence. He juxtaposes the imagery of eternal life and death by saying what sky without exit. The sky usually represents heaven and therefore eternal life; however a sky without exit represents hopelessness. In the next few lines, Lorca personifies stone and voice and turns them into a sort of hero who attempts to save his love. Once again, the refrain is repeated and the reader is reminded, All has gone. The next stanza has the idea of death as its main point. Lorca talks about branches of blood that draw instant pain of the punctured moon. The moon is a reoccurring symbol in Lorcas poetry. In this particular line, it is obvious that it represents death because it is connected to the imagery of blood and it has been punctured- or stabbed. Lines 38-41 incorporate most of the themes of the poem. Look at the concrete forms that seek their emptiness. / Mistaken dogs and bitten apples. / Look at the anxiety, the anguish of a sad fossil world/ that does not find the accent of its first sob. Lorca talks about

Carneiro concrete forms that seek their emptiness. The main idea of the poem is this sense of hueco or void that men seek to fulfill but are not successful. Then, he incorporates the idea of the Garden of Eden by talking about bitten apples, which are responsible for the fall into consciousness. He characterizes the world as a sad

fossil that does not find the accent of its first sob. This is a world that cries for help, but because no one can hear it, it has seized to exist. The second to last stanza destroys any hope that the poet felt. The imprisoned moon devours a sailor in front of the children. Once again, the moon represents death, and kills the sailor in front of the children, showing the next generation that there truly is no hope. The poem comes to a closure with the refrain, but rather than being a quatrain, he modifies it with the addition of two lines. The poet alters the structure of the poem to make it seem incomplete. Lorca repeats the word pity to show that he pities humanity, and ends the poem with the line In order to see that all has gone. By ending the poem with the first line, Lorca creates a sense of wholeness that comes from nothing; the wholeness that the character in the poem yearns to find but does not. As a whole, the poem illustrates how man cannot rid himself of the longing to gain completeness. The presence of death leaves him alone in his consciousness. To the poet, everything is gone; even the possibility of death (Craige 40). Humanity stands without faith in God and all that is left is a void. Perhaps the most prominent theme in Poet in New York is that of social injustice and racism. In response to such behavior, Lorca almost immediately connected with the African American community. Lorca came to regard the African American as the countrys spiritual axis (Stainton 220). Everywhere Lorca went, he

Carneiro seemed to find greed, poverty, and filth. Only one place seemed free of depravityHarlem. In his own lecture about Poet in New York Garcia Lorca stated that the blacks were the most delicate, most spiritual element in the world. Because they

believe, because they hope and they sing (qtd. in Maurer 86). Some analysts have concluded that Lorcas sympathy for black Americans was to a large extent provoked by Lorcas own feeling of rootlessness in white, English-speaking Manhattan (Stainton 223). Regardless of what sparked Lorcas affection for this particular community, it is obvious that the poet was fascinated by their way of living. After arriving in New York, Lorca could not help but notice the inequality between the whites and the blacks. In his lecture, he proclaimed to have protested against the overbearing racism by writing about the African American community in his poetry. Indeed, after arriving in Manhattan, Lorca wrote his first New York poem- The King of Harlem. In his writing, Lorca exalted black culture and criticized the white mainstream culture. Lorca said that this poem was a cry of encouragement to those who tremble and search, cautiously and clumsily for the flesh of the white woman (qtd. in Maurer 187). Lorcas aim in writing The King of Harlem was not only to demonstrate how racist the white society was, but also to praise black culture and encourage them to maintain their roots. The King of Harlem is a very long poem and a line-by-line analysis would not be appropriate for the scope of this paper. The poem is written in a climactic arrangement. Throughout the poem, Lorca changes his tone multiple times. It is helpful, therefore, to group each portion of the poem by the tone Lorca uses. The first five stanzas represent the poets vision of the world he sees around him. It is a

