This week’s reading was quite a nice refresher compared to the past couple of weeks as it’s all poetry instead of prose. I have heard of Pablo Neruda before, as I am sure most people in this class have, but something that I learned from the lecture and that I find really interesting about this collection is that it is his most famous and enduring work, and yet he wrote it when he was only nineteen years old. Now luckily, I did not express any of my feelings or opinions on love in poetic form when I was nineteen. However, if I did, I imagine that looking back on it even now at twenty-three I would be absolutely horrified. Undoubtedly, Pablo Neruda is a better writer than I am but I can not help but wonder if this level of fame for this text was somewhat embarrassing for him, as I am positive it would have been for me.
In discussing the actual text, I find it a bit more difficult to broadly summarize its themes as the intricacies of poetry inherently negate such sweeping claims. So, instead, I wanted to focus on some powerful passages throughout that had an impression on me. In poem number fourteen, “Every Day You Play,” the final image: “I want / to do with you what the spring does to the cherry trees” was especially evocative to me (40-1). This passage does repeat an unfortunate tendency that Neruda has throughout the collection of likening women to inanimate aspects of the scenery instead of real people with their own feelings and desires. As Professor Beasley-Murray suggests in his lecture, it is still possible to understand and appreciate the underlying passion that influences this objectification. Nonetheless, this image likens new love to the blooming of a flower. We can understand how Neruda aims to communicate his desire to cherish his love the same way he would the earth around him. While I previously mentioned how likening a woman to the scenery is reductive, through this final image we can also see Neruda’s romanticization of the land as well as the people in his life. Comparisons to the beauty of the land are rife throughout this collection and through this pattern, we can identify Pablo Neruda’s evident love of his surroundings. Having not read Neruda in-depth, I can only assume that this pride in the land later influenced his political reinforcement and empowerment of the people of South America.
Question: Did you find that questioning the intentions of Neruda’s work helped your analysis, or were you better off enjoying the poetry and not worrying about some of the implications of what he was ultimately saying?
“we can also see Neruda’s romanticization of the land as well as the people in his life”
Yes, this is a good point. Is there an environmentalist ethic to be discerned also in Neruda? And this makes me think also of the Romantics (Wordsworth et al), who tended to write more about nature than about love, but who likewise saw something sublime in nature, perhaps much as Neruda also sees sublimity in femininity.
Thanks for the post. I also found reading poetry a refreshing break from heavy prose, especially considering Neruda’s unique expressive style.
I really enjoyed your post! “luckily, I did not express any of my feelings or opinions on love in poetic form when I was nineteen” This made me laugh because I had the same thought when I found out he was 19 when he wrote this. I cringe reading things I wrote a year ago let alone writings from when I was a teenager!:)
Hi Ben, nice post!! 🙂 I agree with what you said regarding Neruda also expressing his admiration for his environment, I think that’s an underlying theme of this book as well. Honestly, I read this piece cover to cover initially without any thoughts of trying to dig deeper, however I read it again, and I took my time trying to digest what he was saying in each poem and what he meant of the things he said. I feel like that definitely helped me in trying to figure out the intent of the lines, but we will ultimately not know unless he reveals it.