Pablo Neruda and the Reflective Statement
In order to help students further deepen their sense of context, after each interactive oral this IB literature course asks each student to write a short reflection in response to the following question:
“How was your understanding of the cultural and the contextual considerations of Pablo Neruda’s poetry developed through the interactive oral presentations?”
Your written response should be 300-400 words in length.
Please focus your writing on only one or two of the following interactive oral presentation topics:
Group A: Neruda’s Life: Who was Neruda? What did he do for work? What type of family did he grow up in? Who were the women in his life an how did they influence his poems? Which events in Neruda’s life most shaped is poetry? Which awards did he receive?
Group B: Neruda’s style and beliefs: What style of poetry did he write? What was Neruda’s involvement in the Modernista literary movement? What were Neruda’s political beliefs, religious beliefs, and economic status? How did these beliefs influence his writing? Which types of poems is he most well-known for?
Group C: South American Politics: Was Chile a democracy or socialist state? Which political events shaped Chile and in turn Neruda’s poems? Spanish politics (particularly during the time Neruda lived there, the 1930s) and the Spanish Civil War, particularly Neruda’s experience there and involvement in politics. Why is Neruda often associated with communism? How did he feel about that association?
Group D: Geography of South America: Show us the sights and sounds of Neruda’s poems: the ocean, the Andes mountain range, native animals (vicuna, condor), native plants (maize), native flora (lilacs, poppies). Help us to understand the terrain and the images that inspired Neruda to write. Make connections to specific lines/images in Neruda’s poems.
Due: Thursday, May 26
Also, I’ve recently used this essay analysis app, Expresso. It’s fascinating. I strongly suggest you copy your reflective statement into this app and review the metrics for editing. It can help you find problematic sentences and overused terms.
Please add your reflective statement with word count in the “comments” section of this post.
Because of the interactive oral presentations I now understand more about the geography of South America and also Neruda’s use of words he uses in his poems to help us understand the terrain and the images that inspired Neruda to write about these beautiful locations. In the presentations there was a reference from the poem Heights of Machu Picchu: IV, “Mother of stone, spume of the condors.” This specific verse from this poem stood out to me the most because following this quote from the poem a picture was presented to us that gave me a clear picture of what he was writing about. It was also to my knowledge that Pablo Neruda wrote this poem when he was in exile. Which in my opinion he wrote about these beautiful places to escape reality. During this time in his life he didn’t write about violence and communism he wrote about nature, and animals and flowers/plants, he wrote about the ocean. Places like these you can’t just write it, it just doesn’t come from the top of your head, he must have lived it and been there physically before in his life by the way he shows his appreciation toward these places, you know he’s lived it. In the poem Heights of Machu Picchu: VI, it shows us readers just that. For example,” And then on the ladder of the earth I climbed/ through the atrocious thicket of the lost jungles” (lines 1-2) He uses the first person which he technically says that he did experience it personally. Everything he writes in his poems are because he’s experienced them like the places he visited in his home town to the animals he sees in his native lands. This brings me to ask, has he’s really been to all these places that he written about?
Reflective Statement
Due to the Interactive Orals, I feel as though I have gotten a deeper understanding of Pablo Neruda and not just who he was but also what inspired him to write the way he did. Like from Austin and Kevin I learned that Pablo Neruda was not his real name but the pen name he created, from his heroes, because his father had no respect for literature and did not approve of it. I also learned that Neruda wanted everyone to learn about their own culture and where the came from and also wanted people to know about his native lands and its nature. Like in the poem, “I Explain Some Things”, he gives us detailed description of the land of Spain and all the beautiful flowers that grow there. I also learned that he was an activist. That is also shown in that poem because he goes on to say that all that beautiful land and flowers are destroyed due to the Spanish civil war. But what he is most know for is his love poems. The one that sticks out the most to me is, ” Barcarole”. That is because this poem, to me, adds all these aspects of his life into one sad but beautiful poem. I say this because in the poem he is comparing the love this girl and for him to the cold “indecision of waters” but his love for her was “incessant red waters”. Nature is tied I because water is apart of nature. Obstinately this has love tied in because it is a love poem and in the poem he talks about flags of great shipwrecks, which you can imply that those are shipwrecks from war. I wonder who this poem was written for. One of his wives or a girl he once loved before?
Word Count: 307
Prior to the interactive oral presentations, I did not understand where Pablo Neruda acquired the inspiration to write the poems he wrote and for what reason. Through these presentations I have gained a deeper understanding to why he wrote his poems and what influenced his way of expressing his thoughts onto paper. This is shown, for example, in “I Explain Some Things” the motif of destruction, death, & government corruption is highly emphasized through “And one morning everything was burning and one morning the fires were shooting out of the earth” (lines 39-41). As a reader I ask why. Why are these motifs emphasized? Surely enough, Neruda is poet who writes through experience which means that he writes about what is going on around him whether it’s in the past, present, or even the future. From being an eyewitness to the destruction of the Spanish Civil War, Neruda’s mind boggling encounters has shaped “I Explain Some Things” to start off with a soft, peaceful tone to a more negative, hateful tone as the poem progresses. This piece of work embodies Neruda perfectly because you can clearly understand where he is coming from when he writes poems like such. This reveals that he is a poet of experience. A poet that is like a child. Child because as children, we soak up information like sponges and Neruda soaks up these information while expressing it through his writing. You can say that he is the artist and his work was once a blank canvas. As he experiences certain events, he paints. Not only did these orals reveal information about his writing but it also revealed information about Neruda as a person. Neruda as person was quite tragic in terms of the majority of his life being filled with The Spanish Civil War, the death of his wife and child, and etc. Neruda’s disbelief in a higher being is what he considers unreliable when all the answers are around him. This explains why he writes the way he does and the topics of his work. They’re of current situations/the world around him. I appreciate his work much more after these presentations because it most definitely distinguishes the difference between the beauty of nature to the harsh realities such as death and other horrific sites that life has to offer.
I was the person who was in charge of portraying the life of pablo Neruda. Also i feel that ever since i had the chance to tell people who Pablo Neruda really is, i feel that people’s perspective also changed. Another thing i was able to realize after i did my IA on Pablo Neruda was the fact that a lot of his poems have a meaning and that he is not only writing to have a big collection. With this said i feel that he is an even greater poet because although he has a lot of poems he writes to someone who is gone, or as if he had no love, we can tell that he was married three times and they were only months away in the same year. Another thing i found interesting about Neruda was that throughout his life he only had one daughter who was born with a brain problem. Once i read this i feel more interested in knowing more about his life. I felt that although he was a person who talked about love he was a person who was never really happy with himself. Another thing i found interesting was that he was raised without a mom, knowing he was motherless and his only daughter was diagnosed with a brain problem, i feel that the only womanly figure he had it was seen as pleasure and not love. I feel that he never really had that love from a feminine person because the women he had were only able to give him his pleasures unlike a mother and a daughter who gives more of an unconditional love.
Due to the interactive orals, I was able to develop a deeper understanding of the poems by Pablo Neruda. Each verse and line of his poems come from experience of his own past experiences. With these orals, I was able to discover how these poems were developed and where did he receive inspiration each poem. For example, Neruda’s poems “I Explain Some Things” and “Traitor” is obviously a poem heavily emphasized on destruction and death but some may ask why? The answer could be found in Neruda’s past experience. In the time of writing this poem, Neruda was a first hand witness to the Spanish Civil War. He was able to witness the deaths of innocents and the destruction of an area which was once beautiful and peaceful. In our interactive oral, we were able to directly connect this life event to this piece of writing of him. Information such as this is the only way in truly understanding Neruda’s writing. The interactive orals also reveals much of Neruda as a person. It reveals that a majority of Neruda’s life has been surrounded by death, the Spanish Civil War, his wife’s death, and etc. The group’s research also revealed his disbelief in a higher being claiming them to be unreliable. This source of information explains why not only “I Explain Some Things” is filled with death and darkness but also a majority of his other works. Neruda uses poetry to portray his past life and bring a sense of his reality to people. To show people the side of life people refuse to see and believe. The orals made me appreciate his work of “I Explain Some Things” far more than I already did. He openly confronts people that only choose to see beautiful sites such as flowers and views of mountains with a harsh reality that adults and children are killed because of the greed of others.
Because of the Interactive Oral, I got a better understanding of not only the poet Pablo Neruda, but also the choices that he made for his well-known poems. Pablo Neruda was born on July 12th, 1904 in Chile and died on September 23rd, 1973. Pablo Neruda’s real name is Neftali Ricardo Reyes but because his father discouraged him from writing poems, he had to use a pen name. Neruda was, or still is, one of the most famous Hispanic poets known in not only South America but also in North America. His poems were based on his perception of things. There were also events that shaped his poems and those were the Spanish Civil War, the death of his mortally sick daughter, social classes in South America, love, etc. The poem “I Explain Some Things” is centered on how the killing of not only the people in Spain but also Spain itself. “Facing you I have seen the blood/ of Spain rise up/ to drown you in one single wave/ of pride and knives” (lines 53-56). Neruda is trying to connote the imagery of the blood of the dead soldiers and civilians flooding the streets of Spain. The flood would be so high it can cause a person to drown. I appreciate that Neruda shaped his poems based on his perception of things because it gives the readers a sense of who he is and where is from. For example in “I explain Some Things”, he starts his poem off by starting with his childhood before the Spanish Civil War. Then he transitions into the killing in Spain and he allows the readers to feel the same pain that he felt when his home was destroyed. Because of all his magnificent work and project, Neruda received many awards like International Peace Prize, Lenin Peace Prize, Stalin Peace Prize, and Nobel Prize for Literature, etc. Because of the Interactive Oral, I got to know Neruda not only on a personal level but also at a literature level.
Word Count: 335
Prior the the interactive oral presentations in class, I now get a better understanding of Neruda’s poetry. Neruda’s poetry shapes his life, and beliefs. Before the interactive Orals, I’ve never thought of things such as, what is Neruda’s referring to in his poems, why does he write them in such a epic way, and/or how does he come up with his ideas. Neruda writes his poetry’s based on his life experiences and also the love he received from his people. For instance, I learned that Neruda had 3 waives and on the same years he divorces, he married that year also. Which in fact is a very confusing event since he writes a lot about unsatisfy love. In addition, out of all his waives, I also learned that Neruda writes love poems about his third wife, referring to “Twenty Love Poems”, because she’s the one who showed and inspired him most to write.
I also learned that based on his beliefs and/or experiences he had with war, his poems have quite a few examples which mentioned about war. For example in his poem called, “I explain some things”, “And one morning everything was burning and one morning the fires were shooting out of the earth” (lines 39-41). This poem clearly talks about what he sees at war and how the neighbor he was in got damaged due to the war.
Many of his poems are referred to his life as he changed into a man, experiencing these events. Learning about Neruda himself did clarify some thoughts I had. However, I still have some questions about his styles. Are these the only styles he have for poetry’s? or are there more? How did his last wife impacted his writing? Did his other love experiences inspired him to write love poetry also? And lastly, the question I want to know the most due to his short marriages, is he a true love man? Because he gets marry right after he divorce.
Word counts: 331
Prior to the interactive oral presentations I now have a better understanding about “Pablo Neruda” writing style and beliefs. The poet’s writing style is intelligible and deep. He writes about every thing, which has surrounded him including the people in his life. For exam he writes about nature, death, love, peace, and even injustice in the society. After the presentations I now have better knowledge about the poet’s techniques and his poetry. Each and every single poem of his has a moral, a lesson and an experience from poet’s life, which help’s the reader to acknowledge themselves about the reason behind that poem. “ODE WITH A LAMENT” I had no clue about the purpose of this poem until the IOP’s, after the IOP’s when I had better understanding about poet’s life, I was able to know that he dedicated this poem to his daughter from his first wife who died when she was very young. Neruda’s was not a religious man because one of the researcher’s asserted that he never believed in “God”, because he always believed that gods are unreliable in times of need, which extenuated me that why does he write about death and love and indirectly talks about the concept’s of heaven and hell. But later on the researcher’s clarifies what he hopes to accomplish through his poetry. Economically Neruda was like a middle class person who’s touching upon upper class. But in his poem “ The great table cloth” he illustrates his perspective about royalty. In the poem he put himself in a lower class society and provokes their feelings. After reading that poem I was able to acknowledge my self with the idea of awareness that poet has hoped to achieve in that poem. Neruda portrays the reader’s through his factual and deep writing, which helped me to read the poem from the same perspective as the poet hopes from the reader to have while reading.
