This poem-by-poem guide to Lorca's Romancero gitano was prompted by the
need for some form of guidance to the overwhelming amount of critical
material published on the book, the relative neglect or misunderstanding
of certain poems and a concern to counter a recent tendency to eccentric
interpretation.
Herbert Ramsden's comprehensive collection of commentaries will be
useful both for students and teachers and for the Lorca specialist. With
each poem the author offers a brief introduction to relevant background
material, a comprehensive commentary, a brief indication of
interpretations notably different from his own and a select critical
bibliography. In a more general bibliography, the author lists a number
of translations of Romancero gitano into English and a selection of
commentary-based studies. The great diversity and allusive richness of
Lorca's poetic masterpiece demands more space than a compact student
edition allows, and all serious students of Romancero gitano will want
to use Herbert Ramsden's Eighteen commentaries alongside his
simultaneously-published edition of the text.