Nautical Imagery in Pablo Nerudas Poems - Essay Example

Nautical Imagery in Pablo Neruda’s Poems Nautical Imagery in Pablo Neruda’s Poems Introduction Nautical imagery is oneof the most commonly used poetic effects. Poets combine different literary tools to perform the intended functions. Imagery creates an imaginary picture about a situation or theme in a poem or any other literary material. It enables the audience to connect the objects in the surrounding with the ideas that authors and poets try to put across. Literary tools expose readers to the setting of tales. The objects used in poems often relate to circumstances of stories in which poets and story tellers use them. Imagery functions to avoid direct confrontation with the audience. Pablo Neruda has effectively used “Leaning into the Afternoons”, “Drunk with Pines”, and “A Song of Despair.” Pablo Neruda is a North American poet who successfully addressed communism. The poet widely celebrated many themes. Neruda displays different styles in representing love of poems. The three poems elaborate the significance imagery in building themes. Leaning into the afternoons In the poem “Leaning into Afternoons” nautical imagery is used to give a clear description to the reader regarding the feelings of a man who loves a woman. For instance, actual objects and color are used to illustrate his love and passions. It is notable that the poems play a picture in the mind of the poet as well as the reader. At times, the pictures produce subconscious views that make them difficult to understand (Wilson, 2014). The first stanza of the poem strikes the audience with invocation of ‘oceanic eyes.’ Fishermen use nets to capture fish and which they eat in order to sustain a living. They also sell the fish. In the stanza, the poet uses the fisherman case to describe the consummation of love between a man and a woman. The person that he refers to is a woman who sustains his life. Neruda sadly looks into the eyes of the woman while he realizes that he depends on her. Second stanza also reports the state of the persona regarding dependence on the woman or country. The “highest blaze” portrays the peak of his melancholic moods as well as the solitude that entangles him. Neruda expresses how the loneliness overcomes and crushes him yet there is no one to help him. The poem uses “Red signals” in the third stanza as to be cast over “absent eyes”. The statement could imply the appearance of bloodshot eyes after crying (Wilson, 2014). The symbol goes along with the motif of sadness as the poem as the persona presents it. Neruda cries because of the feelings that the woman casts on him. He has mixed emotions towards her. The “Red signals” are compared to “the sea near a lighthouse”. In the metaphor, the poet reveals his intimacy with the lover but laments that he does not enjoy a connection with her. A lighthouse can be associated with the sea but is not with the sea. The red signals as used in the third stanza could also portray the attempts of the persona to make love with the woman and trying to win her affection. It is so unfortunate that she does not show any response to the attempts of the poet because her eyes are “absent”. The absence of the eyes implies that the woman turns down the wishes of the persona. The feelings of the poet seem awkward and desolate as expressed in the “darkness and negativity” (Wilson, 2014). The distance between the man and woman depicts that he can never get what he wants. The sixth stanza has illustrations of images about the feelings of the poet though it makes less sense that the previous stanzas. The stars symbolize a bright summer which contains many stars that blink simultaneously. The pecking birds make the reader think of woodpeckers as they peck the stars in their trees. The “flash” in the soul depicts the literal meaning of a lighted body (Wilson, 2014). The reader realizes that the poet uses images with no logical sense but right. Neruda’s imageries are not standard but can be interpreted according to the personal experiences of an individual. Drunk with pines In the poem “Drunk with Pines”, Pablo Neruda presents an immediate play of “marine madness” in regards to the suffered and transcending aquatic passion. The setting of the sea provides nautical imagery of interpreting the poem through multiple spectrums of themes of individual in love. It seems that Neruda had a swimmer in mind though there are other characters such as a passenger on a boat or a sailor (Wilson, 2014). The poet uses the sea setting to define his relationship with the character. He says “your parallel body yields to my arms, like a fish infinitely fastened to my soul”. According to the poet, the shape of fish is very significant to his affair with the character. That is because it emphasizes on theme of narrating the essence of a woman in a relationship. Fish is known for its streamlined body that enables it to effectively sail inside water. The shape of the fish is useful in defining the smooth and successful relationship of the persona with the object or character. The poem opens up with “Drunk with pines and long kisses” reveals the extent of affection between the persona and the main character. Neruda uses extreme events and incidences