Garc�a Lorca, Federico 1898-1936
Spanish poet and playwright

Born in Fuente Vaqueros, he is best known for his powerful dramatic tragedies, which deal with elemental themes in a striking fashion. The best of these plays are Bodas de Sangre (1933, Eng trans Blood Wedding, 1947), Yerma (1934, Eng trans 1947) and La Casa de Bernarda Alba (first performed in 1945, Eng trans The House of Bernarda Alba, 1947). His gypsy songs, which include Canciones (1927, Eng trans 1976) and Romancero Gitano (1928, 1935, Eng trans Gypsy Ballads, 1963), reveal a classical control of imagery, rhythm and emotion. The elegiac poems in Llanto por la muerte de Ignacio S�nchez Mej�as (1935, Eng trans Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter and Other Poems, 1937) have been seen as a foreshadowing of his own death. He was assassinated on the orders of the Nationalist Civil Governor early in the Spanish Civil War at Granada.

Bibliography: I Gibson, The Death of Lorca (1973)