Word Count :323
Reflection:
Prior to the interactive oral presentations about Pablo Neruda i had little understanding about Neruda’s life and the way his poetry is shaped by his past life events Neruda always found poetry as a way for him to talk about his problems and about the events that were going on at the time. Some of Neruda’s poems were shaped around his love life i gained the knowledge that he had some struggles with his marriages which caused him to get married not once but three times out of these 3 marriages he only had one daughter but unfortunately her health was very poor and she lived a short life from the interactive orals i also learned that Neruda did not find out about his daughter’s death till years after this impacted his writing drastically in many ways for example the poem i connected his daughter’s death with was the poem ONLY DEATH before the interactive oral i did not understand why Neruda would write such a dark poem i connected the idea of his daughter’s death i came to realize that after this drastic life event Neruda gained a new perspective about death itself his lines in the poem helped me realize that death is all around us and we cannot escape it. Pablo Neruda uses various techniques in his poems to express his thoughts one of his techniques is mother nature he uses native animals and most importantly he uses the ocean in his imagery even though i didn’t quite get a reason to why he mentions the ocean in his poetry often times poetry was the only escape from his problems the image of the ocean is seen as a free place and i believe that Neruda connected the free ocean to his free flowing ideas in his poetry before the interactive oral presentations Neruda’s poetry was not that eye catching to me but after gaining some knowledge about his life, political views,and his writing techniques his poems have grown on me and every time i read a Neruda poem endless connections start happening.
Cindy Xiong
Coey
English 11
Prior to the Interactive Orals, there was a certain topic that I wanted to gain more knowledge about and Group A did an amazing presentation about it. Pablo Neruda which is his pen name was known as one of the greatest poet out there, he wrote his poems based on his experiences. For example, the poem, “Only Death, was about his only daughter who passed away. Pablo Neruda started his career in 1927 as a latin poet and as time passes, he was Chile’s consul to Mexico and also a diplomat and politician. His mother died soon after his birth and he was raised with no biological siblings. His father later got remarried and never approved of his career. Neruda was married three times and only had one daughter. His daughter then died a few years later. The poem “Only Death” was his answer to accepting his daughter’s death. “I dont know, i understand so little, i can hardly see,/ but i believe that death’s song is the color of wet violets,” Line 32-33. Neruda couldn’t understand the meaning of death or to why it had to be his daughter. Group B then presented about how Neruda mainly uses the tone of loneliness and darkness in his poems. Which was similar to the poem, “Only Death”. He also wrote about common events such as, “Macchu Picchu”. Neruda had beliefs such as he was against racism and the European Culture like their cultures and religions. Group D presentation main focus was on the Geography. In Neruda’s poems, he uses imagery that relates to nature. For example, the imagery of ocean was repeatedly use in his poems, “Like a white ghost,/ in the spume of the wave” Lines 16-17. (Barcarole). Spume are the top of the waves, almost like the bubbles on the ocean waves. What is the significance of the imagery of ocean?
Word Count 320
Through the interactive oral presentations, I have learned many things about Pablo Neruda. Because of the presentations, I have learned many things about his life and how his choices in life affected how he wrote his poem. Pablo Neruda was a diplomat-poet in 1927. He was involved in the literary movement and the president of the Athenaeum Literary. He was also against fascism and believed in European culture. Growing up, he had no biological siblings but only half siblings. He grew up without a mother since she had died on the day of his birth. During the presentation, it was discussed that he had three wives, and out of them three he had one daughter. This daughter however, happens to die at a young age. From her death, we see how it affected Neruda and how he writes his poems.
As discussed, Neruda’s poems clearly constantly talk about loneliness and depression specifically towards death Through the death of Neruda’s daughter, it had given him the feeling of guilt. Her death had made it seem as if he was a useless father who could not provide any love for his daughter. An example poem that was given from the presentation was “Ode with a Lament”. This was a poem Neruda wrote in dedication for his daughter’s death. In the poem, he shows his guilt when saying he had nothing to give her “…but fingernails or eyelashes…” (lines 5-6) referring to the only thing he had given her was life. He expresses his regret not giving her “dreams that bubble up from my heart,” (line 7) telling how he wishes he could have expressed his love more from his heart. Because of his great works of poetry, he had received many awards. One of the awards he received were the Noble Prize in Literature award.
Word Count: 303
mVickie Xiong
27 May 2016
Coey 11
Interactive Oral Presentations
Because of the Interactive Orals, I know have a better understanding of Pablo Neruda and the choices he makes as an author. Pablo Neruda, born on July 7, 1904 is a Chilean poet who uses his name as a pen pal instead of his real name, Ricardo Arjona due to the discouragement he has encountered. Neruda was married three times, but of the three marriages, he only has one daughter who has lost her life due to health issues. His love life have encourage him to write the many poems he have today, Ode with a Lament was a poem dedicated to sick daughter as well as the series of poem he wrote, “Twenty Love Poems”. He has written his poems surrounding the topic of nature, especially the geography of South America. The many aspect of geography of South America Neruda have written about are: the ocean, Andes mountain range, and native flora and fauna. The series of poem: Macchu Picchu talked about the native beauty of South America, for example in the Heights of Macchu Picchu: VI condors and vicuna are two animals that stood out to Neruda, “Mother of stone, spume of the condors”(line 10) and also “Here the gold thread was fleeced off the vicuna”(16). In addition to everything, because of my peers, I learned that Neruda is against fascism and the murdered of his friend, Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, had a big influence on him and they are what encouraged him to bring success among himself. The types of poem he surrounds with are love poems but mostly, his poems are ode, lyric poem in the form of an address to a particular subject. Although most of his poems had connotations of deaths, majority of his poem deals with love even when the subject deals with another subject. Because of the Interactive Oral presentations from my peers, I know have a better understanding of Pablo Neruda and the choices he makes as an author.
