Tribute to

Pablo Neruda

Educational Guide

for Teachers Tribute to the South American poet and statesman, winner of

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1971 on the hundredth anniversary of his birth

prepared by DFW International for the 2004-2005 Tribute www.dfwinternational.org

Sponsored by

PART I

Teaching

Neruda’s poetry

ERUDA: July 12, 2004 to July 11, 2

Poetry that brings alive a continent's destiny and dreams." We are grateful for the support of

“Poetry in harmony with Man and the Earth.”

“Poetry with the overflowing vitality of an awakening continent”

Born in Chile on July 12, 1904, Pablo Neruda created romantic and epic poetry as well as drama and prose that captured the essence of America. Neruda was Latin America’s most prominent 20th century poetic voice. His simple words inspired generations lovers and gave voice to the common struggles of peasants, miners, "I have always wanted the hands factory workers. His love for the Americas burst forth in images of the of the people to be seen in poetry. I have always preferred a poetry sea and the flora and fauna. where the fingerprints show. A poetry of loam, Neruda was much more than a Nobel Prize winning poet. He where water can sing. was a diplomat, an ambassador to France, a communist senator, a A poetry of bread, candidate for the presidency of Chile, a political fugitive, the winner where everyone may eat." of the World Peace Prize. His friends ranged from carpenters and fishermen to Pablo Picasso and Diego Rivera, Ghandi, Che Guevara and Salvador Allende.

Neruda was known as the "poet of the people", the voice for the Contact us at: voiceless who fought passionately for social justice. “Poetry is an [email protected] act of peace,” he wrote. “Peace goes into the making of a poet as flour goes into the making of bread.”

Neruda’s vision resonates to all our international populations. Lover, political activist, the voice of the common man--Pablo Neruda speaks to today's concerns and all people.

This Teacher’s Guide was prepared by Anne Marie Weiss-Armush, President of DFW International, for the Tribute to Pablo Neruda centennial festival. It is offered FREE of charge and may be downloaded from our website at www.dfwinternational.org. Questions may be addressed to [email protected] .

We are especially grateful to Paula Menendez, 6th grade Humanities teacher at the St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas, who created many of the poetry exercises especially for this project. Paula may be reached at [email protected].

Most of the arts and crafts activities were designed by Teresa Nguyen, student at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Every effort has been made to credit sources and to obtain permission for use of materials cited. When translator’s name is not noted, that particular poem was found on the internet, and the translator was not given.

INDEX Part I Teaching Neruda’s poetry A. A Guide for Analyzing Poems…………………………………………………………………...3 B. “I’m explaining a few things” – ‘Explico algunas cosas”………………………………………5 An Analysis and Imitation of a Protest Poem Sample lesson plan…………………….7 Questions for Discussion…………………………………………………………………..8 Poetry Imitation Activity…………………………………………………………………….9 Spanish Civil War………………………………………………………………………….10 Peace Activity: Children, Terror, and Spain……………………………………………13 Ariel Dorfman essay relating Neruda and the attack of March 11, 2004…..14 Children’s Art for Peace project………………………………………………...19 Dramatic Group Reading version of this poem (both English and Spanish)…..……20 C. “Education of the Chieftain’ ……………………………………………………………………22 Paraphrase and Explication Activity Using Denotation and Connotation……………23 Student Worksheet for Explication of lines……………………………………………..24 D. “Ocean” -- a small grammar lesson for a small poem……………………………………....28 E. Love Poetry “Poem 20’ – ‘Poema 20” …………………………………………………………………29 Questions for Discussion…………………………………………………………………30 “If you forget me” – “Si tú me olvidas” ………………………………………………….31 F. The Ode “Ode to Clothes” – ‘Oda al traje” ………………………………………………………...32 “Ode to the Seagull” ………………………………………………………………………34 G. Instructions for a Pablo Neruda Poetry Writing Workshop for ages 10-16……………………………………………………………...……………...35 for ages 15 to college……………………………………………………………………..36 H. Poetry for Social Justice………………………………………………………………………..37 “The Enemy” – “El enemigo” …………………………………………………………….39 “The United Fruit Company’ – ‘La United Fruit Company” …………………………..,40 An Analysis of ‘The United Fruit Company’………………………………….. 41 Un Análisis de 'La United Fruit Company'…………………………………….43 “We are Many” – “Muchos somos” ……………………………………………………...44 “When? – “Cuando de Chile’……………………………………………………………..45 For African American students …………………………………………………………..48 I. Excerpts from poems for Primary School Children…………………..………...…………….47 “To a foot from its child” -- “Al pie desde su niño” ……………...………………..…..49 “Here” ………………………………………………………...………………………..…..49 “I don’t want my country to be divided’ -- “Yo no quiero la Patria dividida………….50 “Sad Song to Bore Everyone” – “Triste canción para aburrir a cualquiera” ……..…50 “Bestiary” – “Bestiario” ……………………………………………..…………………...50 “Ocean” – “Océano” ……………………………………………………………...………51 “Ode to the Rooster” ……………………………………………………………………..52 “Ode to the Yellow Bird” ……………………………………………………,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,51 “Ode to the Black Panther” ……………………………………………….…………….52 “Ode to the Apple………………………………………………………………………….52

3 A Guide for Analyzing Poems by David Coogan Assistant Professor of English Lewis Department of Humanities, Armour College Illinois Institute of Technology

Poems can sometimes mystify us. Other times they can affect us so strongly, we hardly know where to begin talking about what we felt, heard, or understood from the poem. To get started, we usually ask ourselves “what did it mean?” but that question doesn’t always help. It’s too general. It may help to break down the intent behind the question and ask ourselves “what has been said” and “how was it said” and “why was it said in this particular way?” Here’s how.

1. Experience before you analyze. If you have seen the film about Neruda ‘Il Postino’, do like the postman Mario did: simply explain how the poem makes you feel. Write it down. Then return to the text and identify the passages that made you feel this way.

2. Make a chronology of what happened in the poem so you can say it back to yourself. Why is it important that the lines appear in this order and not in some other order? If you rearrange the lines or take away certain words or sections, what happens to the meaning of the poem? Can you divide the poem into sections or movements?

3. What is the author’s attitude toward his subject? Does he offer any moral lessons, warnings, jokes, statements of truth, complaints, or provocations? If so, what do they imply?

4. Describe the voice you hear in the poem. Is it angry, sad, impatient, jealous, exalted, wise, suspicious, or something else? Question the poet’s choice of words—the diction and the vocabulary—and his line breaks. If you change the vocabulary or the break the lines another way, can you change the voice or the intent of the poem?

5. Listen to the sounds of the language. As a point of reference, when we talk about vowel sounds, we are talking about “assonance.” An example of this in Spanish from Explico Unas Cosas would be “pero de cada casa muerta sale metal ardiendo” or ‘(the vowel “a” in cada and casa and muerta etc). When we talk about consonant sounds, we are talking about “alliteration.” An example of this from I’m Explaining a Few Things would be “bandits with black friars spattering blessings’ (the “b” sound). Do these sounds emphasize the author’s intent? If so, how do they guide your experience of the theme?

6. Explore the logic of the metaphors. Begin by separating the elements and defining them. Then ask yourself how one NORMALLY experiences or understands each thing. Finally, put the metaphor back together again.

Example: in Ode to the Seagull, Neruda says to the seagull, “lift up / your emblem across / the shirt / of the cold firmament”

Separating and defining the elements: Okay, we know that an emblem is an object that functions like a symbol. (For example, the three arrows shaped in a triangle = the emblem for recycling) Next comes the shirt. We all know what a shirt is. And last comes the firmament--a fancy word for sky: the expanse of the heavens.

How do we normally experience/understand the elements? Normally, we see emblems in society, not in nature. And we see shirts on other people. We wear shirts to protect 4 our body from the elements and to hide it from other people. And we don’t see firmaments. We see the sky.

Putting it all together. To say that the bird is an emblem is to say that the bird is functioning as a symbol. By placing this symbol in the firmament, Neruda endows it with cosmic or heavenly significance. This, of course, fits the purpose of the odes—to praise common things. But the seagull is not the only thing getting praised. Neruda places this symbol of heavenly wisdom on the “shirt of the cold firmament.” By choosing to endow the heavens with this human quality (wearing a shirt), he seems to be saying that the heavens are really here on earth: the mysteries of life are human mysteries that can be analyzed from a human point of view, in this case, a person watching a bird. Ultimately, what the person observes out there is not God but humanity, because the bird’s movements through the sky are analogous to our own movements through life. We wear the shirt with the bird-emblem on it. And underneath the shirt is our own body—not the “the heavens.”

7. Finally, return to your original question—what does the poem mean? Although individual poems will have individual meanings, they will also share something in common with the author’s other work. In what ways is this poem like the author’s other poems you read? To answer this question is to define the author’s poetics, where “poetics” = what was said (content) + how it was said (form).

5

“I’m Explaining a Few Things” An Analysis and Imitation of a Protest Poem grades 6-12 by Paula Menendez St. Mark’s School of Texas Dallas, TX

Overview:

• Following the questions below, students will analyze the style, structure and meaning of this protest poem and then write a poem of their own using Neruda’s persuasive technique. • Partners or small discussion groups are recommended in more advanced classes, while younger/ weaker students might benefit from a whole-class discussion.

Time required: Two 45-minute sessions.

Content and skills covered (not introduced here—only reinforced):

A. History: Spanish Civil War

B. English: “Discussion Questions” cover an analysis of • audience • tone and how it contributes to meaning • persuasive technique

“Poetry Imitation Activity” covers the application of the above and reinforcement of the use of: • sound devices • imagery • word choice • simile and metaphor

6

I’m Explaining a Few Things Explico unas cosas translated by Nathaniel Tarn

You are going to ask: and where are the lilacs? Preguntaréis: Y dónde están las lilas? and the poppy-petalled metaphysics? Y la metafísica cubierta de amapolas? and the rain repeatedly spattering Y la lluvia que a menudo golpeaba its words and drilling them full sus palabras llenándolas of apertures and birds? de agujeros y pájaros?

