A Dog has died.

In the poem written by the Chile’s beloved; Nobel prize winning poet Pablo Neruda, he tells the
tale of his died dog. In the first stanza, it seems as though the poet is mourning the loss of his
dog, however, at the same time, he is also behaving as if it is something of not much importance.
It is evident from the lines, ”My dog has died, I buried him in the garden, Next to a rusted old
machine”. The dog was buried in the garden and this suggests an idea of keeping the dog close to
him in a familiar place. However, the fact that the dog is buried next to a rusted old machine
suggests that there was not much importance placed upon the dog’s death. Yet he mourns the
loss of the dog.

In the second stanza, it can be said that he placed the nature of his dog’s above his own. From the
lines, “And I the materialist, who never believed, In any promised heaven in the sky, For any
human being”, suggests that he did not believe that there was a Heaven for human begins.
However, evident from the lines, “I believe in a heaven I’ll never enter, Waving his fan-like tail
in friendship”, it suggests that he believed in a Heaven for his dog. This further implies that he
considers the nature of his dog’s to be more superior to his own, and that’s quite envious
perhaps.

In the third stanza, it explains how the p seems to favour the dog’s particular type of friendship, a
relationship similar to mutualism. He also suggests that he was pleased to be the master of this
individual dog and explains how he considers his own dog to be better than others. This is
evident from the lines, “ He never climbed all over my clothes, Filling me full of his hair or his
mange, He never rubbed up against my knee, Like other dogs obsessed with sex”
While, it may seem that the poet did not take good care of the dog, due to the reference of
“mange”, it is also noted that this was written at a time an affliction like mange, was common
due to the era where dogs did not visit groomers, and they rarely received veterinary care.

In the fourth stanza, the poet described him to be a vain person in need of attention and that the
dog helps him to understand it is a common human characteristic. From the lines, “But with
those eyes so much purer than mine, He’d keep on gazing at me ,With a look that reserved for
me alone, All his sweet and shaggy life, Always near me, never troubling me, And asking
nothing”, it suggests that he realizes that dogs live in the present moment and therefore are
incapable of conceit. The dog also gives unconditional love towards his master, the poet; which
was something that does not pertain to him as a human being. 

From the fifth stanza, it can be inferred that the dog is joyful when taking walks on the beach. It
is evident from the lines, “Ai, how many times I have envied his tail, As we walked together on
the shores of the sea” The tail is an indication of the dog’s mood and emotion ; when the tail
wags, it meant that the dog was happy. The poet then implies that the same feeling does not
apply to him; hence he envies the dog for feeling contented. This is suggested in the line “In the
lonely winter of Isla Negra.” The words ‘lonely winter’ summarizes the poet's feelings about the
nature of the place and that the dog is unaware to such matters.

In the sixth stanza, the words “My wandering dog, sniffing away, With his golden tail held high,
Face to face with the ocean’s spray” explains that the dog loves the ocean with all of its unique
sounds and smells. The sixth stanza also mentions how dogs currently live, evident from the
lines, “Joyful joyful joyful, As only dogs know how to be”.  

To put the poem in a nutshell, what the poet is trying to say is that he knows that his dog was
considered to be more superior to him. He has already described himself as materialistic and vain
and therefore, he is not going to pretend to be a worthy person by saying farewell to his dog, in
the form of a proper burial. However, it is clear that he loved and respected his dog, and that was
why he is buried in the garden, even if it is next to a rusted old machine
Like the poet, I do not and did not had a pet, many of my cousins; well a couple of them actually
had one. There was one scary cat named “Ponnu” she was not very friendly, with me atleast, my
cousin loved that cat with a lot of affection. I still remember when she died, he didn’t even care
to eat or sleep for two-three days. Even though I don’t have a pet and I don’t have any care for
one, always surprised to see the bondage between a pet and their master. It’s really unusual but
complaisant in their own way.