Word Count: 341
Prior to Interactive Oral, I was ignorant of Neruda’s political ideology. Thanks to the South American Politics group, I now know that Neruda is a communist in the midst of democratic and socialist Peru. This is significant as Neruda’s political ideology shape the topic he writes his poems about. I can link back to the earliest work that we see Neruda developing his beliefs to “I Explain Some Things”. “I Explain Some Things” wasn’t only about the Spanish Civil War, but also the reason why Neruda’s “poetry doesn’t speak to us of dreams…[and]..[of] his native land” anymore, but politics (72-74 ). Neruda changed the focus of his topics due to the innocence’s ”blood in the streets” that he witnessed while in Spain. This of course
later on develop his political views and him swearing to become a communist in 1945.
The presenters shared examples from “The Great Tablecloth”, a poem about hunger and inequality. Neruda called the upper class “tyrants” (2). The presenters commented that this is Neruda’s opinion. Their information that communist do not believe that social classes exist helps me further that by criticizing the upper class, Neruda falsify their belief in social classes.
Furthermore, Neruda write his poems in the perspective of a communist. The presenters’ example “we all can eat” signifies equality. I was then able to realizes that Neruda not only teaches his audience about communism but also to make his audience of the same mindset sympathize with him. Even though I’m a democrat I agree with Neruda because I grew up in America where equality is the basis and I am a lower class.
Learning that Neruda is a communist shock me because growing up in capitalist and democratic America, I am influenced that communism is bad. Therefore I am hesitant to agree with Neruda’s political views. However, by learning more about communism through Neruda’s poem, I am more open to it. This has made me compare and contrast the mistreatments in my country and mistreatments in communist countries and made me wonder if there is a perfect government.
Word count: 346
Interactive Oral Presentation
Due to the interactive oral presentations regarding Neruda’s life, I was able to see the poems from a Nobel Literary Prize winner’s perspective, not from young Ricardo’s perspective, who raped a Tamil girl. Growing up, Neruda became known as a poet. He was writing in a variety of styles when he was 10 years old, those styles included surrealist poems, historical epics, a prose autobiography, love and etc… Those novels got the attention of many different Countries, that is why his work translated into so many languages. Neruda’s mother died when he was about a month old, and his father never encouraged his poetry. Neruda was inspired by Jan Neruda’s poetry, who was the person he derived his pen name from and his father’s discouragement caused him to legally change his real name Ricardo Eliecer Neftali Reyes Basoalto to Pablo Neruda . Neruda didn’t have any biological siblings, but he had a half brother named Rodolfo and a sister named Laura. In 1921 he moved to Santiago to study French and become a teacher however, he spend most of his time writing poems. Neruda got married three times and only had one daughter who had a short live and he wrote the poem “Ode With a Lament” about her that shows his emotions toward her daughter but he is still hopeful for her life as he wrote. “From your burning abecedary/ you’re like a sword blue and green” (38-39). He mentioned the color green which is a symbol for desire and hope in his personal life. Living a life with struggles and success Neruda’s writing influence all the people in the society mostly middle and lower class. Not only is he writing about relationships and politics but also Nature and his poem “The Heights of Macchu Picchu” is about his love for the nature. Neruda was involved in politics because he had many diplomatic positions, for instance, he was a Senator for Chilean Communist Party and similarly he had many other important positions . On last days of his life he was hospitalized for having cancer and a doctor injected him with an unknown substance that murdered him in a few hours, however, it was the order of Pinochet and he didn’t give the permission for his funeral to be public because of his involvement with third parties.
Why did he decide to marry more than two wives?
Word count: 399
Well-done, Beheshta!
Prior to the Interactive Oral Presentations, I didn’t understand why the concept of loneliness and depression came up a lot of Neruda’s poem. Our presenters were able to deepen my understanding about Neruda’s life and how his life events shaped most of his poems. The author Pablo Neruda includes little details here and there in his poems to show what kind of person he is and what he believes in.
A famous poet named Neftali Reyes Basoalto had a pen name, Pablo Neruda, he was born in Chile on July 12, 1904. Neruda wrote many poems about various topics that he had experienced in his lifetime as a job who also won many awards like the Noble prize in literature. Neruda grew up in a middle working class family because parents Jose del Carmen Reyes Morales and Rosa Basoalto Opazo were both working. His dad was a railway employee and his mother was a school teacher. Although he grew up in the middle class he was a man who supported communism because he was a person who wanted equality for everyone. Due to the interactive orals I now know that throughout Neruda’s life, he had three marriages one after the other. His first marriage was with Maria Antonieta , second was with Matilde Urrutia, and last of all was Delia de Carril.
A poem of Neruda’s, “The Great Tablecloth”, describes how there should be communism in this world because there’s people out there that’s starving while others are eating good. For example, “but not eating matters more,/is hollow and green, has thorns/like a chain of fish hooks trailing from heart,/ clawing at your insides”(31-35).These lines has an image of a hunger path because when your starving, it feels like your stomach has a sharp pain. Communism was something that Neruda really supported that’s shown throughout his poems. “The peasant in the field ate/his poor quota of bread,/he was alone, it was late, he was surrounded by wheat,/but he had no more bread” (8-12) . These lines shows images of isolations and poverty, details like these in poems show that he’s a man he just want equality for everyone.
Who was the mother of Neruda’s first daughter?
The Interactive Oral Presentations on Pablo Neruda’s collection of free verse poems gave me a deeper understanding of his favor for Communism. Neruda would travel to other countries and was exposed to all the unfairness by the high class officials and he clearly illustrates his opinion in his poems of all that is wrong. Considering Neruda was politically active we can see what caused him to transfer his views in the poem “I Explain Some Things” and the challenges many face that should be changed in “The Great Table Cloth”. I’ve learned that a big factor in Nerudas dislike for Democracy and Nationalism was because while in Spain one of his close friends Federico Garcia Lorca was shot and killed by Nationalist army because of the views he expressed in his poems. Neruda refers to these people in his as poem “Bandits” (I Explain Some Things lines 47-49), which means that they are criminals they take away from the ones who are not on their level or status. While in Spain Neruda begins to realize the unfairness that many people have to face just because of class systems. “Tyrants came rushing…he was surrounded by wheat but he had no more bread” (The Great Tablecloth, lines 48-49), Neruda puts emphasis on the selfishness of the rich that even in this time of destruction with the war and all that it reflects back on the ones who are low class and still have nothing to eat. The way Neruda paints a picture of the injustice that many face and that all he hopes for is that “…we can all eat/ for now I ask more than the justice of eating” (The Great Tablecloth lines 47-49). This symbolizes Nerudas hope for a world in which we aren’t categorized in class systems and by status but by equality, and that we all deserve the right to what others enjoy. Neruda later associates himself with Communism because it represents all that he believes.
word count: 328
Due to the interactive oral I learned many interesting thing about Pablo Neruda’s personal life and political views, which later affects his poetry. Neruda was born on July 12, 1904 in Parral, Chile. His father worked with the railroad and his mother was a teacher who died after his birth. He began his career at the age of 13 and his first project was to write on the newspaper La Manana in which he published his very first poems. Moving on to his love life Neruda had three wives: Matilde Urrutia, Delia Del Carril, and Maryka Antonieta Hagenaar Vogelzang. He wrote many love poems, which expressed his feelings for his wives but more particularly Matilde Urrutia. He had an affair with her on the side while he was still married to his wife Delia Del Carril and the funny thing is that he had an affair with her when he was married to his first wife Vogelzang. In conclusion he was not a faithful man even though some of his poems make you believe some few good men exist.
Some other aspects of his life that affected his poetry were his political views. It is no secret that Neruda was a person who believed in communism. These beliefs were born when he went to Spain and saw all the “leaders” living the lavish lives while the poor were starving. When he came back to his home country Chile he saw the same dictatorship and became a strict believer in communism. Neruda expressed his beliefs through his poems for example in his poem I explain some things he writes “Facing you I have seen the blood of Spain rise up to drown you in one single wave of pride and knives.” (Lines 56-59) In this poem he refers to knives and killings and he related that to all the blood shed that was going on during the Spanish Civil War and how the leaders were sitting back and just enjoying the show.
Word Count: 331
During the Interactive Oral Presentation, I learned a lot about South America’s politics and Neruda’s belief, as well as what influenced his writing. As the presenters were talking about South America’s politics and connecting it to Neruda’s poems, I noticed that there were many terms used to represent the government. For example, “wild dogs” and “bandits” were used in several of Neruda’s poems. I found this rather interesting because instead of writing about corrupted police or corrupted government, Neruda was literally writing about the system in the country itself. Most of this can be seen on Neruda’s poem, The Great Tablecloth.
However, the one that shocked me the most was the fact that Neruda was in favor of Communism, because most of his poem doesn’t really show any connection toward Communism at first. But after rereading it after it was mentioned, it does closely relate to Communism. The reason why it was sorta shocking was the fact that majority of South America was Democrat. Although it started to become more and more interesting as the presenters continued. Communism became illegal and Neruda went into hiding, only to side with the Republicans later in his life.
Although I do agree with Neruda that everyone should be treated equally, his beliefs are really weird in a sort of way. Mainly due to the fact that he described the government as “wild dogs” and “bandits”. So when the presenter’s said he sided with Communism, it was strange because in Communism, everything is controlled by the government. Then they said he sided with the Republicans, who in which, doesn’t treat everyone equally. So Neruda really confuses me in expressing his feelings in political form. Although his poems itself have many different types of way to express itself.
Several questions I still have about Neruda would be: What other reasons did Neruda have to side with Communism? Why did Neruda symbolize the government in a bad manner? What was Neruda beliefs?
Word Count: 326
Because of the interactive oral, I was able to understand South American Politics in one of Pablo Neruda’s poems that were chosen for us to read. During the presentation of South American Politics, the two presenters mentioned several facts that made me understand communism in Neruda’s point of view even more compared to Kien, the protagonist from The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh because Neruda clearly expresses his emotion and beliefs as a communist but as for, Kien, his thoughts about being a communist were a bit blurred and not enough information to me. For example in “The Great Tablecloth”, Neruda talks about how the rich class were always filled with food as the hungry poor civilians were always starving. He clearly states. “For now I ask no more / than the justice of eating”. This quotes expresses Neruda’s strong thoughts for equality as a communist. As for Kien, who only seems to follows orders from the communists, does not put much thoughts about what is happening to the Vietnamese people that made him wants to join the army as a communist.
In addition, the interactive oral of South American Politics also made me be a bit open minded to how communism want the country to be; equality for all. I believe in equality for all as well but I strongly believe that there should be limits or boundaries to what a person can have and do. I understand that Neruda wants everyone to have justice of eating and I do too but being an communism means everyone getting the right to have something they may be irresponsible for. Not only being irresponsible but not doing anything to feel like you earn your reward because of your hard work. As a communist, does Pablo Neruda ever think of the cons of being a communist?
word count: 304
Angelica,
You’ll need to explain the literary context for “Kien” as you make your connection.
Mr. C
Because of the Interactive Oral, I now understand more of Pablo Neruda’s style in poetry. He writes about many things and within those poems, he uses different motifs, such as death, nature, and darkness. He also uses them to describe or compare relationships between the speaker and objects. Neruda uses synesthesia, anaphora, alliteration, personification, and many other figures of speech. In ,“I Explain Some Things”, the poem is of the personal experience of the Spanish Civil War and how the speaker had viewed it. The beginning of the poem starts out questioning about nature, which is a common motif, and how the poem wont be as beautiful as nature, yet uses flowers to give an imagery of what it will not be like. “…it was/a beautiful house/with dogs and little kids.” (16). The author then goes into explaining the neighborhood and how nicely it looked with lively people. Towards the middle stanzas, there’s a shift in tone where the speaker seems to be angry and Neruda uses personification, “…fires/shooting out of earth/devouring beings…”(38-39) showing vivid description of the horrific scene that is occurring. Neruda’s usage of anaphora implies the speaker trying to emphasize what is being said, “Bandits with airplanes…/bandits with finger-rings…/banditis with black fries…” (43-45). basically, what is said is that enemies were attacking horribly. Yet throughout the poem isn’t of nature, images of flowers still occur within the lines, “yet instead of flowers, from every dead house”(60) this scene was a comparison to show that it wasn’t not a great scene. Comes to the second to last stanza, where there’s another shift in tone, as if the speaker was calming down from all the rage he had released. The stanza ends in a question, similarly how it begins the beginning of the poem. Lastly, the poem ends in the usage of anaphora to emphasize the dreaded scene that was caused after the war. Neruda’s style helped me comprehend and explicate his poems better and find hidden meanings.