I'll tell you all the news. Os voy a contar todo lo que me pasa.

I lived in a suburb, Yo vivía en un barrio a suburb of Madrid, with bells, de Madrid, con campanas, and clocks, and trees. con relojes, con árboles.

From there you could look out Desde allí se veía over Castille's dry face: el rostro seco de Castilla a leather ocean. como un océano de cuero. My house was called Mi casa era llamada the house of flowers, because in every cranny la casa de las flores, porque por todas partes geraniums burst: it was estallaban geranios: era a good-looking house una bella casa with its dogs and children. con perros y chiquillos. Remember, Raul? Raúl, te acuerdas? Eh, Rafael? Te acuerdas, Rafael? Federico, do you remember Federico, te acuerdas from under the ground debajo de la tierra, do you remember my house with balconies on which te acuerdas de mi casa con balcones en donde the light of June drowned flowers in your mouth? la luz de junio ahogaba flores en tu boca? Brother, my brother! Hermano, hermano! Everything Todo loud with big voices, the salt of merchandises, eran grandes voces, sal de mercaderías, pile-ups of palpitating bread, aglomeraciones de pan palpitante, the stalls of my suburb of Arguelles with its mercados de mi barrio de Argüelles con su statue estatua like a drained inkwell in a swirl of hake: como un tintero pálido entre las merluzas: oil flowed into spoons, el aceite llegaba a las cucharas, a deep baying un profundo latido of feet and hands swelled in the streets, de pies y manos llenaba las calles, metres, litres, the sharp metros, litros, esencia measure of life, aguda de la vida, stacked-up fish, pescados hacinados, the texture of roofs with a cold sun in which contextura de techos con sol frío en el cual the weather vane falters, la flecha se fatiga, the fine, frenzied ivory of potatoes, delirante marfil fino de las patatas, wave on wave of tomatoes rolling down to the sea. tomates repetidos hasta el mar.

And one morning all that was burning, Y una mañana todo estaba ardiendo one morning the bonfires y una mañana las hogueras leapt out of the earth salían de la tierra devouring human beings devorando seres, and from then on fire, y desde entonces fuego, gunpowder from then on, pólvora desde entonces, 7 and from then on blood. y desde entonces sangre. Bandits with planes and Moors, Bandidos con aviones y con moros, bandits with finger-rings and duchesses, bandidos con sortijas y duquesas, bandits with black friars spattering blessings bandidos con frailes negros bendiciendo came through the sky to kill children venían por el cielo a matar niños, and the blood of children ran through the streets y por las calles la sangre de los niños without fuss, like children's blood. corría simplemente, como sangre de niños.

Jackals that the jackals would despise, Chacales que el chacal rechazaría, stones that the dry thistle would bite on and spit out, piedras que el cardo seco mordería escupiendo, vipers that the vipers would abominate! víboras que las víboras odiaran!

Face to face with you I have seen the blood Frente a vosotros he visto la sangre of Spain tower like a tide de España levantarse to drown you in one wave para ahogaros en una sola ola of pride and knives! de orgullo y de cuchillos!

Treacherous Generales generals: traidores: see my dead house, mirad mi casa muerta, look at broken Spain: mirad España rota: from every house burning metal flows pero de cada casa muerta sale metal ardiendo instead of flowers, en vez de flores, from every socket of Spain pero de cada hueco de España Spain emerges sale España, and from every dead child a rifle with eyes, pero de cada niño muerto sale un fusil con ojos, and from every crime bullets are born pero de cada crimen nacen balas which will one day find que os hallarán un día el sitio the bull's eye of your hearts. del corazón.

And you'll ask: why doesn't his poetry Preguntaréis por qué su poesía speak of dreams and leaves no nos habla del sueño, de las hojas, and the great volcanoes of his native land? de los grandes volcanes de su país natal?

Come and see the blood in the streets, Venid a ver la sangre por las calles, come and see venid a ver the blood in the streets, la sangre por las calles, come and see the blood venid a ver la sangre in the streets! por las calles!

8

“I’m Explaining a Few Things” Questions for Discussion

1. Starter: Before reading the poem, ask this question: What purposes can poetry serve? Take a few moments to brainstorm on the board, asking students to throw out as many ideas as possible.

2. Read the poem aloud once all the way through, with students following along with a pencil in hand, underlining words and phrases that “jump out” at them for some reason.

3. After reading aloud, and looking back at the list on the board, what general purpose(s) does this poem seem to serve?

4. How does the speaker in the poem feel about his subject matter? What words let you know his attitude?

5. Have students share with the class the words they underlined. Explain that these heavily charged words contribute to the overall tone of the poem.

6. For the second reading, pre-assign different stanzas to different students and let them read aloud once again, this time trying to place an emphasis on the emotional tone of each stanza. As one classmate reads, all others now label in the margins the tone of each stanza.

7. Where are there subtle and dramatic shifts in tone? Discuss and see who agrees.

8. Where is the most sudden shift in tone?

9. Explain Neruda’s purpose in creating the contrast in tone. What argumentative purpose does this serve, and how successful do you think it is?

10. To whom is this poem addressed?

11. What general statement(s) does Neruda seem to be making (about war? about life? about flowers? about poetry? etc. . .)

12. How does the tone of a passage or poem affect the meaning of the piece?

13. If Neruda had only written the second half of the poem, and not described life in Argüelles before the war, how would that change the poem?

9

“I’m Explaining a Few Things” Poetry Imitation Activity

As you have seen, poetry can be a very powerful way to express your opinions. In this activity, you will write your own poem of protest about an issue that is important to you. Purposes of this activity: to make a strong argument for your cause and to practice some of the techniques you have studied.

1. Choose an issue about which you feel a strong opinion.

2. Now get a partner and brainstorm aloud for 3 minutes with your partner taking brief notes and writing down key phrases. Talk about everything you can think of relating to this topic. Go ahead and allow yourself to get fired up about your cause, talking about why it is important, how things could be different, and especially citing examples of people, things, and situations affected by this issue. After 3 minutes, switch places with your partner. Take notes while he/she talks about a different topic.

3. Read back over the notes your partner took. Circle or highlight key words or phrases that catch your eye for any reason. Look for concrete images and strong “tone words.” These will serve as a bank of ideas for your poem.

4. Now begin to write your poem using your word bank. Do not attempt to make the ends of lines rhyme, or you may become distracted from the true meaning of your message.

5. Follow the tips below to create a poem that packs a punch:

a. Show, Don’t Tell: Do not mention the cause, but make a few small references to it. Your poem is an illustration, not a lecture. b. Shift in Tone: by showing a contrast between two things, situations, or people, you show your audience that you are right, rather than telling them. c. Word Choice: Carefully choose words that convey your desired tone. Be prepared to read your work aloud to the class. d. Simile and metaphor: these comparisons can appeal to the five senses and captivate your audience (“I have seen the blood of Spain tower like a tide to drown you in one wave”) e. Sound devices (repetition, rhyme, alliteration, assonance, consonance, etc. ex: “kill children”, “poppy-petalled”) make the words quietly stick in the audience’s mind. Poetry is to be read aloud. f. Audience: Be aware of who you are addressing in this poem. How does your choice of audience affect your poem?

10 THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

Although Pablo Neruda was not a native Spaniard, he certainly took sides in the Spanish Civil War. Below are a map and excerpts form World Book Online Encyclopedia with information about the Spanish Civil War.

World Book map: Spanish Civil War

The Nationalists quickly captured about a third of Spain. Republicans held most of the country's industrial areas and large cities, including Spain's capital, Madrid. The superior military strength of the Nationalists eventually triumphed.

Excerpts from World Book Encyclopedia Online Reference Center: Esenwein, George R.. "Spanish Civil War." Feb. 2004. World Book, Inc. http://www.worldbookonline.com/ar?/na/ar/co/ar522980.htm.

Overview: Spanish Civil War was a bitter, bloody conflict that took place from 1936 to 1939. It was fought between the forces of Spain's democratically elected, liberal government and conservative rebels. The war cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Spaniards and set the stage for a dictatorship that lasted more than 35 years.

The conservative or right-wing forces that fought against the government were known as Nationalists. They included military leaders, segments of the Roman Catholic Church, groups that wanted Spain to become a monarchy again, and fascists. The fascists were members of a political party called the Falange Espanola (Spanish Phalanx). Like similar groups in Germany and Italy, the fascists wanted to set up a dictatorship.

The forces that fought on the side of the government were known as Republicans. They included a variety of liberal or left-wing groups, such as socialists, Communists, and anarchists (those who believe people should live without government).

11 Much of the world viewed the Spanish Civil War as a contest between democracy and fascism. It became a major source of concern for many nations, which believed that the outcome could determine the balance of power in Europe. Many people who felt strongly about the war held fund- raising rallies and publicized the international issues at stake in Spain's domestic conflict.

Rebellion leads to civil war. On July 17, 1936, Spanish army units stationed in Morocco launched a rebellion against the Spanish government. The revolt soon spread to Spain itself. The rebels hoped to overthrow the government quickly and restore order in Spain. But Republican forces took up arms against the military. Within four days after the start of the uprising, the rebels controlled about a third of Spain. The Republicans controlled Spain's industrial centers and most of its densely populated towns and cities, including the capital, Madrid.

On both sides, a wave of terror and repression followed the chaos and confusion of the military uprising. The Nationalists shot thousands of workers and Republican supporters living in areas under their control. In the Republican zone, thousands of civilians were executed by working-class groups fearful of a reaction from rebel supporters.

In some areas held by Republicans, workers belonging to anarchist and other left-wing organizations dismantled existing government institutions. They replaced them with agricultural and industrial collectives—that is, groups jointly owned by their workers—and with bodies known as people's committees that intended to rule on behalf of the working classes.