Carneiro world of violence and agony where people dig out the eyes of the crocodiles. The crocodiles and the monkeys in the first stanza could refer to the blacks and how

they were treated like primitive beings. Other images such as the black men crying and the tanks of polluted water enhance Lorcas negative attitude towards the world. However, the mood of the poem suddenly changes. The poet reacts to such a world and cries out in rage against the white world that has imprisoned the black world. He says that it is necessary to kill the blond whiskey seller and all the friends of the apple and the sand. He is obviously referring to the rich, white Americans. Lorca calls on to the African American community to rise up in anger and fight. The line Oh Harlem! Oh Harlem! Oh Harlem! is Lorcas cry to this city to hear him and act. Lorca notes, There is no anguish comparable to your oppressed eyes and to your blood shuddering within the dark eclipse. The words anguish, oppressed and blood represent the blacks despair. Suddenly, the mood shifts from this climatic high-pitched mood, back to a subtle one where the poet once again describes this hopeless world. Line 40 juxtaposes the white world and the black world. Lorca writes, They are the ones who drink whiskey of silver next to the volcanoes and swallow little pieces of heart. The symbol of the whiskey is repeated here to represent the upper class. It is the whiskey from the Confederate states produced at the expense of the slaves the whites exploited. The volcano is a metaphor that represents the black struggle and how they boil inside but are never liberated. Once again, there is a shift in the tone of the poem when Lorca emphasizes who the main focus of his poem is. He repeats Blacks, blacks, black, blacks. Multiple stanzas that begin with the word blood soon follow this line. Blood has no doors

Carneiro in your night, Blood that seeks along a thousand roads powdered deaths, blood

that looks slowly through the corner and so on. This blood is the blood of the blacks and It is the blood that comes, that will come over the sheds and rooftops, everywhere, to burn the chlorophyll of the blond women. Lorca believes that there will come a day when the blood of the blacks will overcome the white. The repetition of the colors black and red intensify the mood of the poem until the end. Finally, Lorca begins to close the poem with an apostrophe. He is speaking to the African American community- particularly to Harlem. Lorca writes of a day when the blacks will seek the great sun and will be liberated from this oppression. He says that it is only then that they will be able to kiss with frenzy the wheels of the bicycles. The bicycle here is a metaphor to wealth and power. In Lorcas lecture about Poet in New York he tells the story of a little girl who was riding a bicycle. Lorca admits to not have believed the little girl owned the bicycle because she was black (qtd. in Maurer 188). The poet admitted that this sort of attitude paralleled the attitude whites had towards blacks. In the final stanza, Lorca calls to the blacks that he hears their murmur through their great desperate king. The words great and desperate juxtapose each other and represent the double nature of the African American society. They are the great kings yet are desperately oppressed. Though the poem is sad in its nature, it can inspire the poets audience deeply. In addition to writing about humanitys lost faith and social injustice, Garca Lorca focused on New Yorks capitalist nature. In his poem Paisaje de la multitud que vomita Lorca expresses the materially glutted white civilization of Coney Island, New York. The imagery of a vomiting multitude refers to the overindulging

Carneiro 10 nature of New Yorks society- more specifically, Wall Street (Nandorfy 41). It refers to a society that is driven by greed and insatiable desires. This society is represented by the image of the mujer gorda (fat woman). In the first stanza of the poem, Lorca describes this character as she parades through the city. She comes forward pulling up the roots. This first line introduces the theme for the entire poem. The uprooted plant becomes a symbol of this modern dissociated society in which men are not connected with nature in any way. The line The fat woman, enemy of the moon strengthens this idea. The moon is a reoccurring image in Lorcas poems (Nocturne of the void and The King of Harlem) and it usually represents death. If the fat woman, who represents society, is against the moon, this means that she is against natures cycle-which includes death (Nandorfy 42). In lines 11-14 Lorca talks about something that is making our civilization nauseated. It is the dead, the pheasants and the apples of another hour that push up into our throats. This stanza shows how societys unceasing consumption is excessive. As a response, Lorca writes, vomit! There is nothing else to do! Just like in his previous poems, Lorca makes himself a character in the poem. In Landscape of the Vomiting Multitude the poet enters the poem in line 30. He says, I, poet, without arms, lost midst the multitude that is vomiting. He is portrayed as one who is drowning in the multitude and is powerless. Though he is writing, he does not feel anyone is actually listening to his cry. The poem comes to an end as the fat woman continues on her aimless walk. Her lack of direction represents the meaninglessness of the American Society as it consumes everything yet is never satisfied. In his lecture, Lorca described Coney Island as a great fair attended on Sundays in the summer where people drink,

