ECOCRITICISM

AND
PABLO NERUDA’S ONE HUNDRED LOVE SONNETS

Halimah Mohamed Ali (Ph. D.)

Universiti Sains Malaysia & Manisa Celal Bayar University
halimah@usm.my

Nafisa Nitu
Universiti Sains Malaysia
nafisa_nitu16@yahoo.com
 The Planet On The Table
Wallace Stevens
(1879-1955)
[American Modernist Poet]

As you read the poem, hold in your mind’s eye a photograph of the earth
taken from space: green and blue. Smudged with the motion of cloud…so
small in the surrounding darkness that you could imagine cupping it with
your hands. A planet that is fragile, a planet of which we are a part but
which we do not possess.

The Song of the Earth (2000) Jonathan Bate (quoted by Greg Garrard)
 The Planet on the Table
by Wallace Stevens

Ariel was glad he had written his poems.

They were of a remembered time
Or of something seen that he liked.

Other makings of the sun

Were waste and welter
And the ripe shrub writhed.

His self and the sun were one

And his poems, although makings of his self,
Were no less makings of the sun.

It was not important that they survive.

What mattered was that they should bear
Some lineament or character,

Some affluence, if only half-perceived,

In the poverty of their words,
Of the planet of which they were part.

–The Palm at the End of the Mind: Selected Poems and a Play
INTRODUCTION
Pablo Neruda a Noble Prize winning Chilean poet has been selected for
analyzing the Global Climate Crisis and New Economic Structure that is
present today. Neruda as discussed by Len Yannielli (1997) has a special
bonding with the forest in the country of his birth Chile. This bond between
Neruda and nature is intriguing and it surfaces in many of his poems in his
collection titled One Hundred Love Sonnets (Cien sonetos de amor) (1986 [1956]).
Neruda’s poetry is instructive and passionate. It teaches us what nature and
wilderness are. His emotions through the poems instruct us to value them. This
paper discusses via Eco Criticism mainly Greg Garrard’s work Ecocriticism
(2004) Neruda’s poetry and his love of nature. It also looks at the Global
Climate Crisis and New Economic Structure of Chile. Neruda passed away in
1973, before the Chilean fascist coup. However, his writings can be used even
today to detect the problems that are present in Latin America whether they are
connected to nature or economy. Thus, this paper will also discuss how
problems with nature can cause economic disasters to happen. It will also
render recommendations on how to identify the problems and a proposition on
how to solve them.
Global Climate Crisis and New Economic Structure
Dialogues and discussions on climate change have been
actively pursued by scholars and politicians alike. There have
been seminars, conferences and even documents signed
between countries to protect global climate and environment.
There have been many organizations involved in putting forth
ideas and actively helping with the climate crisis. One of the
organizations, The Global Climate Coalition (GCC) based in
the United States of America opposed greenhouse gas
emissions. It disbanded in 2002, however, some former
members, organizations like National Association of
Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute still
actively pursue the cause that they took up while a coalition.
Due to the close relationship between the global
climate crisis and world economic structure there is a
need for scholars, politicians, and activists to research
and analyze the link between nature and economy.
Zaheer Allam and David Jones (2019) in a paper titled
Climate Change and Economic Resilience through
Urban and Cultural Heritage: The Case of Emerging
Small Island Developing States Economies have tried
to help solve economic problems that are related to the
climate crisis. They have used small island developing
states as their model.
The above mentioned
research is an effort to help
economies that are related
to the environment. Though
it concentrates on a certain
group of states the findings
can be used at a global level
as suggested by the authors.
Escap has outlined a path of global climate recovery for
us. It can be argued that the path to global climate
recovery and economic recovery has been set with the
help of institutions like the United Nations. It is a global
effort, and we need to analyze and research climate and
economic recovery from all aspects. Therefore, this
paper is an effort at joining forces with global and
economic climate defenders to promote a healthier
world to help with the international economic recovery
plan especially during this post-Covid19 era although it
only uses a Latin American literary text; Pablo Neruda’s
100 Love Poems.
THEORY: ECOCRITICISM
Ecocriticism is a theory that
sprouted from ecology. Although it
is used as a literary and cultural
device its roots are in the sciences.
One of the main thinkers and
critiques of ecocriticism is Greg
Garrard. This essay will use
mainly his theory on ecocriticism
from his work Ecocriticism (2004),
supported by other minor critics
where possible.
ANALYSIS
The analysis will use selected poems from
Neruda’s work titled Cien sonetos de amor
(1 0 0 Love Sonnets) translated by Stephen
Tapscott. There are four selected poems from
each section: Morning, Afternoon, Evening
and Night. These poems portray Neruda’s
feelings about the environment and his
country. They are very much related to the
economic climate of Neruda’s Latin America.
The first poem, from the section titled Morning will be
discussed and analyzed using the ecocriticism
framework. Neruda begins the poem with,
You will remember that
leaping stream where
sweet aromas rose and
trembled, and
sometimes a bird,
wearing water and
slowness, its winter
feathers.
(Neruda, Morning,IV,
Stanza 1)
The first stanza is nostalgic. The persona is addressing
someone and urges him/her to remember the natural
environment in the wilderness. There is a feeling of solace
and calmness, where there is a running stream, the smell of
fresh water from the stream, and the image of a bird with
rivulets or water from the river on its feathers. It is a heavenly
image of nature that has been created by Neruda. The
description of heaven in the Bible and the Al-Quran is filled
with the images of streams of cool water flowing in it. In the
Al Quran it is also described that there are rivers of milk and
rivers of wine flowing throughout heaven. The dwellers of
heaven are free to drink from these streams. In heaven wine is
no longer haram or forbidden to the Muslim.
In the above stanza the relationship between flora and fauna is juxtaposed. The bird is
described to be washing away the effects of winter from its body by washing it’s feathers in
the river. The slowness of life and the harshness of winter’s cold weather is shed by the bird
in the river. It is as if it is purifying itself since water is a source of purification for both
Christians and Muslims. It is also a source of purification for the Hindus. That is why the
Hindus bathe in the river Ganges. They believe that a bath in the river Ganges can purify
them from sins. Thus, the image that Neruda creates through his poem is both worldly and
heavenly. He hints at redemption without using the image of God or Christ. The universal
tool for cleansing – water – gives us an image that is of purity and forgiveness.
The next analysis is of a poem selected from the section titled
Afternoon. It discusses the surrounding and nature of the
Chilean jungle. Neruda begins with very familiar images. The
image of a home and its surrounding. It is about everyday life
in a house. According to the text,
Your house sounds like a train at noon:
bees hum, pots sing,
the waterfall catalogues what the soft
rain did, your laugh spins out its trill
like a palm tree.
(Neruda, Afternoon, XXXVIII, Stanza 1)
From the silence of death as described in the first poem, we
move to sounds in a household. The persona describes the
house as a very busy house that is filled with noise likened to
a train in the afternoon. There is the humming of bees and
the sound of boiling pots. Movement is also described via the
movement of the waterfall, and life through the rainfall that
has made the waterfall. The laughter of the persona’s subject
shows that sorrow is over and it’s time to rejoice. There is a
mention of the palm tree which suggests psalms that are
pronounced similarly to palms, that means there are prayers
that are in their hearts and that surround them. Neruda is
portraying the blessing of God. Rain is a blessing from God.
Muslims believe that angels ascend upon the earth with God’s
(Allah’s) blessings with rainfall. Thus, from sorrow and death
we move to lifelines and God’s blessings.
 The next poem to be analyzed is from the section labelled as Evening by
Neruda. According to him,
Among the broadswords of literary iron
I wander like a foreign sailor, who does not
know the streets, or their angles, and
who sings because
that’s how it is, because if not for that what else is there?
(Neruda, Evening, LVIII, Stanza 1)

The persona describes himself as being within literary giants or strong

men of literature. Here he is indeed in the ‘wilderness’ as he wanders
like a foreign sailor in a foreign country who is not familiar with his
surroundings. He behaves like all the other sailors, singing on the
unknown streets because that is what sailors normally do. Thus,
amongst literary giants he behaves like them. He produces work
because he must since all those around him are writing.
Chilean poet and diplomat Pablo Neruda (1904 - 1973) in Stockholm after he received the
Nobel Prize for literature. Bettmann Archive / Getty Images
The next poem is from the last section in the collection of poems titled Night.
According to the text,
Age covers us like
drizzle; time is
interminable and sad;
a salt feather touches your
face; a trickle ate through
my shirt.
(Neruda, Night, XCI, Stanza 1)
In this poem the poet reflects that the persona has become old with his subject
of affection. They have aged a little, since it is only likened to a drizzle, i.e. a
drizzle of rain. Time has passed and age saddens the persona. The subject is in
tears which are felt by the persona since her/his tears trickle onto his shirt.
Time is described as indiscriminate. It ravages with age both men and women as
well as nature. It effects, old age, shows on the persona’s hands and on the
oranges that his subject is holding,

Time does not distinguish between my hands

and a flock of oranges in yours:
with snow and picks life chips
away at your life, which is my
life.
(Neruda, Night, XCI, Stanza 2)

How life moves is described by the persona in the poem. Winter that is always the
symbol of old age and death is used as a symbol of time and old age. How snow
is shoveled during winter depicts how life chips away and both the persona’s life
and his subject’s life are interconnected. Their lives become one and they grow
old together. There is melancholy and sadness in this stanza.
CONCLUSION
The collection of poems by Pablo Neruda reflects the wonders of
this world. It also shows us the blessings of God. The message in
the poems is that humans although they are surrounded by myriad
of problems, they still triumph in the end. When they endure God’s
trials, they are blessed by Him, and He wipes away the pain and
sadness as well as the loneliness the He tries them with.

The selection from the collection of poems also shows us that

nature cures the soul of the sick and sad. If nature is treated with
dignity and is well protected, then humans can reap economic and
spiritual benefits from it. The essence of Neruda’s poems is that
God’s blessings are always there for those that treat nature with
kindness and dignity.