In late July 1936, the Nationalists set up a government in Burgos called the Junta de Defensa Nacional (Council of National Defense). In September, this group chose Francisco Franco to serve as both commander-in-chief of the armed forces and head of the Nationalist government. Franco and his advisers based the new government on fascist and conservative principles and created a prominent role in the government for the Roman Catholic Church. By the end of 1937, all the forces on the Nationalist side had merged into a state system under Franco's leadership.

Progress of the war. Early in the war, the Nationalists demonstrated superior military strength. By the first week of November 1936, rebel troops were closing in on Madrid, hoping to occupy the capital quickly. The determined resistance of the city's population, supported by newly organized units of the International Brigades and Republican troops, stopped the Nationalist advance. The Republicans also defeated the Nationalists at the Jarama River near Madrid in February 1937 and at Guadalajara in March. But they lost the coastal city of Malaga to the Nationalists on February 8.

With the Madrid front stalled, Franco decided to launch a major offensive in the north. As part of this operation, on April 26, 1937, bombers of the German Condor Legion attacked the small market town of Guernica. They destroyed much of the town center and killed over 1,500 civilians, according to most estimates. News of the bombing generated a storm of international protests and demonstrations, and the incident became known as a symbol of fascist brutality. The Spanish painter Pablo Picasso captured the terror of the bombing in his masterpiece Guernica.

The Nationalists continued their northern assault. The city of Bilbao fell in June. A few months later, the Nationalists conquered the northern coastal areas and industrial regions that had been under Republican control. A major Nationalist offensive launched in the region of Aragon in March 1938 led farther into Republican territory. Franco's army pushed east through the region and reached the Mediterranean Sea by mid-April, cutting the Republican-controlled zone in two.

Franco's advance on Valencia, to the south, was interrupted by the Republican army's last major offensive, the Battle of the Ebro. This battle, fought from July to November 1938, was the longest of the war. Despite early Republican gains, the Nationalists eventually halted the attack. The Republican defeat paved the way for the Nationalists' march on Catalonia in the northeast. By the

12 end of January 1939, most of the region, including Barcelona, was in Nationalist hands. Republican troops and their civilian supporters retreated toward the Spanish-French frontier.

Republican forces were plagued by disagreements among themselves throughout the war. By 1939, internal political disputes had split the Republicans into two warring groups. The government of Juan Negrin, who had come to power in 1937, wanted to continue fighting. But an alliance of left-wing parties considered further resistance useless. In March, this alliance set up its own government in Madrid. Shortly afterward, Negrin's government collapsed.

As street fighting broke out between pro- and anti-Communist forces in Madrid and elsewhere, representatives of the new government sought in vain to negotiate a surrender with the Nationalists. On March 28, Franco's troops began entering the capital. The remaining Republican forces throughout Spain surrendered, and Franco announced on April 1 that the war was over.

Results of the war. The Spanish Civil War resulted in widespread destruction. Estimates of the numbers of people killed during the conflict vary. Many experts estimate that from 600,000 to 800,000 people died as a result of the war, including deaths caused by combat, bombing, execution, and starvation.

Following the war, Franco established a harsh right-wing dictatorship. He had thousands of Republican supporters executed and outlawed all political parties but his own. Spain did not return to democracy until after Franco's death in 1975.

QUESTIONS Further questions about the Spanish Civil War and its role in “I’m Explaining a Few Things:”

a. Describe each of the two sides in this war. Who were they, and what political points of view did they represent?

b. Read Neruda’s poem another time. Can you tell which side Neruda supported?

c. Based on your knowledge of the Spanish Civil War, whom did Neruda refer to as “bandits” and “treacherous generals?”

d. In your opinion, was Neruda’s anger justified?

13

Peace Activity: Children, Terror, and Spain by Anne Marie Weiss-Armush DFW International

This materials in this section relate the bombing of the Madrid trains on March 11, 2004 and hopes for peace to Neruda’s “Explico Unas Cosas.’

A. Background material for teachers: excerpt from essay NERUDA frente al terror en Madrid by Ariel Dorfman (Chilean historian, philosopher)

B. Children’s art from the Spanish Civil War, currently touring the US in the form of an educational exhibit that promotes peace 1. “They Still Draw Pictures” collection 2. ‘They Still Draw Pictures’ exhibit touring the US in 2004

C. Creative art project about peace

We appreciate the collaboration of ALBA, the Abraham Lincon Brigades Archives (see www.alba- valb.org/), whose materials we have adapted with permission. ALBA is a non profit national organization devoted to the preservation and dissemination of the history of the North American role in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and its aftermath. ALBA supervises a major archive at New York University's Tamiment Library--the most comprehensive historical archive documenting the involvement of North American volunteers in the Spanish Civil War--and supports cultural and educational activities related to the war and its historical, political, artistic, and biographical heritage.

14

Words That Pulse Among Madrid's Dead Neruda's verses howl against terror today and yesterday -- testimony to the courage of Spain's people from the L.A.Times March 21, 2004 By Ariel Dorfman Madrid is no stranger to bombs.

Almost 70 years ago, as the Civil War was beginning, Spain's capital suffered devastating attacks from the air. With the support of Hitler and Mussolini, the insurgent forces commanded by Gen. Francisco Franco targeted the civilian population of Madrid in the hope that the democratically elected government would capitulate.

Living in that city at the time was the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, and he left behind a series of memorable poems denouncing those assaults and commemorating the resistance of ordinary people.

By a strange coincidence — not the first time history and literature, tragedy and words, colluded in my life — one of those poems was on my desk at the very moment when I heard about the terrorist attacks on Madrid on March 11 that left more than 200 dead and so many more wounded. I had been reading that poem, "Explico algunas cosas" ("I explain a few things") over and over again, in preparation for a homage to Neruda to be held at the Kennedy Center in celebration of the centenary of his birth.

I had originally chosen to recite that specific poem because I felt it was a way of allowing Neruda to condemn the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the bombs falling upon the innocent, the blood of children that runs, today as yesterday, "simply like blood of children." And I also wanted Neruda's verses to howl against the destruction of so many other cities and lives.

"Look at my dead house, look at broken Spain" could refer as well to Santiago de Chile, the capital that Neruda inhabited for so many years, that I saw bombed on that fateful Sept. 11, 1973. And also to New York on fire, that other Sept. 11, the New York that Neruda treasured, the New York that fascinated his friend, Federico García Lorca, the Spanish poet killed by fascists in 1936, the New York that had also been visited by smoke and pain and widows.

It is always one small group, "jackals that a jackal would despise," that sows death and always others, the many others, overflowing with light, who die, simply die. The poem ended up being more relevant than I had planned. When I finally read it at the Kennedy Center, I understood, as did the audience, that Neruda had captured my mouth, stolen my throat, in order to whisper something far more urgent.

The recent bombings in Madrid transformed his words into a requiem for the recent dead: It was Madrid that was again aflame, again the Madrilenos were being attacked by "vipers that vipers would abominate," again the innocent were paying for a war they had not desired or deserved. It was my own beloved Madrid, that city so open to wanderers, the city of Velazquez and Goya and Lope de Vega, where "one morning everything was burning/ and one morning bonfires/ came out of the earth/ devouring humans/," it was Madrid, "and from then on fire/, gunpowder from then on,/ and from then on blood."

After the homage, spectators thanked us and the gods of poetry for expressing how these victims of terror replicate and multiply with their deaths so many earlier deaths — Madrid today and yesterday, Santiago yesterday, and Baghdad today, New York, Srebrenica, Rwanda and Cambodia.

15 But that was not all that Neruda was telling us. There are commentators in America as well as in Spain who have declared that the Spanish people, by punishing the ruling Aznar government and electing a leader opposed to war, have offered up a victory to terrorism, that from now on fanatics will be able to use their lethal weapons to intimidate the free citizens of the world and blackmail the electorate.

Such a claim is not only an insult to the maturity and courage of the Spanish people but also an insult to the intelligence of the world itself.

They dare to say that of a citizenry that has confronted and isolated the criminal ETA? They dare to sustain such nonsense of the men and women whose parents and grandparents resisted for three years the fascist forces, Mussolini's troops and Hitler's air force, while the world watched with distance and indifference?

Those who believe Spaniards are afraid should listen to Neruda. In his poem, he makes the following prophecy: the blood of Spain will rise to drown its murderers "in one single wave/ of pride and knives"; he promises us that "from each dead house burning metal will come."

We should not be confused. Just because a sovereign nation decides to reject and oppose an unnecessary, unjust and deceitful war does not mean that the people of that nation are not willing to defend themselves, fight to return Madrid to that moment before the bombs exploded, which Neruda also remembered:

I lived in a barrio of Madrid, with bells with clocks, with trees.

My house was called the house of flowers. Raúl, do you remember? Do you remember, Rafael?

Federico, do you remember, dead under the ground, do you remember my house with balconies where the June light drowned the flowers in your mouth? Brother, brother!

Yes. Brother, brother! Said to the murdered García Lorca and now, so many years later, to those who have again died, said to all those senselessly slaughtered all over the world and who are remembered ceaselessly by a poet who was born 100 years ago and lives now only in the legacy of his words, tendering us consolation and rage and hope once more in these times of tragedy and terror.

Ariel Dorfman is author of "Desert Memories: Journeys Through the Chilean North" (National Geographic, 2004) and the upcoming "Other Septembers, Many Americas" (Seven Stories).

16 NERUDA frente al terror en Madrid Por Ariel Dorfman March 21, 2004 from Página 21 newspaper (Argentina) and in El País (Spain)

¿Qué diría Pablo Neruda si estuviese vivo hoy, si tuviera que contemplar la muerte que ha caído sobre Madrid, la ciudad que tanto amó, la ciudad que se clavaba tan profundamente en su corazón?

