In my head, poems are pieces of writing that rhyme, otherwise, it won’t be considered poetry at all. I know this piece of writing can take many different forms, such as a haiku given its 5-7-5 pattern, or now during the more modern world of poetry is spoken poetry. I don’t necessarily enjoy reading poetry, I think I stopped digesting it when I left my childhood. However, upon reading Neruda’s work, it made me feel some type of way, emotions that I feel like only poems and can unravel, and his work is those combined.
I admire the way he writes — you can definitely feel his passion and emotion toward this woman he is writing for. He also mentions of a lot of nature, comparing and contrasting it to the physique of the woman, and whatever he is feeling deep inside. As in “White Bee, you buzz in my soul, drunk with honey, and your flight winds in slow spirals of smoke” (10), and “You are like the night, with its stillness and constellations. Your silence is that of a star, as remote and candid” (15). In my eyes, this reminds me that loving is part of nature and it is something that everyone will feel throughout their life. It also reflects the intensity of his passions which is why he can compare the body of a woman to hills, and her breasts to goblets.
Pardon me as I cannot help but compare this piece to Mama Blanca’s Memoirs, given that this work of Neruda uses a lot of words as well, descriptive words such as what Teresa de La Parra used. I think the form in which the writing is done ultimately makes a difference as I did not feel overwhelmed at all while reading this, versus when I was reading Mama Blanca’s Memoirs thinking that words two to eight were definitely not necessary in describing how big their plantation was.
This book reminds us, with how it ends, that love doesn’t always come with a happy ending. He takes us with him in his mourning in losing his love. I wonder, if this piece was written or produced in a different form, maybe a movie, a short story, or a play, if it would evoke the same intensity of emotions felt in consuming this.
My question for this blog post is, would you consider a song a poem? Why or why not?
Julienne, it’s a good strategy “Las Memoria de Mamá Blanca” with this book. In fact, much of what literary criticism does is just that. What each genre and each book does is different, of course. But until that moment in Latin America there was a certain way of conceiving literature, so you can still see some similarities between the two books. How much have the feelings expressed in them also changed?
People may call songs poetry as they are similar in the sense they are divided into lines, rhymes, repetition and rhythm. Although, I do not believe a song is a piece of poetry. Songs revolve mostly around musical aspects like melody, instrumentation, the singer’s vocal skill, and rhythm. Despite the fact there has always been a connection between poetry and song, their settings genuinely distinguish them from one another; they do not share the same tradition, background, and use.
I agree, Neruda’s imagery and metaphors of nature create a piece that is easy to visualize and understand. To answer your question, I would consider a song a poem, since they often are written in a poetic meter, or at least have some sort of tempo to them that wouldn’t be expressed if a person was just talking. However, depending on the type of music, the lyrics and meter could seem less or more poetic. Pop, R&B, and rap for instance, usually feel a lot more poetic than some forms edm or alt rock, but its hard to defend music that doesn’t have any lyrics.
Hi! I enjoyed your blog post and I think that a song is considered a poem. Depending on the genre of music the song is a part of, its poetic ability can range from very to not so much. Me personally, I like to listen to rap and r&b, and almost always the artists I listen to are very poetic and incorporate a lot of rhyme.
Hi Julienne, thanks for your post. I like that you brought up Neruda’s use of nature and nature imagery throughout the collection. As for your question, I’ve sometimes wondered if the extreme popularity and ease of access to all kinds of music has in a way supplanted poetry as the premium lyrical medium for our era.