Imagery

Poetic images are generally understood to be elements within a poem that create a sensory impression in the reader's mind, whether that impression is visual, aural, or dependent on another sense. Thus, the opening image in “The Crime Was in Granada” is of a long, empty street. Less obvious images in Machado's poem, however, are its sound images. For example, in section II, Machado describes “hammers pound[ing] on anvils” and the “clack” of Death's “fleshless palms.” The load and heavy sound of hammers on iron, as much as the sharp crack of bone against bone, bring to mind the shots of the rifles that killed Lorca. The hammers on the anvils and the clack of Death's palms also evoke the staccato clapping that accompanies performances of flamenco music and dance, not to mention that one type of flamenco song is said to have grown out of the...