Song of the Heart
Selected Poems by Ramón López Velarde
Ramón López Velarde (Author), Juan Soriano (Illustrated by), Margaret Sayers Peden (Translated by)
9780292746862, University of Texas Press
Paperback / softback, published 1 June 1995
114 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1 cm, 0.454 kg
This posthumous, bilingual collection of the works of Velarde (1888–1921), one of Mexico's most cherished poets who remains relatively unrecognized in the U.S., is a celebration of passion, that "song of the heart," in all its beautiful, tortured, contemplative, urgent glory. Peden's faithful translation allows the passionate perfection of Velarde's work, which consistently couples extravagant, consuming emotion with cool, formal precision, to shine through. Although there is much pain and anguish in these poems, sounded most consistently is the joyful music of simply being alive.... Soriano's sensual line drawings, created for this edition, are a deceptively simple visual complement of Velarde's streamlined, powerfully moving verse.
(Publishers Weekly)
RamÓn LÓpez Velarde (1888-1921) was one of the most Mexican of Mexican poets, whose sense of history found expression in many poems, including his best-known "La suave Patria" ("Sweet Land"). This bilingual collection, drawn primarily from PoesÍas completas y el minutero, offers English-language readers our first book-length introduction to his poetry.
Often called a "poet of the provinces," LÓpez Velarde gives us a glimpse into a slower and more gentle way of life. His poems present the contrast between city and hometown and between urban and pastoral landscapes. Through these contrasts runs the thread of religious faith, while urgency of language informs the entire body of his poetic production.
Original, specially commissioned drawings by noted contemporary Mexican artist Juan Soriano complement the poems. This combination of poetry and art speaks to universal emotions; indeed the poetry of LÓpez Velarde belongs to everyone who sings the Song of the Heart.
- El retorno malÉ
fico
- Ill-Omened Return
- La mancha de pÚ
rpura
- The Purple Stain
- Mi prima Agueda
- My Cousin Agueda
- Boca flexible, Á
vida ...
- Avid, Ambivalent Lips ...
- Me estÁ
s vedada tÚ
...
- Forbidden
- Noches de hotel
- Hotel Nights
- Del pueblo natal
- Hometown
- En el piÉ
lago veleidoso
- Ever-Changing Seas
- Mi corazÓ
n se amerita ...
- My Heart Fares Better ...
- Tierra mojada ...
- Wet Earth
- Humildemente ...
- Humbly ...
- DÍ
a 13
- The 13th
- El campanero
- The Bell Ringer
- Que sea para bien ...
- May It Be for the Best
- El sueÑ
o de los guantes negros
- Dream of the Black Gloves
- El sueÑ
o de la inocencia
- Dream of Innocence
- A Sara
- To Sara
- Nuestras vidas son pÉ
ndulos
- Our Lives Are Pendulums
- La Ú
ltima odalisca
- The Last Odalisque
- En las tinieblas hÚ
medas ...
- In Misty Darkness
- Te honro en el espanto ...
- In My Terror, I Honor You
- Memorias del circo
- Circus Memories
- La suave Patria
- Suave Patria: Sweet Land
- Disco de Newton
- Newton’
s Disk
- El viejo pozo
- The Old Well
- CanonizaciÓ
n
- Canonization
- Y pensar que pudimos ...
- And to Think ...
- La lÁ
grima ...
- The Tear
- El son del corazÓ
n
- Song of the Heart
- Afterword
