Analysis Of Neruda's Ode To The Table

Superior Essays
1. In this ode, Neruda includes similes. For example, “it’s as soft as woman’s hip” (Neruda 17). A simile is a comparison using the words “like” or “as”. Similes create imagery, so that the reader can better understand an object or a character. In this situation, Neruda is comparing an unidentified object he’s touching to the softness of a woman’s hip. Another poetic device he uses in this ode is repetition. For instance, “I love cups, rings, and bowls…I love all things…I love all things” (Neruda 11, 15). Repetition is when a word or phrase is repeated for an effect. In this case it is used to express his immense love of all things.
2. The bigger meaning behind all the materialistic things in the poem represents Neruda’s gratitude towards all the things in his life, including the man-made things as well all the living people. As an example, “Mankind has built oh so many perfect things…Not only did they touch me, or my hand touch them: they were so
…show more content…
Neruda’s “Ode to the table” incorporates metaphors. Specifically, when he writes, “The world is a table” (Neruda 19). A metaphor is direct comparison for two dissimilar things. Like similes, metaphors help the reader comprehend what is being discussed. Neruda uses this metaphor to explain to the reader that a table can represent the world in some ways. He then continues to support this claim by explaining how the table can represent the world. In addition, another poetic device used in this ode is personification. In particular, Neruda expresses, “this table sitting in the dark… And there is a faraway table, a humble table,” (Neruda 21). Personification is when human characteristics are given to inanimate objects. Personification is used to help readers connect with the object, and make visualizations more vivid. In this case, Neruda says that there is a table which is consumed by the darkness, but there is another table sitting in the corner that is not drawn into the darkness, it’s still pure and

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Each author has different diction and syntax that makes their work unique. Authors use different stylistic tools for different reasons throughout their story. Different stylistic tools have different effects and do certain things to the story. In American Wife by Taya Kyle, Taya uses figurative language to get a point across to her reader, make her writing more interesting, and allow her readers to better visualize what she is talking about. To begin, Taya uses figurative language throughout the story to get a point across to her reader.…

    • 1347 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “I like you like boys and testicles love to hang”, dont you just wish someone liked you the way that testicles hang. In the poem “like”, the author Mike McGee,conveys unconditional love through the use of simile, Aphorisms and repetition. aphorisms demonstrates how he feels for this girl. Wearese , The similes captures how he really feels for the girl. And repetition illustrates the real love for her.…

    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    1 Joshua CraigAssignment 1.7 Poetry Assessment How does communication change us?1.Does communication change us? Write a paragraph in which you answer this question and provide at least 3 reasons to support your opinion. Communicaton can change us for the better or worse; whether it's through visuals or verbally. Discussing different opinions and thoughts on a certain subject can help open your mind and possibly change your view. One-to-one communication isn't the only thing that can change us.…

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Archaic Torso Of Apollo

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem, “Archaic Torso of Apollo” conveys the theme of appreciation as the speaker examines the broken statue of the Greek god Apollo. Rilke’s poem uses figurative language to demonstrate the theme of appreciation of art throughout the poem. Throughout the poem, Rilke frequently uses similes to support his overall theme of his appreciation for the art. A simile is a figure of speech that creates a comparison by showing similarities between two different things.…

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Poetry Explication on “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” Langston Hughes's poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” is about becoming free. The speaker states that he has been to several places around the world. Each one of these places progressively gets more free. This is until the speaker ends with the time when “Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans”(7).…

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cardiac Arrest Love is just not a word but an action that could mean a lot more to a person. Like when you see your loved ones and huge them. So when you’re that passionate and have the love you feel very emotional to that person.…

    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Spera My Ex Husband

    • 147 Words
    • 1 Pages

    In the poem "My Ex-Husband", the subject discussed her ex-husbands photograph that she took herself. When she portrays her ex features, Spera utilized similes to analyze the elements of her ex. Your lips are like plump rubies, eyes like a diamond chips (Spera 15, 16). These are official illustrations for the use of simile. Utilizing the connective for the two's examination diverse items, make the word appear comparing with another article. Could flush the throat of any woman (Spera 17).…

    • 147 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The function and purpose of metaphor has become commonly defined, as Peter Newmark does, as “an aesthetically pleasing as well as insightful truth” and, in order to do this, the author must “become a translator of truth“ (“The Function of Metaphor”, __ ). “Truth” in Newmark’s opinion is an aesthetic experience that becomes owned by the reader through reader response. This implies that the reader deconstructs metaphor from his or her aesthetic experience into a truth applicable on the individual level. Thus, the author is not a constructor of truth through metaphor – truth that is applicable to his or her own lives.…

    • 315 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The poet uses personification to tell the reader their thoughts and emotions when reality hit. They are describing their emotions when they were told their family had to move. Nickelback describes the feeling of being hit with reality. In doing this they say, “Only to be grabbed by the neck by the cold, ridged, scaly hands of reality” (Nickelback 4).…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the poem, John Updike sneaks examples of literary devices, such as personification, diction, and imagery into his writing. He uses the literary devices to create an abstract view of Flick Webb’s life. Personification is defined as attributing human characteristics to nonhuman objects. Verbs and adjectives can be used to create personification. Updike uses personification when he is writing about the gas station and the pumps there.…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Amanda Stevenson Dr. Sigler EN 102 19 October 2015 Fraternally Inseparable: The Journey from Vanity to Oblivion Despite the belief that the sinking of the Titanic was a misfortune caused by the ship’s unsafe speed in unmapped territory, Thomas Hardy counters this commonly held view by asserting that the tragedy was predestined. In “The Convergence of the Twain”, Thomas Hardy uses the ironic isolation, natural indifference, and lack of foresight to convey the idea that pride and vanity ultimately lead to ruin. The collision of the Titanic and iceberg is used as a specific man versus nature conflict in order to illustrate this inevitability. The isolation within “The Convergence of the Twain” is an internal state, independent of physical surroundings.…

    • 1275 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Emily Dickinson Metaphor

    • 191 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Significance of Metaphor Metaphor could use in many different way to show the significance of the story. In the poem “ Because I could not stop for Death” By Emily Dickinson’s, she say “ Because I could not stop for Death-- He kindly stopped for me-- The Carriage held but just Ourselves-- And Immortality” ( Dickinson’s 759). At first she did not know when she is about to die, but later on she know she is going to die.…

    • 191 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Figurative Language In the story one of figurative language is a simile. In the middle of the book it has lots of simile. “The strange night appeared to have wrought subtle changes in familiar land, and the well-known road seemed to be leading her into unknown places” (162). This is a simile because the land can’t have a family.…

    • 166 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Unnaturalists

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “The form I most enjoy writing is the sonnet or sonnet-like forms, where you have a - you know, three stanzas or two stanzas that lead into a concluding couplet”- Sherman Alexie. In the sonnet, “The Unnaturalists” written by Albin Soni, the literary elements simile, personification, and metaphor are present and used to suggest that things are never as they seem. Firstly, Soni used the literary element simile to compare buildings to a king’s crown. Soni’s quote “The buildings stand as high as the king’s crown” is a beautiful example of simile. This quote shows that a king's crown and home are meant to be superior to the normal people.…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A very close reading of his poem is required in order to decipher its meaning. Neruda never explicitly says what he is talking about in his fourth love poem, putting power in the hands of the reader. In his study of postmodernism in literature, Angel Daniel Mato stays, “the postmodern movement embraces instability and skepticism as its main traits.” This idea is evidenced in “The Morning is Full” because Neruda has love, but it is unstable, unpredictable, and even unusual. Postmodernist writers also desire for their reader to fill in gaps and make their own assumptions about a work.…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics