Rima LIII: “Volverán las oscuras golondrinas”

written by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
[I] pp. 359 - 360

Summary:
Swallows will always return, but the familiar ones won’t. The ivy will always creep and bloom, but the familiar ones covered in dew won’t. Likewise, the woman will always return words, but will never return passion or mutual adoration. The broad events will always happen, so it’s those fleeting, specific moments that matter. So appreciate what you have had and what you do have.

Devices:
Bécquer uses anaphora in “Volverán” and the estribillo “ésas … ¡no volverán!” to get the main idea of the poem in the reader’s head. He also uses personification, hyperbaton, a simile (“como lágrimas del día…”), and, at the end, an apostrophe.

Themes:
-carpe diem y memento mori: el tiempo y sus mudanzas
-ganar y perder en el juego de amor: la passion entre el hombre y la mujer
-poesía romantic y modernista del siglo XIX