Lament for Ignacio
Sa ́nchez Mejı ́as
Federico Garcı ́a Lorca’s poem ‘‘Lament for Igna-
cio Sa ́nchez Mejı ́as’’ was written and published in
Spanish in 1935 as ‘‘Llanto por Ignacio Sa ́nchez
Mejı ́as.’’ The poem was never attributed to any
of Lorca’s Spanish-language poetry collections
and was instead released as a stand-alone piece.
Lorca’s poem was first translated into English in
1937 as ‘‘Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter,’’
though it is more commonly known today as
‘‘Lament for Ignacio Sa ́nchez Mejı ́as.’’ Its first
appearance in book form in the English language
likely occurred in 1955, when the work appeared
inThe Selected Poems of Federico Garcı ́aLorca.
(A 2005 edition of the volume is also available.)
‘‘Lament for Ignacio Sa ́nchez Mejı ́as’’ was
widely popular in Spain at the time of its release.
This was due to the topical nature of the poem,
which is an elegy for the famed Ignacio Sa ́nchez
Mejı ́as, a celebrated matador who was gored to
death in the bullring in 1934. In fact, several poets
of the day wrote elegies dedicated to the bull-
fighter’s death, including Miguel Herna ́ndez and
Rafael Alberti. Yet, neither poet’s work is as
celebrated as Lorca’s. This is likely because Lor-
ca’s poem transcends the real-life matador’s gor-
ing, encompassing such universal and timeless
themes as the simultaneous pointlessness and
beauty of a violent death. It does so, also, in a
lyrical manner that attempts to capture the very
voice of grief itself.126
FEDERICO GARCI ́ALORCA
1935