POETRY BY PABLO NERUDA

Do you think the speaker in the poem earnestly wishes to be a poet? Which lines says so?
Answer:
No, he does not. “Poetry arrived in search of me.”
What is the figure of speech used in the expression ‘poetry arrived’?
Answer:
The figure of speech used in the expression ‘poetry arrived’ is personification. Poetry, likes a
person, comes looking for him.
Winter is a season when everything seems frozen and lifeless whereas the river represents die
how of life. Find out a similar expression of contrast from the poem.
Answer:
They were not words, nor silence.
What was the poet’s condition before poetry arrived?
Answer:
He was without a face. He did not know what to say. His mouth had no way with names. His eyes
were blind.
What happened to the poet when poetry arrived?
Answer:
Some fire started in his soul. He remembered his forgotten wings. He made his own way
understanding that fire that started in his soul.
How did the poet show that after the arrival of poetry his imagination knew no bounds?
Answer:
The poet showed that after the arrival of poetry his imagination knew no bounds by saying he has
remembered his forgotten wings. The wings of imagination can take him anywhere as imagination
has no bounds.
Poetic intuition is like seeing without eyes. Which line says so?
Answer:
“My eyes were blind, and something started in my soul.”
What does “fever or forgotten wings” indicate?
Answer:
They indicate the floods of ideas that surge through his mind. The wings of imagination are taking
him to places.
How does the vast, infinite and complex universe unfold itself before the poet in the poem?
Answer:
Suddenly he saw the heavens opening up. He saw the planets and palpitating plantations. He saw
perforated shadows riddled with arrows, fire and flowers and the winding night – in fact the
universe itself.
What do you think is referred to as ‘fire’ and ‘flowers’?
Answer:
Fire stands for the sun and flowers stand for the stars. Figuratively fire can mean the imaginative
power of his soul I and flowers can mean the thoughts and ideas that bloom there.
‘I wheeled with the stars.’ What does the poet mean this?
Answer:
It means his fancy travelled everywhere. He could go to any place he wanted. There were no limits
to his fancy.
How does the poet express his delight of writing the first line of poetry?
Answer:
He says the line was faint, it was pure nonsense and at the same time pure wisdom. It was the
wisdom of someone who knows nothing and therefore it can be original and challenging. Now he
was riding with stars with his heart loose on the wind.
What is the theme of the poem?
Answer:
The theme of the poem is how the writer became a poet.
What are the expressions used by the poet to show the inspired moments?
Answer:
The expressions used by the poet to show the inspired moments are:
Poetry arrived in search of me.
Something started in my soul.
Suddenly I saw the heavens unfastened and open.
I wheeled with the stars.
My heart broke loose on the wind.
Important questions
1. What does ‘the fever and forgotten wings’ indicate?
Fever indicates the sudden changes happening to the poet when he encounters creativity.
Forgotten wings means that the poet is faced with the reality of discovering his creativity.
2. What is the figure of speech used in ‘fever or forgotten wings’?
Metaphor
3. What is meant by ‘riddled with arrows’?
It means make many holes with arrows.
4. What is fire and flowers in the poem?
Fire means the spark of poetic inspiration and flowers means the realization of his creative
thought.
APPRECIATION

The Chilean poet Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto was a diplomat and politician as well. He wrote
using his pen-name Pablo Neruda. In the poem ‘Poetry’ the poet Pablo Neruda talks about poetry
that arrived in search of him. He did not know where it came from, or how or when. He did not
hear any voices speaking to him. He says he was summoned away by an invisible force, and the
poetry touched him. The theme of the poem in simple words is the ecstatic experience of the poet
embraced by the poetic creativity. He had in his mind ideas which he could not express effectively
before he was blessed by that creativity. Something started in his soul, like a fever, and he made
his own way, deciphering the “fire of poetry.” He wrote his first feeble, faint, substance-free line,
and suddenly, the heavens opened up and he could see everything from the planets to the shadows,
fire, arrows and flowers, making up the universe. By the arrival of poetic inspiration, his
imagination became boundless. Although he was an infinitesimal being, by the touch of poetry, he
was suddenly elevated to a world of ecstasy, felt of himself being pure part of the abyss and was
set free to wheel with the stars. He describes the whole experience as his “heart breaking loose on
the wind.”
Free verse is the style of the poem; passion or ecstasy is the tone. ‘The poetry arrived in search of
the poet and touched him’. Assuming poetry as a person, the poetic device Personification is very
aptly applied here.
‘Winter’ and ‘river’ represent a ‘frozen’ but ‘flowing’ state which makes a contrast. In the same
way, expressions like ‘not voices’, ‘not words’, ‘not silence’, ‘pure nonsense’, ‘pure wisdom’ are
example of subtle application of the literary device Contrast. The poet has not used the end- rhyme,
but instances of assonance in the line “I don’t know how or when” (internal rhyme) are there to
add to the rhythm. Application of Alliteration can be seen in lines, “and something started in my
soul, / fever or forgotten wings” and “planets,/palpitating plantations,”. By the touch of the
poetry, a world of ecstasy is opened in the mind of the poet. References to flowers, violent fires,
the branches of night, the heavens, wings, planets, plantations, part of abyss etc. create beautiful
and perfect visual images of the universe in the imaginations of the readers.