Yerma (meaning ’Barren’) is one of three tragic plays about peasants and rural life that make up Lorca’s ’rural trilogy’. It is possibly Lorca’s harshest play following a woman’s Herculeanstruggle against the curse of infertility. The woman’s barrennessbecomes a metaphor for her marriage in a traditional society thatdenies women sexual or social equality. Her desperate desire for achild drives her to commit a terrible crime at the end of the play.

This Student Edition comes complete with a full introduction; plot synopsis;commentary on characters, context and themes; bibliography; chronology,and questions for study.