Get to know some famous phrases of Federico García Lorca

A symbol of the lyrical, of freedom, of the human. The most recognized of the plethora of writers framed in a movement that went down in history as the generation of 27 and one of the most influential writers in 20th-century Spain. That and more was Federico García Lorca, who was born on June 5, 1898 in Fuente Vaqueros, Granada, Spain.

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Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca began studies at the University of Granada in 1914 where he enrolled in the careers of Philosophy, Letters and Law and began to take his first steps in art and as an intellectual.

While he was still studying as a university student, he moved to the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid, which ended up being decisive for the development of his cultural training.

The period from 1919 to 1921 was very productive for Federico García Lorca, since he published Libro de Poemas, his first work in verse, composed his first Suites, as well as premiered El Maleficio de la Mariposa and other theater pieces and met Juan Ramón Jiménez , who would be worthy of the Nobel Prize for Literature (1956) and one of the most influential Spanish writers in Lorca’s work.

In December 1927, Seville welcomed several Spanish poets to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the birth of Luis de Góngora, including Rafael Alberti, Jorge Guillén, Pedro Salinas, Luis Cernuda, Vicente Aleixandre, Emilio Prados, Dámaso Alonso and Lorca. This meeting is what ends up marking for many scholars the beginning of what is known as the generation of 27.

In 1929 he moved to New York on a trip that inspired his posthumously published text Poeta en Nueva York. The following year, the artist headed to Havana, where, although he was only there for a short time, he was able to discover an important part of the culture and, above all, Cuban music.

The traveling theater group La Barraca, instituted during the Second Spanish Republic (1931), was another of Lorca’s main works, as it took works by great figures of Iberian literature to various parts of the country, such as Calderón de la Barca, Lope de Vega and Miguel de Cervantes.

In 1933, his work Bodas de Sangre was premiered in Argentina, which had a resounding popular success to the point of being performed on more than 100 occasions. In that same country he had the opportunity to direct his own works such as La zapatera prodigiosa and El retablillo de don Cristóbal. Around this time he also met figures such as Pablo Neruda, Juana de Ibarbourou and Ricardo Molinari.

Lorca returns to his native country in 1934 where he completed works such as Doña Rosita la soltera, La casa de Bernarda Alba. In Spain he continues directing plays, holding conferences until he travels for the last time to Latin America, specifically to Uruguay.

After his return to Spain, he decided to join his family in the San Vicente orchard (now the Federico García Lorca House-Museum) a few days before the Civil War broke out. On August 16, 1936 he was arrested by the Civil Guard. Three days later he was executed by Francoist forces along with other detainees.

Here are seven sentences to remember the figure of the Spanish poet, playwright, painter and revolutionary Federico García Lorca.

“He who wants to scratch the Moon will scratch his heart.”

“Silence and burning is the greatest punishment we can put on ourselves.”

“And even if you didn’t love me, I would love you for your gloomy look, as the lark loves the new day only for the dew.”

“Harmony made flesh, you are the brilliant summary of the lyrical. Melancholy sleeps in you, the secret of the kiss and the cry.

“The physical, biological, natural agony of a body due to hunger, thirst or cold lasts a short time, very short. But the agony of the dissatisfied soul lasts a lifetime.”

“There are things locked up inside the walls that, if they suddenly came out into the street and shouted, would fill the world.”

“On the flag of freedom I embroidered the greatest love of my life.”