Word Count: 329
Due to the interactive oral presentations, I got a better understanding of the South American politics and how Neruda was associated with communism. South America not having the same modern technology or opportunities, such as we have here in North America. Since North America is a socialist country meaning that the range of economic and social systems are characterized by social ownership and democratic control of the productions. For example, having a system that supports people with food, shelter, education, and health care to the ones that can or can’t afford it. Neruda, in the case, was often associated with communism which is also shown in his poems. Communism meaning that everyone is treated equal and that the government controls everything, without having a social class system. “The peasant in the field ate/ his poor quota of bread,” (The Great Tablecloth, lines 8-9) This shows how a worker from the field gets to eat a poor quality of food to a point where this piece of bread is hard and burnt that most people wouldn’t be able to eat, which represents a person from a lower class system. “For now I ask no more/ than the justice of eating.” (The Great Tablecloth, lines 48-49) This demonstrates how Neruda wants to have “justice”, equality or unity for every women, men, and children to eat the same. “a plate like the moon itself” (The Great Tablecloth,line 46) This represents how the whole world should eat the same instead having various of social classes eating better or worse. This doesn’t just apply to food, but to other problems that are going on nowadays around the world. In addition, this line mentions the “moon” because the whole world is able to share the moon and all of us are under the same moon. This is the reason why Neruda was often associated with communism.
Reflective statement
The interactive oral presentation was informative. As an audience i appreciate the information of the author and the poem that the presenter provided in their interactive presentation. However, I have learn that these poem is about Pablo Neruda life situation. It gave me the idea of writing my essay about Neruda’s motif of death. Besides that, the presenter have help me to have a better understanding about the author, Pablo Neruda. In Neruda’s life, he was a diplomat and had no biological siblings. He had three wives before and one daughter but unlucky she had pass away because of sickness. His poem was to express his love ones like his daughter in the poem ‘Ode With a Lament.’ Neruda’s poetry is written in the tone of love, loneliness, and depression. Neruda, as a poet, is well known for the Ode style poetry.
The interactive oral presentation is a helpful guide for a better understanding of the purpose of the poetry. South American politics events shaped his writing. Nevertheless, Neruda uses poetry to reveal his loneliness and his depression. As a reader, I view the poem as his diary revealing his stress and to help ease his mind. His poetry can be a motivation to other poet. Using personification and synesthesia creates symbolic imagery into his novel. In the presentation, I didn’t understand or didn’t get the answer of his motif of death.
Throughout the poetry, i didn’t understand the purpose of Neruda’s poems but because of the interactive oral presentation, i receive the answer that I was looking for. As an audience or a reader, I have question that need to be answer. Why did he uses poem to reveal his loneliness and depression? What causes his death at the age of 23? What motivates him to become a poet or writing poetry to reveal his loneliness and depression?
Due to the Interactive Oral I have now gained a better understanding of Pablo Neruda’s style of poetry and beliefs. Neruda’s poetry is developed among four main directions. These four directions are love poetry, “material” poetry, epic poetry, and his common poetry. His love poetry is mostly known for his Twenty Love Poems. These poems talk about his love life. Some of his love poems were dedicated to his three different wives at different times. He dedicated his poems to them because they illuminated his life. In his “material” poetry he talks about loneliness and depression and how these concepts immerse the reader into a world of dark, demonic forces. A good poem that would best represent this writing style would be his poem “Residencia en la Tierra”. This poem visions of disintegration, decay, and death. In his epic poetry he mainly talks about Latin America and the struggle towards gaining freedom. A poem that could well represent this type of poetry would be “Canto General”. Lastly his common poetry is just poetry about common things in our everyday lives. For example this would mean flowers, objects, nature, etc. A good poem that could represent his common poetry could be his series of poems he wrote which are called Odas Elementales. Within this series of poems there is a certain poem that my peers and I discussed in class which would be “Oda al Vino” which translates to “Ode to Wine”. In this poem Neruda describes wine using synesthesia and or writing styles. Neruda’s political belief was communism. Communism influenced his style of writing because due to this belief Neruda was rescued from the despair he expressed in the poem “Residencia en la Tierra” and was led to new directions. For many years his work, poetry and prose, advocated an active role in social change rather than simply describing his feelings as his earlier works had done. A question that made me ponder was where did Neruda get his inspiration to become a poet? Another question that came to my head was how did Neruda write such good and complicated poems at such a young age?
Word Count: 358
Due to the Interactive Oral presentations I have learned more about Pablo Neruda and his poetry. I learned more about him than just his poetry. Pablo Neruda was born in Chile and was named Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto which he later changed his name so his father would not discover that he was a poet. Due to the presentations I also learned that Neruda was married three times, had one daughter but never experienced true love. The poem “Ode With a Lament” was written when his daughter was sick. His real life situations and women motivated him to write poetry, he uses the technique of language to express his feelings and thoughts. His poems were also written due to loneliness and depression due to his past experiences.
I have also learned more about how the geography of South America influenced him to write his poems. In most of his poems he uses sights and sounds to write, he gets really creative with his poetry by using imagery, motifs and the idea of emphasizing his ideas. He uses the Ocean, the Andes mountain range, native animals like the vicuña and condor, native plants and native flora to express his feelings. His views in South America inspired him to write with specific ideas. “Only with kisses and red poppies can I love you” (Ode with a lament 10). He relates love with red poppies which are native floras. In most of the poems we have read he also relates most of his ideas and feelings with the ocean. “-and the black wings of the sea would wheel around you” (Barcarole 48). His uses a lot of imagery associated to nature to express his feelings and relate it to whatever is happening in his life. Neruda did not have an easy life, his way of getting away from his personal life was writing poems but yet he would still relate his ideas and feelings to nature. Thanks to the presentations I now have a better understanding to the meaning of his poems.