Unos días atrás tuve ocasión de saberlo, de preguntárselo, cuando participé, junto a otros escritores y artistas, en un homenaje al gran vate chileno en el Kennedy Center de Washington D.C. para celebrar el centenario de su nacimiento. Preparando una de mis intervenciones en esa noche de gala, había decidido yo, hace ya varios meses, que era necesario leerle al público norteamericano aquel poema magistral, Explico algunas cosas, que Neruda escribió como respuesta al bombardeo de Madrid por las fuerzas de Franco durante la Guerra Civil española. Era una manera, pensé yo, de permitirle a Neruda denunciar la invasión de Irak, las bombas que han caído sobre los inocentes, la sangre de los niños que corre, hoy como ayer, simplemente como sangre de niños.

Y sentí, también, que los versos de Neruda podían servir para aullar en contra de la destrucción de tantas otras ciudades y vidas. Mirad mi casa muerta, mirad España rota podía referirse también al Santiago de su Chile que Neruda recorrió de joven, que yo mismo vi bombardear el 11 de septiembre de 1973 mientras Pablo moría de cáncer y de tristeza en Isla Negra. Y también a Nueva York bajo el fuego, ese otro 11 de septiembre, el Nueva York que amó Neruda y García Lorca y tantos otros, envuelto en humo y dolor y luto. Siempre son unos, chacales que el chacal rechazaría, que lanzan la muerte y los otros, llenos de luz y latidos, los que mueren, simplemente mueren.

Ese era mi plan original: revelar, una vez más (¡como si hiciera falta!), cuán contemporáneo y presente es nuestro Neruda de cada día.

Pero, claro, cuando finalmente leí el poema en el Kennedy Center, entendí yo, y lo entendieron los quinientos norteamericanos que escuchaban en la capital de los Estados Unidos, que Neruda había decidido tomar mi boca, apropiarse de mi garganta, para susurrarnos algo aun más urgente. Los recientes atentados criminales de Madrid convertían sus palabras en responsorio: era Madrid la que ardía nuevamente, eran nuevamente los madrileños atacados por las víboras que las víboras odiarían, nuevamente eran los inocentes que pagaban por una guerra que ellos no habían deseado ni merecido. Era mi propio Madrid, donde una mañana todo estaba ardiendo/, y una mañana las hogueras/ salían de la tierra devorando seres/, era Madrid, y desde entonces fuego, pólvora desde entonces,/ y desde entonces sangre.

Así lo entendió el público allá, en el Kennedy Center. En cada conversación después de nuestro homenaje, una y otra vez, se me acercaban interlocutores para agradecerme a mí –¿para qué a mí, si era Neruda el que había escrito aquello, si era Neruda el que me había elegido desde más allá de la muerte para que repitiera sus versos desafiantes?– para agradecernos a nosotros y a los dioses de la poesía, esa manera de expresar y recordar a estas víctimas del terror que duplican con su muerte tantas muertes anteriores, tanto terror que sigue y sigue, Madrid hoy y ayer, Santiago ayer y Bagdad hoy, Nueva York y Sbrenica y Ruanda y Cambodia.

Pero no era solamente eso lo que Neruda nos estaba confirmando. Hay comentaristas norteamericanos –como los hay en España– que han declarado que el modo en que reaccionó el pueblo de ese país, castigando al gobierno de Aznar, ha sido una victoria del terrorismo, la manipulación de la democracia por los fanáticos que ahora pueden usar sus armas destructivas para amedrentar a los ciudadanos libres del mundo y chantajear el proceso electoral. Tal argumento no es solamente un insulto a la madurez y la valentía de los españoles, sino que es a la vez un insulto a la inteligencia. ¿Se atreven a decir eso acerca de un pueblo que ha sabido oponerse por millones a los criminales y asesinos de ETA? ¿Se atreven a sostener tal patraña acerca de hombres y mujeres cuyos padres y abuelos resistieron tres

17 años el asalto de los fascistas españoles y el poderío de Hitler y Mussolini mientras el mundo los abandonaba a su suerte?

Escuchen bien a Neruda quienes crean que los españoles tienen miedo.

El profetiza en su poema que la sangre de España se levantará para ahogar a sus asesinos en una sola ola de orgullo y de cuchillos, él nos asegura que de cada casa muerta sale metal ardiendo. No hay que confundirse. Porque un pueblo rechace y se oponga a una guerra innecesaria, mentirosa e injusta, no significa que ese mismo pueblo no esté dispuesto a defenderse, a devolver a Madrid otra vez a ese momento anterior a las bombas que también recordaba Neruda:

Yo vivía en un barrio de Madrid, con campanas, con relojes, con árboles.

Raúl, te acuerdas? Te acuerdas, Rafael? Federico, te acuerdas, debajo de la tierra, te acuerdas de mi casa con balcones en donde la luz de junio ahogaba flores en tu boca? Hermano, hermano!

Sí, en efecto. Con Neruda decimos, volvemos a decir a cien años de su nacimiento, volveremos a decir cuántas veces haga falta: Hermano, hermano!

18 Children’s Drawings of the Spanish Civil War from: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eresources/exhibitions/children/about.html Drawings may be viewed at: http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/tsdp/

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) children were evacuated from the war zones to colonies in the war- free areas of Spain and in the south of France. Drawings by these children were collected from throughout Spain in a concerted effort of the Spanish Board of Education and the Carnegie Institute of Spain. Over 850 of these drawings have been identified in a variety of locations. The Friends published sixty of them with a prologue by Aldous Huxley under the title And they still draw pictures! Several printings were sold for $1 each for the same fund.

The majority of the drawings known today (609) have been collected by the University of California at San Diego and form part of the Southworth collection in their Mandeville Special Collections (available on the Web at: http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/tsdp/). Harvard University holds another 17, and 15-20 others are in the Philadelphia headquarters of the American Friends Service Committee.

ALBA: They Still Draw Pictures Children’s Art in Wartime See: http://www.alba-valb.org/exhibits/drawpic/dp_desc.htm http://depts.washington.edu/spanport/main/Press%20Release-%20They%20Still%20Draw%20Pictures.pdf http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2003/april/040103.html

They Still Draw Pictures is an exhibition of drawings made by children between the ages of six and siteen who have experienced war. Most of the drawings in the exhibition were made more than sixty years ago, in Spain, by children who experienced the Spanish Civil War. In response to all of the fighting and damage that took place during the war, the Spanish government created children’s colonies, or group homes in safe areas of the country. More than 200,000 children were moved away from areas of heavy fighting, and many of them lived in these colonies unitl the war was over. To help the children express their feelings and heal emotionally from their war experiences, the adult caregivers gave them art materials and invited them to draw pictures. They dres their memories of life before the war, their experiences of war and displacement, and their visions of peace.

The photos may be downloaded from the sites listed above, along with detailed educational materials.

The exhibit is coordinated by ALBA, a non profit educational organization devoted to the preservation and dissemination of the history of the North American role in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and its aftermath. ALBA supervises a major archive at New York University's Tamiment Library--the’comprehensive historical archive documenting the involvement of North American volunteers in the Spanish Civil War--and supports cultural and educational activities related to the war and its historical, political, artistic, and biographical heritage.

We include these drawings here because they offer us children’s perspective on the time period captured by Neruda’s poem “Explico Algunas Cosas” as well as computer based art and historical exercises. Complete teaching materials and interactive exercises are included.

“This exhibit gives students an opportunity to study and analyze a variety of historical documents in the form of children’s artwork drawn during various times of war, and as such provides them practice working with primary sources. The study of art, as primary source documents, helps to bring history to life.”

Of the 600,000 refugees who sought shelter from Franco's tyranny, more than 200,000 were children. Spain's Republican government responded by establishing colonias infantiles (children's colonies), often in country estates that had been abandoned by fascist sympathizers. In these colonies, young refugees-many of them orphaned or sent by their parents to safety-received schooling and medical care, kept each other company, and produced thousands of drawings that provide a collective testimony of their experiences.

Born of the trauma of separation and exile, the drawings are invaluable historical documents, giving physical form to the children's experiences of air raids, brutality, destruction, and homelessness. These pictures also represent daily life in the colonies, preserve the children's memories of life before war, and suggest their future hopes.

Children's art from more recent conflicts, drawn from many different sources and spanning the rest of the twentieth

19 century, follows the narrative line traced by the Spanish pictures. They reveal both the specificity of particular historical circumstances and the universality of a child's response to the conditions of war and displacement.

Deceptively transparent, these drawings speak with an immediacy of war's consequences for its youngest victims.”

Art Project for Peace

The the poem ‘Explico algunas cosas’ is divided into two parts: the first beautiful and peaceful section, that ends with the line ‘Federico, te acuerdas debajo de la tierra?” and the second part that describes the bloody war. These two sections are like a painting of the same scene in two different seasons of the year, but instead of summer flowers turning into the snows of winter, they show serene streets filled with comfortable surroundings which are transformed into a landscape of horrors.

ASSIGNMENTS to develop consciousness about peace issues

1. ART Using the images in Neruda’s Explico Algunas Cosas, create two parallel scenes of Neruda’s city or street BEFORE and AFTER the bombing. Try to capture the contrasting emotions and images of the poem in your work.

2. COMPOSITION Write a dialogue between Pablo Neruda and a soldier in the attacking forces, 1936.

3. GEOGRAPHY Using maps of equal scale cut out the shape of Spain and superimpose this shape on the United States, France, Russia, etc. In terms of size, how would you describe Spain? Which U.S. states are comparable in size to Spain?

