Pablo Neruda---- Poem Analysis

Nathan's Analysis

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Poetic devices:
End Rhyme/ Half Rhyme-"from stone,
and those functionings play out, the unrealized ambitions of the foam." this is allso assonance.
metaphor-"Until the only flower was the falling itself."
metaphor-"takes limpid lessons from stone."
Consonance-"Nibbled away, the petal fell, falling."
Personification-"the unrealized ambitions of the foam."
How is the poem a reflection of and reaction to the culture of which it came?:
During the period of time in which Pablo Nerda was writing poetry there was a lot of political strife going on, and a deadly earthquake, that which killed over 20,000 people, so there was alot of turmoil and chaos going on in this time period. In the first part of this poem, Neruda writes: "Everything on the earth bristled" bristled refers to sharp, and pointy, so the first conclusion would be dangerous, going on "the bramble pricked and the green thread nibbled away. the petal fell, falling."  this petal represents something beautiful and it is now falling, going away, the nation of Chile is left to the bramble or the danger, "until the only flower was the falling itself" so now the only beauty left if the loss of the beauty. "Water is another matter, it has its no direction but its own bright grace" the water, I believe, represents Chilean goverment. During this time period Chile was going through alot of government changes, military was taking over, relations with other nations were coming and going and government was well, improvising, going its own way. "Going through all imaginable colors" This text has really the same meaning as the last line, it just extends on it, showing that the government really is just working for themselves, and that a great many changes occured. "takes limpid lessons from stone." Limpid means, transparent, or see through, and stone isn't transparent, it is opaque showing that water, if it is learning to be limpid by the teachings of stone, water is really not very limpid, but more mirky, and unknown, which would show a realationship with the government, which is always changing so is really unknown and not at all limpid in its intentions, as i said, it is working for itself. "And those functionings play out in the unrealized ambitions of the foam." This ending to this poem is bringing land and water together foam does not naturally occur in the middle of the sea, nor on land but on the coastline where land and sea meet, which is the dangers of the natural worls and the oddities of government create a sort of caotic world with infinate possibilities, in my mind, the ending to this poem is the most important part of the poem, because the brambles and the water represent the history and events of Chile but when they merge they become Chile itself. But going back to the flower at the begining. I already said that it represented beauty, but if it is gone, and all that is left is chaos and danger, that does not make Chile seem like a very good place, but this flower, even after falling, the beauty is still there ("until the only flower was the falling itself."), the flower does mean beauty, but i think it symbolises uniqueness, the danger and chaos will always have beauty in it somewhere, but is this chaos just chaos ? or is it in itself the beauty of Chile?

Matt's Analysis

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Poetic Devices:
Simile- A comparison using the words 'like', 'then', or 'as'
"In my sky at twilight, you are like a cloud"
Connotation- When you mean something that might be initially hidden, based off of implication or shared emotional value.
"I go shouting to the afternoon's wind..."
Dictition- The author's word choice and the order the words are in
"...solitary dreams believe you to be mine!" instead of "I dream of being with you"
Refrain- The repitition of words or phrases for emphasis.
"You are mine, mine,..."
Stanzas- A poem's paragraph
Symbolism- A material object used to represent something invisible.
"My sky at twilight" is symbolic for the narrator's heart

As a love poem, 'In My Sky at Twilight' reflects the feelings of an author more than anything else; including the prompt for this assignment. However, even to an untrained eye like my own, you can see how the poem reflects and reacts to the Chilean culture that author Pablo Neruda comes from. An obvious trait would be that the poem was written in Spanish, both the national language of Chile and fittingly one of the romance languages, before being translated to English. But when you dig deeper, you can see several lines in the poem that reflect Chilean culture. Both "...the sour wine is sweeter on your lips" and "...my soul is born on the shore of your eyes of mourning" reflect aspects of Chile; the first being popularity of wine in the country and the second a reference to the large amounts of shoreline that Chile owns. Pablo also reacts to the grief and poverty he was going through during the time that the poem was published because of a poor economical situation. "...the wind hauls on my widowed voice" and "In your eyes the mourning of the land..." are two sections from the poem that react to the not only the poor economics but also the grim possibilty of a civil war (a war which did in fact happen and inspire Pablo Neruda to write more politically). It was clear that this poem was written with underlying meanings and was not simply a love poem; Neruda wanted to make it clear where his roots were by including subtle references to them.

Dominic's Analysis

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