Why is the repeated line “At five in the afternoon” important in Lament for a Bullfighter?

In Federico García Lorca’s Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter, the repeated refrain “At five in the afternoon” (“A las cinco de la tarde”) serves as a haunting, incantatory anchor for the poem.12

Its importance lies in its function as a rhythmic and thematic device that underscores the inevitability and finality of death. By repeating this specific time throughout the work, Lorca fixes the moment of his friend Ignacio Sánchez Mejías’s fatal goring in the reader's mind, transforming a singular historical event into a timeless, ritualistic meditation on mortality. The refrain acts as a tolling bell, emphasizing that regardless of the preparations or the surrounding circumstances, the outcome remains the same: "The rest was death, and death alone at five in the afternoon".12