Carneiro 11 shout, and leave the ocean strewn with newspapers and the streets covered with tin cans. He connects the description from his lecture to his poem about Coney Island by stating that the crowd sings and vomits in groups of a hundred over the railings of the boardwalk (qtd. in Maurer 191). Lorcas description of Coney Island in his lecture serves to explain exactly the environment the poem talks about. It would be wrong to doubt the sincerity of Garca Lorcas writing. However, it is believed that Lorca was suffering from alienation when he wrote Poet in New York. He had left his family back in Spain and had just ended a heartbreaking relationship. He was suddenly introduced to a new world where he did not even speak the language. Therefore, though there is no doubt that his poems written in 1929 were sincere, it is possible that his feelings towards New York were bias because of his emotional state. Hence, it is helpful to investigate the historical background of New York City in 1929 to fully understand where Garca Lorcas negative attitude came from when he spoke of the social injustice and loss of faith of this American society. In the 1920s the United States experienced what became known as the Roaring Twenties. This was a period of social, artistic and cultural dynamism that lasted about a decade and was soon followed by the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which served to punctuate the end of the era. The social and cultural features of the Roaring Twenties began in leading metropolitan centers, especially New York City. From there, these features were spread throughout the country, and the U.S. gained dominance in world finance. The Golden Twenties, as it was also known, was marked by a feeling of prosperity and modernity. It was an era of economic growth

Carneiro 12 driven by a boom in construction and consumer goods companies. Mass production made technology affordable to the middle class and the automobile, movie, radio and chemical industries skyrocketed. Urbanization soon reached a climax. With the construction of skyscrapers such as the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building, New York pulled ahead in finance and as a result, its population nearly tripled (Britannica). This is the New York City Garca Lorca encountered when he first arrived in the United States. With such great advancements in technology it might seem strange that Lorca felt repelled by this society. However, he was not the only one. As the average American in the 1920s became more enamored of wealth and everyday luxuries, some observed that they grew in hypocrisy and greed. One of the most famous social critics of the time, Sinclair Lewis, wrote novels about this time. In his most famous writing, Babbitt, Lewis satirized middle-class American life. He criticized their capitalist nature, vanity and loss of purpose. Other social critics included Sherwood Anderson, Edith Wharton and H.L. Mencken, all who studied how modernity was shaping America (Britannica). New York City became the largest city in the world in 1925, its population surpassing that of London. This was the New York City that Lorca encountered. In his lecture about Poet in New York, Lorca stated, The two elements the traveler first captures in the big city are extra human architecture and furious rhythm. Geometry and anguish. (qtd. in Maurer 185). What he saw in New York was a city like he had never seen before. The skyscrapers and the multitude dazzled him. But Garca Lorca looked deeper into the city. He wrote, At first glance, the rhythm may be confused with gaiety, but when

Carneiro 13 you look more closely at the mechanism of social life and the painful slavery of both men and machines, you see that it is nothing but a kind of typical, empty anguish that makes even crime and gangs forgivable means of escape. (185). It is obvious that Lorca felt the same way that critics such as Sinclair Lewis had felt earlier. As he stated himself, Lorca believed that all capitalist society only caused humanity to lose their soul- It only takes a few days to realize that this immense world has no roots. (qtd. in Maurer 185). Not only did Lorca experience a New York City that was driven by greed and money, but he also witnessed it at its worse. Only a few months after Garca Lorca had arrived to Columbia in 1929, the Stock Market crashed. It was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States. The crash signaled the beginning of the 12-year Great Depression, and for more than a decade, New York and the rest of America would not be the same (Britannica). It is important to note that the Wall Street Crash of 1929 took place while Lorca was in America because this incident greatly impacted the way the poet viewed the city and society. As previously stated, Lorca already believed that the people in New York were a people who were capitalist and spiritually empty, and his opinion was greatly strengthened once he witnessed the way Americans reacted to the crash of the stock market. In his letters to his parents Lorca described how astonished he was at the way society coped with the situation. He stated, A few days ago I had the pleasure of seeing the stock market collapse. It was dreadfuleverywhere I looked, there were men shouting and arguing like animals and women cryingI thought pityingly about all those people with their narrow and closed spirits (qtd. in

