Spanish · 1898–1936
Spanish poet and dramatist who fused folk tradition with avant-garde technique. Born near Granada, he studied in Madrid's Residencia de Estudiantes alongside Dalí and Buñuel. Romancero gitano (Gypsy Ballads) made him Spain's most popular poet; his plays—Blood Wedding, Yerma, The House of Bernarda Alba—reshaped Spanish theater. His poetry combines Andalusian imagery with surrealist vision, ballad form with modern consciousness. In 1936, weeks after the Civil War began, Falangists murdered him near Granada. His body was never found. He remains Spain's most beloved modern poet.