to portray the uniqueness of his relationship with the lover. In the second line of the first stanza “like summer I steer the fast of the roses”. Summer comes ones in season circle (Wilson, 2014). It is crucial in facilitating maturity of roses. In the same way, the persona states his role in the life of the subject or lover. The line could also mean that the persona is special to the lover. In the second stanza, the poem states that “I cruise in the sour smell of the naked climate”, the poet illustrates his difficult encounter in hardship. Cruising could mean enduring the difficult situation. “The fast sail of the roses” implies that the love affair has been triggered to mature. Rose is known for being a beautiful flower. It usually signifies beauty and love. Neruda uses roses to symbolize the love affair between the two personalities displayed in the poem (Wilson, 2014). The line “bent towards the death of the thin day” can be interpreted to be a narrow opportunity for the two lovers. The sea setting that Neruda uses enables the reader to interpret the poem according to their personal experiences as themes to explore human relationships. It provides a wide range of applications that can be used with the poem. In the first line of the first stanza, the persona states that his passions harden him and lets him sail my mounting on one wave. The context of the wave refers to ripples that move successively from the midst of the sea to the shore. It is used to describe the method that the poet uses to go through hard experiences. It could mean that he schemes a method of solving the problem at hand and works using it (Wilson, 2014). In the same stanza, the poet mentions “lunar, solar, burning, and cold, all at once,” to mean his encounter with contradicting circumstances. A Song of Despair In “A Song of Despair”, Pablo Neruda makes use of figurative language to determine the extent of loss and love that concerns a woman. He compares the love to the sea. The poet could be referring to the width and depth as the perspectives of the sea. The width of the sea can be interpreted as the unending issues involved in love between man and woman. Lovers need to do much in discovering hidden mysteries in the affair. The two perspectives of sea sizes could also imply the themes of satisfaction and perfection that might seem challenging to achieve. The poem uses wistful tones and many complimentary images to display the theme of love. Neruda uses a jar as a symbol in the poem (Wilson, 2014). However, nautical imagery presents the challenges of love through the sad circumstances of the characters. Neruda continues to use a combination of styles to illustrate intensity and beauty. The poet skillfully uses the “jar” as a symbol to reflect two things. First, the jar is used to mean an object that holds a liquid content. Second, the jar that holds liquid content can be smashed. Smashing leads to pouring of liquid content. The illustration using the jar provides a vivid explanation of possible events in a love affair because it is an object that is commonly used by the reader (Wilson, 2014). A jar requires handling with care in order to prevent it from smashing. In the same way, lovers have to be careful in their relationships to prevent them from disagreements. In as much as love may seem contained and safe, it can easily be broken. The poet explains his facts about love affairs by the use of the flowing nature of water. He uses the word “sank” many times to portray the extreme possible love of any love affair. Love can eventually come to an end if the parties involved do not take necessary care to protect it. Lines 5 and six are “Cold flowers heads are raining over my heart. Oh pit of debris fierce cave of the ship wrecked”. The two lines show ambiguity. The fifth line depicts that flower heads are cold (Wilson, 2014). The content of the rain is not flowers but flower heads. The unexpected state of the flowers portrays a sad description of the situation. It could imply a “dying” love. The two lines define a sorrowful circumstance that can befall lovers. The last two lines are “Ah woman, I do not know how you could contain me.” And “in the earth of your soul, in the cross of your arms.” The speaker expresses his delight in the way the woman loves him. The poet assumes that the woman can contain the man. The metaphor is similar to the earlier symbols that used a “jar” to describe love (Wilson, 2014). The woman implies a vessel that can contain a man just like the jar contains water. The metaphor affirms the significance of a woman in the life of a man. The last line of the poem further uses nautical image to describe and reveal real love in terms of consumption between men and women. Conclusion It, therefore, is imperative to observe that nautical imagery is critical in conveying the integral themes of relationships particularly between men and women. In other words, the portrayal of the sea is testament of the idea of the man as the person in the land where issues of love happen. Overall, the three poems depict a strong link between the sea and love as a manifestation of the consummation of passions. References Wilson, J 2014, Companion to Pablo Neruda: Evaluating Neruda’s poetry, Tamesis. Read More