Carneiro 14 Maurer 249). Lorca was appalled by how capitalist this white society was and his poems clearly show the way he felt. As previously noted, Garca Lorca immediately connected with the African American society. Looking at how this community differed from the rich-white community of New York in the 1920s will give a clearer understanding of why Lorca felt that the blacks were the only people who were different. Garca Lorca was especially fascinated Harlem. What the poet experienced in his visit to New York was the Harlem Renaissance. It was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s and was known as the New Negro Movement (Britannica). During this period, black culture boomed and even began to influence the white society. The musical style of the blacks became more and more attractive to whites, and harmonies and melodies of African-American music-such as blues, spirituals, and jazz- were played nearly everywhere. Lorca believed that black music was marvelous and only the cante jondo was comparable to them (qtd. in Maurer 214). Aside from music, African-American literature also began to grow. From music, to books, to the way the blacks behaved, their culture appealed greatly to Lorca. The poet described Harlem as A neighborhood of reddish houses, full of player pianos and radios and cinemas (187). African Americans in New York had always been lively and full of spirit, but it was not until the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s that other people began to experience what their culture was about. Lorca was fortunate to come to Columbia University during that period of time and was immediately exposed to such a different way of life.

Carneiro 15 Federico Garca Lorcas Poet in New York was not published until 1940. Many critics considered it a strange, impenetrable work, apparently surrealist in origin (Craige 84). It has been described as an account of a journey from alienation and disorientation toward regained identification. Poems such as Nocturne of the Void, The King of Harlem and A vomiting Multitude clearly show Lorcas reaction to this great metropolis he encountered when he came to Columbia University with the intention to study English. As his ultimate goal in his collection of poems, Lorca called for apocalypse for the modern civilization he saw in a state of decay brought on by its loss of faith (Nandorfy 56). Weather his readers would listen to what he was pleading for in his poetry or not, Lorca left New York with a sense of great accomplishment. Though Lorca wrote about societys loss of faith and emptiness, his self-enforced withdrawal from the world he knew in Spain had ultimately led him back to himself. After experiencing this new world, Lorca left the United States with renewed faith in his work and newfound enthusiasm for life. In his lecture he stated that he was leaving New York with a certain sadness and with profound admirationit had given me the most useful experience of my life (qtd. in Maurer 197).

Carneiro 16 Bibliographies

Cobb, Carl W. Federico Garca Lorca,. New York: Twayne, 1967. Print. Craige, Betty Jean., and Lorca Federico Garca. Lorca's Poet in New York: the Fall into Consciousness. Lexington: University of Kentucky, 1977. Print. Edwards, Gwynne. Lorca, Buuel, Dal: Forbidden Pleasures and Connected Lives. London u.a.: Tauris, 2009. Print. "Great Depression." Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Encyclopdia Britannica, 2011. Web. 09 Mar. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/243118/Great-Depression>. Garca, Lorca Federico, Greg Simon, Steven F. White, and Christopher Maurer. Poet in New York. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1988. Print. "Harlem." Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Encyclopdia Britannica, 2011. Web. 09 Mar. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/255384/Harlem> Nandorfy, Martha. The Poetics of Apocalypse: Federico Garca Lorca's Poet in New York. Lewisburg [Pa.: Bucknell UP, 2003. Print. Stainton, Leslie. Lorca, a Dream of Life. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1999. Print.

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