4. ECONOMICS Prepare a chart that compares the economic and social aspects of life in Spain now that it is a member of the European Union, and in the pre-Civil War era.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS about PEACE created from ALBA materials

1. Although Neruda wrote this poem over 60 years ago, is there anything familiar to you in it? 2. What specific details do you notice in the poem (people, nature, activities, buildings)? 3. Why did Neruda write this poem? 4. For whom did he write this poem? 5. If you could interview Neruda, what kinds of questions would you have for him? 6. What questions does this poem raise in your mind? Where can you find answers to them? 7. How do you think the lives of children changed during the Spanish Civil War? 8. What else does this poem make you want to know about the Spanish Civil War? about Spain? 9. What was going on in the United States during the Spanish Civil War? 10. If a war was fought here in the U.S., how might our lives be different? 11. How might the idea of peace be put into practice in your classroom? School? Community? 12. Write or tell about a time when you helped to create peace in your classroom, school or community. 13. How would YOU help to make your classroom, school or community a more peaceful place? 14. List some things that people can do to help create a world where peace is more possible. What are some things that adults can do? What are some things that children can do? Think big, and think small—and remember that nothing is too small to mention!

20 Dramatic Reading for Class or Group

“I’m Explaining a Few Things” “Explico unas cosas” translated by Nathaniel Tarn

NARRATOR You are going to ask: and where are the lilacs? Preguntaréis: Y dónde están las lilas? and the poppy-petalled metaphysics? Y la metafísica cubierta de amapolas? VOICE 1 and the rain repeatedly spattering Y la lluvia que a menudo golpeaba VOICE 2 its words and drilling them full sus palabras llenándolas of apertures and birds? de agujeros y pájaros?

I'll tell you all the news. Os voy a contar todo lo que me pasa. NARRATOR I lived in a suburb, Yo vivía en un barrio a suburb of Madrid, with bells, de Madrid, con campanas, and clocks, and trees. con relojes, con árboles.

VOICE 3 From there you could look out Desde allí se veía over Castille's dry face: el rostro seco de Castilla a leather ocean. como un océano de cuero. VOICE 4 My house was called Mi casa era llamada the house of flowers, because in every cranny la casa de las flores, porque por todas partes geraniums burst: it was estallaban geranios: era a good-looking house una bella casa with its dogs and children. con perros y chiquillos. NARRATOR Remember, Raul? Raúl, te acuerdas? Eh, Rafael? Te acuerdas, Rafael? Federico, do you remember Federico, te acuerdas from under the ground debajo de la tierra, my balconies on which te acuerdas de mi casa con balcones en dond the light of June drowned flowers in your mouth? la luz de junio ahogaba flores en tu boca? ALL Brother, my brother! Hermano, hermano! VOICE 5 Everything Todo loud with big voices, the salt of merchandises, eran grandes voces, sal de mercaderías, pile-ups of palpitating bread, aglomeraciones de pan palpitante, VIUCE 6 the stalls of my suburb of Arguelles with its mercados de mi barrio de Argüelles con su statue estatua VOICE 7 like a drained inkwell in a swirl of hake: como un tintero pálido entre las merluzas: oil flowed into spoons, el aceite llegaba a las cucharas, a deep baying un profundo latido VOICE 8 of feet and hands swelled in the streets, de pies y manos llenaba las calles, metres, litres, the sharp metros, litros, esencia measure of life, aguda de la vida, VOICE 9 stacked-up fish, pescados hacinados, the texture of roofs with a cold sun in which contextura de techos con sol frío en el cual the weather vane falters, la flecha se fatiga, VOICE 10 the fine, frenzied ivory of potatoes, delirante marfil fino de las patatas, wave on wave of tomatoes rolling down the sea. tomates repetidos hasta el mar.

VOICE 11 And one morning all that was burning, Y una mañana todo estaba ardiendo VOICE 12 one morning the bonfires y una mañana las hogueras leapt out of the earth salían de la tierra devouring human beings devorando seres, NARRATOR and from then on fire, y desde entonces fuego, VOICE 13 gunpowder from then on, pólvora desde entonces, 21 ALL and from then on blood. y desde entonces sangre.

ALL quietly Bandits with planes and Moors, -Bandidos con aviones y con moros, slightly louder bandits with finger-rings and duchesses, bandidos con sortijas y duquesas, LL even louder bandits with black friars spattering blessings bandidos con frailes negros bendiciendo ALL LOUD came through the sky to kill children venían por el cielo a matar niños, NARRATOR and the blood of children ran through the streets y por las calles la sangre de los niños without fuss, like children's blood. corría simplemente, como sangre de niños.

VOICE 14 Jackals that the jackals would despise, Chacales que el chacal rechazaría, VOICE 15 stones that the dry thistle would bite on and spit out, piedras que el cardo seco mordería escupiend VOICE 16 vipers that the vipers would abominate! víboras que las víboras odiaran!

NARRATOR Face to face with you I have seen the blood Frente a vosotros he visto la sangre of Spain tower like a tide de España levantarse to drown you in one wave para ahogaros en una sola ola of pride and knives! de orgullo y de cuchillos!

½ VOICES Treacherous Generales generals: traidores: ER ½ VOICES see my dead house, mirad mi casa muerta, ALL look at broken Spain: mirad España rota: ½ VOICES from every house burning metal flows pero de cada casa muerta sale metal ardiendo instead of flowers, en vez de flores, ER ½ VOICES from every socket of Spain pero de cada hueco de España Spain emerges sale España, VOICE 17 and from every dead child a rifle with eyes, pero de cada niño muerto sale un fusil con ojo VOICE 18 and from every crime bullets are born pero de cada crimen nacen balas VOICE 19 which will one day find que os hallarán un día el sitio the bull's eye of your hearts. del corazón.

NARRATOR And you'll ask: why doesn't his poetry Preguntaréis por qué su poesía speak of dreams and leaves no nos habla del sueño, de las hojas, and the great volcanoes of his native land? de los grandes volcanes de su país natal?

½ VOICES Come and see the blood in the streets, Venid a ver la sangre por las calles, LL (slower but come and see venid a ver powerful) the blood in the streets, la sangre por las calles, NARRATOR come and see the blood venid a ver la sangre in the streets! por las calles!

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“Education of the Chieftain” “Educación del Cacique” translated by Anthony Kerrigan

Lautaro* was a slender arrow. Lautaro era una flecha delgada. Supple and blue was our father. Elástico y azul fué nuestro padre. His first years were all silence. Fué su primera edad solo silencio. His adolescence authority. Su adolescenencia fué dominio. His youth an aimed wind. Su juventud fué un viento dirigido. He trained himself like a long lance. Se preparaó como una larga lanza. He habituated his feet in cascades. Acostumbró los pies en las cascadas. He schooled his head among thorns. Educó la cabeza en las espinas. He executed the essays of the guanaco. Ejecutó las pruebas del guanaco. He lived in the burrows of the snow. Vivió en las madrigueras de la nieve. He ambushed the prey of eagles. Acechó la comida de las águilas. He scratched the secrets from crags. Araño los secretos del peñasco. He allayed the petals of fire. Entretuvo los pétalos del fuego. He suckled cold springtime. Se amamantó de primavera fría. He burned in infernal gorges. Se quemó en las gargantas infernales. He was a hunter among cruel birds. Fué cazador entre las aves crueles. His mantle was stained with victories. Se tiñeron sus mantos de victories. He perused the night’s aggressions. Leyó las agresiones de la noche. He bore the sulphur landslides. Sostuvo los derunbes del azufre.

He made himself velocity, sudden light. Se hizo velocidad, luz repentina.

He took on the sluggishness of Autumn. Tomó las lentitudes del Otoño. He worked with the invisible haunts. Trabajó en las guaridas invisibles. He slept under the sheets of snowdrifts. Durmió en las sábanas del ventisquero. He equaled the conduct of arrows. Igualó la conducta de las flechas. He drank wild blood on the roads. Bebió la sangre agreste en los caminos. He wrested treasure from the waves. Arrebató el tesoro de las olas. He made himself menace, like a somber god. Se hizo amenaza como un dios sombrió. He ate from each fire of his people. Comió en cada cocina de su pueblo. He learned the alphabet of the lightning. Aprendió el alfabeto del relámpago. He scented the scattered ash. Olfateó las cenizas esparcidas. He wrapped his heart in black skins. Envolvió el corazón con pieles negras. He deciphered the spiral thread of smoke. Descifró el espiral hilo del humo. He made himself out of taciturn fibres. Se construyó de fibras taciturnas. He oiled himself like the soul of the olive. Se aceitó como el alma de la oliva. He became glass of transparent hardness. Se hizo crystal de transparencia dura. He studied to be a hurricane wind. Estudió para viento huracanado. He fought himself until his blood was extinguished. Se combatió hasta apagar la sangre.

Only then was he worthy of his people. Sólo entonces fué digno de su pueblo.

*an Auracanian (Mapuche) chieftain (translator’s note)

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“Education of the Chieftain” Paraphrase and Explication Activity Using Denotation and Connotation by Paula Menendez St. Mark’s School of Texas Dallas, TX

To the teacher: This poem can be part of an interdisciplinary unit including the history, art and culture of the Mapuche Indians of Chile, as well as more current events (1980 to the present) involving this group of people. You may want to have students read the section on Auracanians (commonly called the Mapuche) from Encyclopedia Britannica that is offered below. This poem could also accompany some of the Mapuche-inspired art projects for younger children offered elsewhere in the DFW International education packet. For the English teacher, however, “Education of the Chieftain” is rich with metaphor and imagery and can be the subject of a lively discussion among teenagers. Pablo Neruda makes some very strong statements about what it means to be a leader, as well as how the Mapuche chieftains and their people worked with nature to learn and grow. Each individual line depicts one facet of this relationship with nature, a theme found frequently in Neruda’s poems.

The worksheet activity below includes work with denotation, connotation, and paraphrase.

1. Divide students into pairs and assign each partnership several lines to paraphrase. 2. Provide plenty of dictionaries, both Spanish and English if appropriate for your students. 3. Each pair of students fully explicates their lines following the worksheet below. 4. After they have completed the worksheet for their lines, each pair should report back to the class. These reports may be just the right catalyst for a healthy discussion. If not, below are some questions for further discussion of this poem.

Discussion Questions:

1. How did paraphrasing the lines alter your perspective? 2. If this poem is about “education,” then who was Lautaro’s teacher? 3. Do you believe that Lautaro literally performed all of the deeds listed in this poem? 4. How did these deeds make him “worthy?” (either literally or figuratively) 5. What makes a leader worthy today, in your society? 6. This poem is part of Neruda’s larger work, Canto General, published in 1950. Could it be that Neruda was making any larger political statement about the leaders of his own time? Discuss. 7. What role(s) does nature play in this poem?

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Student Worksheet for Explication of lines from “Education of the Chieftain” by Paula Menendez

A quick read of “Education of the Chieftain” reveals that Pablo Neruda’s poem on Lautaro is clearly about leadership training, relationship with nature, the role of the leader among his people, and more. But upon closer inspection, students will find that each line contains one image that is packed with meaning, adding layer upon layer to the overarching themes that are at first apparent here. For instance, line 12 reads, “He scratched the secrets from crags.” Okay, picture this in your mind for a moment. A young man is standing next to a crag, scratching it? Listening to it tell secrets? But isn’t a crag some kind of cliff? Is he standing there, or crouching over the edge, or perhaps rapelling down the side? What symbolic meaning might each of these possibilities carry? And with what is he scratching? What sort of tool might he use? What secrets might a crag tell? What language would it speak, if any? How would Lautaro know how to listen? Often a line will open up more questions than it can answer, but in this process of questioning, we may find a nugget of truth or beauty that can enhance our understanding and appreciation of the rest of the poem.

1. In the space below, carefully copy the lines you have been assigned to explicate.

2. Fill in the table below with significant words from your lines.

a. Use a dictionary to be sure of the denotation (basic definition) of each significant word in these lines.

b. Now look carefully back at each of those significant words. What connotations (extra associations) do they carry for you and your partner? Discuss and write down all possible meanings that seem to fit into the context of this poem. Add an additional sheet if needed.

Significant word Denotation Connotations known by only a few people and rivate information; too hard to understand Example: secret intentionally withheld from general asily; knowledge that has been kept quiet; knowledge protecting someone from exposure

25

3. Next, paraphrase your lines below. In other words, write the meaning of the lines in your own words, not Neruda’s or the translator’s words. Use simple and direct language. (This will undoubtedly require some work, as you try to answer those questions that have come up while studying the lines. Keep in mind that it’s likely Neruda wanted his reader to think of all the possibilities and not be limited to only one correct answer. Still, try to find an interpretation that seems to fit the context of this poem.)

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Aracuanian (Mapuche) Indigenous peoples From Encyclopedia Britannica Online Edition 17 Feb. 2004 .

Araucanian: any member of a group of South American Indians that are now concentrated in the fertile valleys and basins of south-central Chile, from the Bío-Bío River in the north to the Toltén River in the south.

Although the pre-Columbian Araucanians did not themselves recognize political or cultural unity above the village level, the Spanish distinguished three Araucanian populations geographically: the Picunche living in the north between the Choapa and Bío- Bío rivers, the Mapuche inhabiting the middle valleys, and the Huilliche dwelling in the south between the Toltén River and Chiloé Island. The first Araucanians encountered by the Spanish (c. 1536) were the Picunche, who had lived under Inca cultural influence or political domination since the 15th century. The Picunche were accustomed to outside rule and put up very little resistance to the Spanish. By the end of the 17th century, the Picunche had been assimilated into Spanish society and had vanished into the peasant population. The southernmost people, the Huilliche, were too few and too scattered to resist the Spanish for long. They, like the Picunche, vanished into the rural population of Chile.

At the time of the Spanish arrival in Chile, most of central Chile was settled by scattered populations of Mapuche (q.v.) farmers who grew corn (maize), beans, squash, potatoes, and other vegetables. They hunted, fished, and kept guinea pigs for meat; llamas were both pack animals and sources of wool for weaving fine fabrics that were traded with the Inca to the north. They had established metalsmithing and pottery-making traditions.

The Mapuche were more numerous and less tolerant of foreign domination than the Picunche of the north. In the face of the Spanish threat, the Mapuche formed widespread alliances above the village level, adopted the strategic use of horses in battle, and, in a series of conflicts called the Araucanian wars, successfully resisted Spanish and Chilean control for 350 years.

When Pedro de Valdivia's expedition occupied central Chile and founded Santiago in 1541, it met with strong resistance from the Mapuche. In 1550 Valdivia pressed southward and founded Concepción at the mouth of the Bío-Bío River, but in 1553 he and his followers were defeated by the Mapuche under Lautaro, a chief who had spent about two years in Valdivia's service. After Valdivia's disaster the Mapuche nearly captured Santiago, but the death of Lautaro on the battlefield and a smallpox epidemic among the Indians saved the colony. Another chief, Caupolicán, continued the fight until his capture by treachery and subsequent execution by the Spaniards in 1558. Thereafter the Spaniards pushed the Mapuche into the forest region south of the Bío-Bío, which remained the boundary between the two peoples for three centuries. 27 After the Chileans had annexed slices of Peruvian and Bolivian territory in the War of the Pacific (1879–84), they subdued the remaining Mapuche in the south; the Mapuche had begun to raid German-speaking settlements there in the late 1840s and had thus prevented further expansion of the white man into the Araucanian homeland. After their defeat by the Chilean army, the Mapuche signed treaties with the Chilean government and were settled on reservations farther to the south. The Mapuche reservations were abolished in the 1980s, and the Mapuche now live in the hundreds of thousands on privately owned plots of former reservation land in Chile and in the towns and cities of Chile and Argentina. In contemporary usage, “Araucanian” is virtually synonymous with “Mapuche.”

Additional resources about the Mapuche: http://members.aol.com/mapulink2/english-2/main.html#main_table http://www.bariloche.com.ar/museo/MAPUING.HTM http://www.geocities.com/tourtoirac/index.html http://ancientmexico.com/chile/mapuches/mapuches.html

28 “Ocean” a small grammar lesson for a small poem by Paula Menendez, St. Mark’s School of Texas Dallas, TX

“Ocean” “Océano” translated by Alastair Reid

Body more immaculate than a wave, Cuerpo más puro que una ola, salt washing away its own line, sal que lava la línea, and the brilliant bird y el ave lúcida flying without ground roots. volando sin raíces.

1. Grammar: Examine the grammatical structure of this poem, and you will notice that although it appears to be a sentence, it is in fact a fragment, a mere collection of phrases strung together. By using the present participle form of the verbs “washing” and “flying,” Neruda renders this an incomplete thought.

2. Grammar: Identify and label the parts of speech and types of phrases that Neruda uses. (note: the original Spanish contains the same structure.)

3. Grammar: Reword the poem (as little as possible) to make it into a complete sentence.

4. Discussion: How does this change the meaning or maybe just the “feel” of the poem? Which version do you prefer? Why do you think Neruda chose this structure?

5. Writing: Now choose a topic and write an imitation of the poem, following the same grammatical structure.

6. More writing: Extend this activity by writing a series of small poems that fit together somehow and either form a larger picture of something (your family, a sports event, a scene from nature, description of your bedroom . . .) or tell a story of some kind.

7. Art/Drama: You may choose to illustrate your poem(s), or to read it/them dramatically to the class.

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“Poem 20” ”Poema 20” Translated by W.S. Merwin

Tonight I can write the saddest lines. Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.

Write, for example “The night is starry, Escribir, por ejemplo: «La noche está estrellada, and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.” y tiritan, azules, los astros, a lo lejos.»

The night wind revolves in the sky and sings. El viento de la noche gira en el cielo y canta.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines. Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche. I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too. Yo la quise, y a veces ella también me quiso.

Through nights like this I held her in my arms. En las noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos. I kissed her again and again under the endless sky. La besé tantas veces bajo el cielo infinito.

She loved me, and sometimes I loved her too. Ella me quiso, a veces yo también la quería. How could one not have loved her great still eyes. Cómo no haber amado sus grandes ojos fijos.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines. Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche. To think that I don’t have her. To feel that I have lost her. Pensar que no la tengo. Sentir que la he perdido.

To hear the immense night, still more immense without her. Oír la noche inmensa, más inmensa sin ella. And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture. Y el verso cae al alma como al pasto el rocío.

What does it matter that my love could not keep her. Qué importa que mi amor no pudiera guardarla. The night is starry and she is not with me. La noche está estrellada y ella no está conmigo.

That is all. In the distance, someone is singing. In the distance. Eso es todo. A lo lejos alguien canta. A lo lejos. My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her. Mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.

My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer. Como para acercarla mi mirada la busca. My heart looks for her, and she is not with me. Mi corazón la busca, y ella no está conmigo.

The same night whitening the same trees. La misma noche que hace blanquear los mismos We, of that time, are no longer the same. árboles. Nosotros, los de entonces, ya no somos los mismos. I no longer love her, that’s certain, but how I loved her. My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing. Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero cuánto la quise. Mi voz buscaba el viento para tocar su oído. Another’s. She will be another’s. As she was before my kisses. Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes. De otro. Será de otro. Como antes de mis besos. Su voz, su cuerpo claro. Sus ojos infinitos. I no longer love her, that’s certain, but maybe I love her. Love is so short, forgetting is so long. Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero tal vez la quiero. Es tan corto el amor, y es tan largo el olvido. Because through nights like this I held her in my arms, my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her. Porque en noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos, Mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido. Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer and these the last verses that I write for her. Aunque éste sea el último dolor que ella me causa, y éstos sean los últimos versos que yo le escribo.

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“Poema 20” Questions for Discussion by Paula Menendez St. Mark’s School of Texas Dallas, TX

1. Why does Neruda say that “tonight” he “can” write the saddest lines? Imagine what is happening tonight that makes these lines possible.

2. In your opinion, which lines of this poem are really the saddest? Explain your answer.

3. Notice the ways in which Neruda intertwines images of nature with his expressions of sorrow over his loss. What role(s) do various aspects of nature (stars, trees, the night) play in this poem? Are there comparisons being made, or is there something additional happening here?

4. Explain the apparent contradiction in the third-to-last couplet. Is it possible to love someone and to not love them at the same time? Defend your opinion either way.

5. Do you believe that the poet will be able to forget his lost love? Why or why not?

31 “If You Forget Me” “Si Tu Me Olvidas”

I want you to know Quiero que sepas one thing. una cosa.

You know how this is: Tú sabes cómo es esto: if I look si miro at the crystal moon, at the red branch la luna de cristal, la rama roja of the slow autumn at my window, del lento otoño en mi ventana, if I touch si toco near the fire junto al fuego the impalpable ash la impalpable ceniza or the wrinkled body of the log, o el arrugado cuerpo de la leña, everything carries me to you, todo me lleva a ti, as if everything that exists, como si todo lo que existe: aromas, light, metals, aromas, luz, metales, were little boats fueran pequeños barcos that sail que navegan toward those isles of yours that wait for me. hacia las islas tuyas que me aguardan.

Well, now, Ahora bien, if little by little you stop loving me si poco a poco dejas de quererme I shall stop loving you little by little. dejaré de quererte poco a poco.

If suddenly Si de pronto you forget me me olvidas do not look for me, no me busques, for I shall already have forgotten you. que ya te habré olvidado.

If you think it long and mad, Si consideras largo y loco the wind of banners el viento de banderas that passes through my life, que pasa por mi vida and you decide y te decides to leave me at the shore a dejarme a la orilla of the heart where I have roots, del corazón en que tengo raíces, remember piensa that on that day, que en esa día, at that hour, a esa hora I shall lift my arms levantaré los brazos and my roots will set off y saldrán mis raíces to seek another land. a buscar otra tierra.

But Pero if each day, si cada día, each hour, cada hora, you feel that you are destined for me sientes que a mí estás destinada with implacable sweetness, con dulzura implacable, if each day a flower si cada día sube climbs up to your lips to seek me, una flor a tus labios a buscarme, ah my love, ah my own, ay amor mío, ay mía, in me all that fire is repeated, en mí todo ese fuego se repite, in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten, en mí nada se apaga ni se olvida, my love feeds on your love, beloved, mi amor se nutre de tu amor, amada, and as long as you live it will be in your arms y mientras vivas estará en tus brazos without leaving mine. sin salir de los míos.

32

“Ode to Clothes” “Oda al traje”

Every morning you wait, Cada mañana esperas, clothes, over a chair, traje, sobre una silla to fill yourself with que te llene my vanity, my love, mi vanidad, mi amor, my hope, my body. mi esperanza, mi cuerpo. Barely Apenas risen from sleep, salgo del sueño, I relinquish the water, me despido del agua, enter your sleeves, entro en tus mangas, my legs look for mis piernas buscan the hollows of your legs, el hueco de tus piernas and so embraced y así abrazado by your indefatigable faithfulness por tu fidelidad infatigable I rise, to tread the grass, salgo a pisar el pasto, enter poetry, entro en la poesía, consider through the windows, miro por las ventanas, las cosas, the things, los hombres, las mujeres, the men, the women, los hechos y las luchas the deeds and the fights me van formando go on forming me, me van haciendo frente go on making me face things labrándome las manos, working my hands, abriéndome los ojos, opening my eyes, gastándome la boca, using my mouth, y así, and so, traje, clothes, yo también voy formándote, I too go forming you, sacándote los codos, extending your elbows, rompiéndote los hilos, snapping your threads, y así tu vida crece and so your life expands a imagen de mi vida. in the image of my life. Al viento In the wind ondulas y resuenas you billow and snap como si fueras mi alma, as if you were my soul, en los malos minutos at bad times te adhieres you cling a mis huesos to my bones, vacío, por la noche vacant, for the night, la oscuridad, el sueño darkness, sleep pueblan con sus fantasmas populate with their phantoms tus alas y las mías. your wings and mine. Yo pregunto I wonder si un día if one day una bala a bullet del enemigo from the enemy te dejará una mancha de mi sangre will leave you stained with my blood y entonces and then te morirás conmigo you will die with me o talvez or one day no sea todo not quite tan dramático so dramatic sino simple, but simple, y te irás enfermando, you will fall ill, traje, conmigo, clothes, with me, envejeciendo grow old 33 with me, conmigo, with my body con mi cuerpo and joined y juntos we will enter entraremos the earth. a la tierra. Because of this Por eso each day cada día I greet you te saludo with reverence and then con reverencia y luego you embrace me and I forget you, me abrazas y te olvido, because we are one porque uno solo somos and we will go on y seguiremos siendo facing the wind, in the night, frente al viento, en la noche, the streets or the fight, las calles o la lucha a single body, un solo cuerpo one day, one day, some day, still. talvez, talvez, alguna vez inmóvil.

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“Ode to the Seagull” (fragment) “Oda a la Gaviota” (excerpto) trans. by Stephen Mitchell A la gaviota To the seagull sobre above los pinares the pinewoods de la costa, of the coast, en el viento on the wind la sílaba the silibant silbante de mi oda. syllable of my ode. Navega, Sail along barca lúcida, in my verse, bandera de dos alas, shining boat, en mi verso, banner with two wings, cuerpo de plata, body of silver, sube lift up tu insignia atravesada your emblem across en la camisa the shirt del firmamento frío, of the cold firmament, oh voladora, O sky-sailer, suave smooth sereneata del vuelo, serenade of flight, flecha de nieve, nave arrow of snow, calm tranquila en la tormenta transparente ship in the transparent storm, elevas tu equilibrio you raise your equilibrium mientras while el ronco viento barre the hoarse wind sweeps las praderas del cielo. the meadows of the sky. Después del largo viaje, After your long journey, tú, magnolia emplumada, feathered magnolia, triángulo sostenido triangle that the air por el aire en la altura, holds up into the heights, con lentitud regresas slowly you come back a tu forma to your form cerrando closing tu plateada vestidura, your silver garment, ovalando tu nítido tesoro, ovaling your brilliant treasure, volviendo a ser become once again botón blanco del vuelo, a white bud of flight, germen round Redondo, seed, huevo de la hermosura………. egg of beauty……..

35 Instructions for a Pablo Neruda Poetry Writing Workshop for ages 10-16 by David Coogan Assistant Professor of English Lewis Department of Humanities, Armour College Illinois Institute of Technology Neruda’s primary poetic form was the ode-- a song of praise. But Neruda did not praise elite things but common things. Neruda worked hard to make objects that people could pick up easily in their hands. He worked concretely, at the level of the metaphor, to raise the status of humble objects to an exalted, spiritual level. He did this not to remove them from our everyday lives or to make still-lifes out of them, but to elevate our everyday lives and endow them meaning. Neruda praised things by using metaphor. He also liked to personify objects or address them directly or tell little narratives about them. But through metaphor, he makes his most compelling humanist arguments linking the self with the earth and with culture and the cosmos. Hence in this assignment, I’d like you write an ode, paying special attention to your use of metaphors. The following instructions may help you get started. But feel free to try your own approach: whatever gets you going.

1. Choose an object (food, clothes, animals, furniture, tools, etc.)

2. Or choose an activity (walking, running, drinking, studying, talking).

3. Describe X. What are the physical qualities, the attributes, the important parts? How does X look,

feel, sound, taste, smell?

4. What normal functions do you associate with X?

5. What experiences have you had with X?

6. What could X be like?

7. Can we understand X like Y?

8. If X has no sound, what sound would you imagine it to have? If X has no smell, what would you

imagine it to smell like? Etc.

9. What do we gain from speculating about X in terms of Y?

36 Instructions for a Pablo Neruda Poetry Writing Workshop for ages 15- college by David Coogan Assistant Professor of English Lewis Department of Humanities, Armour College Illinois Institute of Technology

Neruda welcomes us into a dialogue with the world. There is no division between what is common and what is rare; what is human and what is animal; what is sacred and what is profane. He unifies it all with metaphors that put human beings at the center. For example, in Ode to the Seagull, Neruda says to the seagull, “lift up / your emblem across / the shirt / of the cold firmament” Let’s go through this metaphor to see how it works.

Separating and defining the elements Okay, we know that an emblem is an object that functions like a symbol. (For example, the three arrows shaped in a triangle is the emblem for recycling) Next comes the shirt. We all know what a shirt is. And last comes the firmament--a fancy word for sky: the expanse of the heavens.

How do we normally experience/understand the elements? Normally, we see emblems in society, not in nature. And we see shirts on other people. We wear shirts to protect our body from the elements and to hide it from other people. And we don’t see firmaments. We see the sky.

Putting it all together To say that the bird is an emblem is to say that the bird is functioning as a symbol. By placing this symbol in the firmament, Neruda endows it with cosmic or heavenly significance. This, of course, fits the purpose of the odes—to praise common things. But the seagull is not the only thing getting praised. Neruda places this symbol of heavenly wisdom on the “shirt of the cold firmament.” By choosing to endow the heavens with this human quality (wearing a shirt), he seems to be saying that the heavens are really here on earth: the mysteries of life are human mysteries that can be analyzed from a human point of view, in this case, a person watching a bird. Ultimately, what the person observes out there is not an abstract God but humanity: the bird’s movements through the sky are analogous to our own movements through life. We wear the shirt with the bird-emblem on it. And underneath the shirt is our own body—not the “the heavens.”

Another example Ode to Bird Watching makes the humanist case plain. It is a “sacred conversation” that we are listening for in the bird chirps—a “luminous grace.” Later on, however, he imagines these chirps as bragging, or as a discourse on scientific matters. So, while the birds are speaking in a “heavenly whisper” they are also speaking like everyday people (braggarts, scientists, and so on).

See if you can tap into the logic of Neruda’s metaphors. Begin by separating the elements and defining them. Then ask yourself how one NORMALLY experiences or understands each thing. End by putting the metaphor back together, with an eye toward explaining the unity of self, environment, culture, and cosmos.

1. Choose an object (food, clothes, animals, furniture, tools, etc.) 2. Or choose an activity (walking, running, drinking, studying, talking). 3. Describe X. What are the physical qualities, the attributes, the important parts? How does X look, feel, sound, taste, smell? 4. What normal functions do you associate with X? 5. What experiences have you had with X? 6. What could X be like? 7. Can we understand X like Y? 8. If X has no sound, what sound would you imagine it to have? If X has no smell, what would you imagine it to smell like? Etc. 9. What do we gain from speculating about X in terms of Y?

37 NERUDA, the Voice of the People Poetry for Social Justice by David Coogan Assistant Professor of English Lewis Department of Humanities, Armour College Illinois Institute of Technology

Pablo Neruda is often described as a poet of the people. And it’s easy to see why. Neruda’s work as a statesman in the communist party of Chile, during the middle part of the 20th century, made him a political representative of the people. And this political work (especially campaigning) put him in contact with all kinds of hard working men and women. It also challenged him to link his art with the reality of these peoples’ lives. According to Neruda’s memoir, this political-poetic awakening came about when the young, country boy from the southern part of Chile (Temuco) went north, to the city of Santiago, to become a student and a writer.

“We students supported the rights of the people and were beaten up by the police in the streets of Santiago. Thousands of jobless nitrate and copper workers flocked to the capital. The demonstrations and the subsequent repression left a tragic stain on the life of the country. From that time on, with interruptions now and then, politics became part of my poetry and my life. In my poems I could not shut the door to the street, just as I could not shut the door to love, life, joy, or sadness in my young poet’s heart.” (Memoirs, 53).

The door remained open his entire life. When he went to Spain to fulfill his duties as the Chilean consulate, he met the Spanish poet, Garica Lorca. Their literary exchange and camraderie was solidified when both became involved in the Spanish civil war, fighting alongside other Spanish loyalists against the Fascists. Then, one night, Lorca was assassinated. Neruda returned to Chile, devastated.

At this point in his political career, he had not yet joined the communist party. So, “because I had taken part in the defense of the Spanish Republic,” he explains, “the Chilean government decided to remove me from my post” (126).

The punishment only strengthened his resolve. What his government could not remove was the conviction that “Poetry is an act of peace. Peace goes into the making of a poet as flour goes into the making of bread” (137). Lorca had been assassinated because he was fighting for peace. Neruda made it his ambition to use the art of poetry to bring about peace and love. “I believe I was born not to pass judgment but to love” (Memoirs, 46). Or again: “I go on believing in the possibility of love. I am convinced that there will be mutual understanding among human beings, achieved in spite of all the suffering, the blood, the broken glass” (Memoirs, 274).

The essential message of love is not limited to sex. For while Neruda certainly values the erotic qualities of love and celebrates them, he also relies upon the Christ-like love of forgiveness, mercy, humility, and strength. He felt people would respond to a poetry as simple as love, as pure as human desire. And he was right. “I have gone through a difficult apprenticeship and a long search,” he explains in his Memoirs, “and also through the labyrinths of the written word, to become the poet of my people. That is my reward, not the books and the poems that have been translated, or the books written to explicate or to dissect my words. My rewards is the momentous occasion when, from the depths of the Lota coal mine, a man came up out of the tunnel into the full sunlight on the firey nitrate field, as if rising out of hell, his face disfigured by his terrible work, his eyes inflamed by the dust, and stretching his rough hand out to me, a hand whose calluses and 38 lines trace the map of the pampas, he said to me, his eyes shining: ‘I have known you for a long time, my brother.’ That is the laurel crown for my poetry, that opening in the bleak pampa from which a worker emerges who has been told often by the wind and the night and the stars of Chile: ‘You’re not alone; there’s a poet whose thoughts are with you in your suffering.’” (171)

And again: “Poetry . . . has to walk in the darkness and encounter the heart of man, the eyes of woman, the strangers in the streets, those who at twilight or in the middle of the starry night feel the need for at least one line of poetry . . . This visit to the unexpected is worth all the distance covered, everything read, everything learned . . . We have to disappear into the midst of those we don’t know, so they will suddenly pick up something of ours from the street, from the sand, from the leaves that have fallen a thousand years in the same forest . . . and will take up gently the object we made . . . Only then will we truly be poets . . . In that object we will live . . .” (260)

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“The Enemy” “El enemigo” Translated by Diana Guillermo

An enemy visited me today. Hoy vino a verme un enemigo. He is a man imprisoned Se trata de un hombre encerrado in his truth, in his castle, en su verdad, en su castillo, as if in an iron strong-box, como en una caja de hierro, with his own style of breathing con su propia respiración and singular swords y las espadas singulares that suckled punishment. que amamantó para el castigo.

I saw the years in his face, Miré los años en su rostro, in his eyes of tired water, en sus ojos de agua cansada, in the lines of loneliness en las líneas de soledad that had risen to his eyebrows que le subieron a las sienes slowly, from pride. lentaments, desde le orgullo.

We spoke in the clarity Hablamos en la claridad of busy mid-day, de un medio día pululante, with the wind scattering the sun con viento que esparcía sol and the sun fighting in the sky. y sol combatiendo en el cielo. But the man showed me only Pero el hombre sólo mostró his new keys, his path las nuevas llaves, el camino to all doors. I think de todas las puertas. Yo creo inside, he was full of silence que adentro de él iba el silencio that he could not share. que no podía compartirse. He had a stone in his soul: tenía una piedra en el alma: it was he who preserved its hardness. Él preservaba la dureza.

I thought about his stingy truth Pensé en su mequina verdad buried without hope enterrada sin esperanza and hurting only him de herir a nadie sino a él and I saw my poor truth y miré mi pobre verdad inside me, abused. maltratada adentro de mí.

There we were, each Allí estabamos cada uno with his own convictions sharpened con su certidumbre afilada and hardened by time y endurecida por el tiempo like two blind men, each one como dos ciegos que defienden defending his own darkness. cada uno su oscuridad. .

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“The United Fruit Company” “La United Fruit Company” translated by John Mitchell

When the trumpet sounded Cuando sonó la trompeta, estuvo everything was prepared on earth, todo preparado en la tierra, and Jehovah gave the world y Jehova repartió el mundo to Coca-Cola Inc., Anaconda, a Coca-Cola Inc., Anaconda, Ford Motors, and other corporations. Ford Motors, y otras entidades: The United Fruit Company la Compañía Frutera Inc. reserved for itself the most juicy se reservó lo más jugoso, piece, the central coast of my world, la costa central de mi tierra, the delicate waist of America. la dulce cintura de América.

It rebaptized these countries Bautizó de nuevo sus tierras Banana Republics, como "Repúblicas Bananas," and over the sleeping dead, y sobre los muertos dormidos, over the unquiet heroes sobre los héroes inquietos who won greatness, que conquistaron la grandeza, liberty, and banners, la libertad y las banderas, it established an opera buffa: estableció la ópera bufa: it abolished free will, enajenó los albedríos gave out imperial crowns, regaló coronas de César, encouraged envy, attracted desenvainó la envidia, atrajo the dictatorship of flies: la dictadora de las moscas, Trujillo flies, Tachos flies moscas Trujillos, moscas Tachos, Carias flies, Martinez flies, moscas Carías, moscas Martínez, Ubico flies, flies sticky with moscas Ubico, moscas húmedas submissive blood and marmalade, de sangre humilde y mermelada, drunken flies that buzz over moscas borrachas que zumban the tombs of the people, sobre las tumbas populares, circus flies, wise flies moscas de circo, sabias moscas expert at tyranny. entendidas en tiranía.

With the bloodthirsty flies Entre las moscas sanguinarias came the Fruit Company, la Frutera desembarca, amassed coffee and fruit arrasando el café y las frutas, in ships which put to sea like en sus barcos que deslizaron overloaded trays with the treasures como bandejas el tesoro from our sunken lands. de nuestras tierras sumergidas.

Meanwhile the Indians fall Mientras tanto, por los abismos into the sugared depths azucarados de los puertos, of the harbors caían indios sepultados and are buried in the en el vapor de la mañana: morning mists; un cuerpo rueda, una cosa a corpse rolls, a thing without sin nombre, un número caído, name, a discarded number, un racimo de fruta muerta a bunch of rotten fruit. derramada en el pudridero.

The United Fruit Company, a U.S. concern, is notorious for having economically colonized Central America in particular, using the support of the U.S. politically--and, on occasion, militarily--to ensure its taking of large profits in the region. Dissent within the U.S. against the U.S. government-United Fruit Company collaboration reached its peak in the second decade of the 20th century. (Source: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/united-fruit.html

Also see: http://www.mayaparadise.com/ufc1e.htm http://www.lossless-audio.com/usa/index8.php (Guatemalan section) http://www.geocities.com/~virtualtruth/chiquita.htm

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An Analysis of 'La United Fruit Company' de Pablo Neruda by Jason Hawkins

“La United Fruit Company” by Pablo Neruda, laments the exploitation of the Latin American countries by North American companies. Neruda begins the poem with a biblical tone, lending the poem an epic or mythical feeling.

This religious language, juxtaposed against the names of icons of consumerism like Coca Cola, Ford Motors and The United Fruit Company reveals a sarcastic disdain towards the arrogance of the North. At the same time, Neruda weaves in the quasi-religious language of Democracy employed by the companies in popular culture to cover up their immoral behavior. The exploited Latin American countries are ‘baptized’ in the propaganda of the North as ