Pablo Neruda
In this poem, the speaker begins by describing the moment and way in which poetry arrived to him. It is divided into three stanzas; each stanza explains a specific piece of this experience with poetry. In the first stanza, the speaker describes the way in which poetry came to him. It had been "in search" of him (line 2). He does not remember how, when, or why it happened. He explains, "they were not voices, they were not/words, nor silence,/but from a street I was summoned." This seems to say he was not given the words. He did not begin to write out of a silence. He was taken from that street. He was called to during the normalcy of life, the street. He went "abruptly from the others/among violent fires/or returning alone." He was chosen, or chose to go alone to poetry. In these lines it is unclear what is acting on what. Is poetry acting on the speaker; or is the speaker acting on poetry? The speaker could have been singled out 'among violent fires' and taken by poetry. He could also be returning to poetry alone, in search of something. The last line of this stanza states, "and there I was without a face/and it touched me." These last lines exemplify the confusion of this first stanza. The speaker seems to be a
The lines break where they feel right. For example, in lines 1 and 2, the speaker writes, ". It seems he finds a balance and begins to write, accepts poetry. Then, near the middle of the second stanza the speaker changes his way of living. lone in this world, a little out of place even. "My mouth/had no way/with names,/my eyes were blind," he explains in the first section of the second stanza. He seemingly gathers the courage and purpose to write. He is trying to see with his eyes, feel with his hands, speak with his mouth. The overall form of this poem is very free. The sky is empty, and full of all life at the same time. " He has reached a 'nirvanic' state here. In the second stanza, the speaker is trying to accept this poetry into his life. "(I) felt myself a pure part/of the abyss.
Common topics in this essay:
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poetry search line,
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line breaks,
acting poetry,
arrows fire,
poetry search,
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