Word count: 341
Due to the Interactive orals that the few groups have presented about Pablo Neruda, I have learned more things in depth about him that clarifies the reason why he writes his poems in the style and subject that he does. The different groups has discussed about Neruda’s life, his style and belief, South American Politics, and the Geography of South America. In my own understanding, I learned and got some information about Neruda’s life but I would like more details about more obstacles that he had faced that explains why in his poem “Poetry” that he stated “And it was at that age. . poetry arrived in search of me” (1-2). I would like to know more about what happened at that time of the moment that made him state that poetry search for him instead of him searching for poetry. I also appreciate the group that presented about the Geography of South America because while reading the poems, there are images of some animals that I, at the moment thought that was irrelevant to the poems. The presentation about the geography gave me a better image and understanding of why Neruda included those animals as comparisons in his poems. I admire the group that presented about Neruda’s style and beliefs on the subject on love. Love is a very strong idea for everyone, and for Neruda to write in this subject, if affect many people including myself. Although, I didn’t understand when the group said that Neruda was against fascism, did that affect his way of writing his poems? It was also very interesting to find out that there wasn’t a specific religion that was stated about what Neruda believed in besides that he was into the European culture and that’s one of the things that influenced his way of writing poetry. Its very nice to know that he is well known for his Ode style of writing poetry’s because I, myself don’t usually read poems about Ode and it is a very new exciting experience through Neruda’s Poems.
Word count: 340
Due to the great interactive oral of the biography of Pablo Neruda i got a better look on who is Pablo Neruda. Pablo Neruda is a famous awesome poet who is very popular and known. Pablo started to write poetry at a very young age. His name was Ricardo Eliear Neftali Reyes Basoalto before he changed it to Pablo Neruda. Pablo became known as a poet at just 10 years old. As growing up he lost his mother, his mother was a teacher and his father was a railroad worker. Pablo was in the middle class. He had 3 wives his first wife was Delia Del Carril, his second wide was Matilde Urruita , and his former spouse was Markaya Anotina Hagengar Vogelzang. The poet only had one daughter Malva Marina Trinidad who died at only 9 years old. These were the women in his life including his mother they influenced him to write poetry. Pablo has poems about love and he has a poem of his beloved daughter. The events in Neruda’s life that most shaped his poetry would be the spanish Civil War , communism , and his return to chile. The awards Pablo Neruda received for his great work were the Nobel Prize for Literature , Lenin peace prize , and struga poetry evenings. Through this it develop my understanding of Pablo Neruda’s poetry.
Prior to the interactive Oral Presentation I didn’t understood the role of communism in Pablo Neruda’s life and beliefs because most of his poems are about love, nature, and ocean. He did not wrote many poems about his personal life. However, After the Oral Presentation I understand the role of communism belief played in Neruda’s poetry and how those beliefs effect his personal and professional life. I understand his struggle and beliefs to live in a communist culture and life style. My priors brought up to the idea that he wrote one of his poem, “The Great Table Cloth” for his personal life. Where he symbolized “Justice” by being communism. He explore the difference among social classes. He experience socialism by economic power I found out that he belong to middle class family before he became well known poet because his Father was the just Railroad employee which is just regular basic wage.
He also experience communism by having no sibling and single dad because his mom passed away shortly he born. He had control for communism in his life because later on his life he joined communist party against democrats. Because he was against the government and injustice He wrote many of his poems about looseness of love, especially his poem “veinte poem de Amor” he wrote this poem when he was only 19 years and he found his first love. But he lost his love. My classmate help me to understand how his style and beliefs (communism) influence and shape his writing. Because he belongs to communist country. Where not everyone have same rights. I found out that he had three waives and only one Daughter. He experience his communism from his waives too because he had divorce from two waives.
My classmate did awesome job but I still left with some questions. which wife inspire him to become a poet? What was his work for living other than poetry? Because I got deeper understanding of beliefs but not about his life events. Which wife he had the daughter from?
Word count: 366
Reflection
Prior to the Interactive Oral Presentations, I had little to no understanding and knowledge of the styles and beliefs Pablo used in developing his poetry. With the help of the IOs, I now have more more in-depth understanding of what influenced Neruda’s works. I have learned that Neruda used 4 different styles of writing, love, which was is best seen in his poem “Twenty Love Poems”, material, which was usually about darkness, common, which was when he wrote about any common thing, such as his poem “Ode to Wine”, and epic, which was about Latin America and Justice.
I have also learned that many personal beliefs Neruda had had influenced his poetry. For example, referencing back to the IO, it was said that Neruda has communist beliefs. This can best be seen in his poem “The Great Tablecloth”, “Tyrants came rushing//… The peasant in the field ate// his poor quota of bread,” (Lines 2-9). It is clear that Neruda had intended some of his poems to be more on the political side rather than poetry about nature, love, or objects. It was mentioned that Neruda had not made all, or most, of his poems about politics, rather than only a fourth or fifth of them. Another belief that influenced Neruda’s writing was The Spanish Civil War, which is seen in his poem titled “I explain some things”, “Traitor// generals: // behold my dead house, // behold Spain destroyed:” (Lines 55-58). In this poem, it is clear that Neruda is against the war, and blames it on the traitorous generals who once held command in Spain. He believes that the war destroyed Spain, all because of the revolts to bring change to Spain, “..Spain rise up // to drown you in one single wave // of pride and knives!” (Lines 52-54)
Neruda’s beliefs and styles have made it clear how anything can be made into poetry with the write words and format. However, I am still left with some questions about some of Neruda’s work. Did he write in four styles because he was the most skilled at those, or because those were the only ones he had more knowledge about? It is known he has more than those four styles, but why have those been the most commonly seen throughout his works? And why did Neruda choose to create political poems, knowing the possible backlash that may come from writing them?
Word Count: 398
In our recent Interactive Oral Presentations, the presenters on Neruda’s life helped me understand his situations as a poet and learn more about his personal background aside from what can be deduced from solely his poems. Neruda is a famous poet actually named Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoatlo born in Chile. He believed in communist views around 1945 but afterwards was thrown into exile because of his views and his poems about his government being “outspoken” and strongly opinionated. Last but not least, Neruda had no biological siblings because his mother died giving birth to him, soon after his father would remarry and have children whom were only Neruda’s half siblings. A fact I found interesting is how Neruda acquired his pen-name, he didn’t use his actual name because his father would discourage his poetry it’s interesting to me the reasons why a poet uses a pen-name. Neruda had one daughter and three wives and his only daughter died at a young age so he wrote a poem “Ode with Lament” dedicated to his past daughter, which conveys a voice of guilt because when his daughter died he didn’t know until a few years after. Neruda writes in the poem that “[he] hears someone…sobbing out [his] name/ in a wounded voice putrefied by time” as if the voice is his daughter and he hears her calling out his name broken and hurt because she and he both won’t be able to see each other for the last time (40-41).
Majority of Neruda’s poems are about nature and nature can connote towards ideas like human nature, Mother Nature, nature of adaptation, etc. However his poetry has a tone of loneliness and depression impossible to miss which is almost opposite to nature imagining it as lively and beautiful. I learned from the presenters of Neruda’s styles and beliefs that he was against fascism, a government ruled by a dictator whom controls the lives of the people in the country or nation, moreover he believed that poet should be free to create their own culture and he’s also known for his styles of “Odes”. Many poets like Neruda viewed themselves as prophets of the Divine and were chosen to present to the world their own critical lens of poetry. Assuming this a question that arises to me is what Neruda’s religion was or if he followed communism religiously.
Word Count: 394
Prior to the interactive oral presentations, I was not clear about the reason of loneliness and depression in Pablo Neruda’s poems. With the help of interactive oral presentation about Neruda’s life, presenters acknowledge me with the struggles and losses that made Neruda write in such a specific style. He possessed no biological siblings and his mother died at the time he was born. Presenters acknowledge me that Neruda’s father didn’t like him to write poetry that might make him claiming life as “a lonely coast” (Barcarole-23).
Referring to the interactive oral presentation about Neruda’s life, I gained the knowledge that he married to 3 women but didn’t accomplish true love. Unhappy love affair influenced him to voice that “Tonight I can write the saddest lines, to think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her” (Twenty Love Poems: And a song of Despair XX- 11-12).
Oral presentation about speaker’s style and belief revealed some astonishing facts that the type of poem for whom he is most well-known is “The Ode”. Moreover, presenters acknowledged the audience that Neruda has only daughter that died in childhood. The death of his daughter influenced him to write about “only Death”. He expresses “death is in the bedsteads” (Only Death- 44). Loss of daughter influenced his depression. His poetry can also be related to specific religious beliefs. From interactive Oral presentations and by reading Neruda’s poetry, I observed that in Hinduism, when one person dies, his family gathers woods and place his body on woods and put some more woods on his body. At last, they set the whole pile on fire, “let us burn, and be silent” (Entrance into wood- 50). They believe that this act will make his soul rest in peace. By “entrance into the wood”, he means entrance of body into wood for the soul’s peace.
I appreciate Neruda’s style that provokes audience to interpret in many motifs associated with his life, nature and sufferings. But speaker left audience to interpret the way that how European culture fits into his poems and his life style? One more question that struck into my mind is that which only one technique we can interpret in all of Neruda’s poems?
Word Count- 374
Based on the interactive oral, my understanding of neruda’s poetry has grown. I understand that Neruda wrote about his life and his marriage to his wives more than he wrote about war and his daughter. I now understand his poetry better by the interactive oral presentation on Pablo Neruda ‘s life. He was married three times, Maria, Delia, and Matilde. The interactive oral presentation provided very little information on which one of his wives were the main inspiration for his poetry. Neruda died at 66 years old of an unknown substance that his doctor injected in his stomach when Neruda was diagnosed with cancer. He died in his home six and a half hours after the injection. His father worked in the railway station. Neruda’s mother was a teacher until she died shortly after giving birth to Neruda.
Caitlin,
This is a good start! If you want to know more about which wife inspired his poetry, you should research this for yourself! Also, which of his poems can you relate to these details from Neruda’s biography? You’ll need to meet the 300-400 word count.
Due to the class Interactive oral presentations, I now have a more understanding of Pablo Neruda’s writing in his poems also how his personal life events shape him as a poet and shape his writing to us reader that feel a sense of comfortable while reading his poems. I have a more understanding to which Pablo is out of his writing and to what he really is like a person without being in this poet imagery. Kevin and Austin’s presentations really help me with this topic they evaluated his life and what Pablo Neruda stands for as a person. They helped me by including important facts about him that it would never know without the research they provided during their interactive oral. For example like Pablo was born on July 12, 1904 in Chile. Not only was he a poet but he also was a democratic. Even once was elected for senate. He also had a diplomatic career also was in the communist party. I learned a lot about Pablo Neruda from their oral presentation that helped me understand him more as a poet and to why he writes about stuff he chooses to write about. He had no biological siblings, single dad his mother died after birth giving us some details to maybe why he chose to write in such a dark theme in some poems. He also had three failures in marriages, one daughter helping us understand why he writes twenty love poems. From Mandy and Jordy presentation it learned how Pablo Neruda is strongly against fascism, murder, and is interested in European culture. Helping me understand more to how his style and beliefs really shape his writing through his involvement in political beliefs, religious and economic status. Pablo Neruda’s writing was also shaped by geography of South America. This presentation from Kelsey and Marisol really helped me look at his poems differently to how they are so much to what he writes about but also where he is in the time period to when he is writing the poem how his imagery of earthy and realistic imagery changed whether it’s from the heights of macchu picchu to the fog that comes from the early morning. Everything around him he sees somehow he connects it throughout his poems and that’s what makes Pablo Neruda different from other poets out there.
Pablo Neruda shows the readers his emotions by coming out of a word of darkness and unknown forces. Through language Neruda expresses his feelings and thoughts about ‘life’. Which consist of his everyday surrounding and past events “everything that’s happening”. Therefore the readers are being taken into the perspective of Neruda and with the use of language helping the readers to feel, think and know.
With his epic poetry Neruda attempts to reinterpret the past and present of many Latin American countries. Furthermore he puts his personal experience into the idea of the poem in order to convey the vivid imageries of “the earth devouring beings”. With these types of poems he shows the struggle that the individual of these countries had to go through in order to find their freedom.
In his common poetry Neruda expresses his feelings and narrates about common events that take place on daily basis. He describes objects, animals, and plants with “the transcendent measurement”. Within this he creates his inspiration by having to create our own culture, meaning to pay attention to our continent, to be ourselves, and that is a more difficult path. It’s a more original path, and it’s a path that leads sometimes to vulgarity.
Generally speaking Neruda successfully portrays his emotions through language in order for the readers to think, feel, and know. Therefore the readers’ uses imageries in order to interpret the illustration painted in the poem. In addition for the most part memories is significant. Neruda leads the readers to pulling themselves into when interpreting the idea of the poem, which then the reader is able to know, think and feel.