Casida of the Dark Doves
Casida of the Dark Doves - form Summary
A Casida of Doubling
Lorca adopts the casida, an Arabic-derived lyrical form, to structure repeating, paired images. The poem cycles simple questions about a "tombstone" answered by mirrored sun/moon and eagle/dove figures, creating a ritual echo. Repetition and parallelism produce a compact, incantatory effect that compresses identity, death, and doubleness into a dreamlike stanzaic pattern rather than a narrative progression.
Read Complete AnalysesThrough the laurel branches I saw two doves of darkness. The one it was the sun, the other one was lunar. I said: 'Little neighbours where is my tombstone?' 'In my tail-feathers,' the sun said. 'In my throat,' said the lunar. And I who was out walking with the earth wrapped round me, saw two eagles made of white snow, and a girl who was naked. And the one was the other, and the girl, she was neither. I said: 'Little eagles, where is my tombstone?' 'In my tail-feathers,' the sun said. 'In my throat,' said the lunar. Through the branches of laurel, I saw two doves, both naked. And the one was the other, and the two of them were neither.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.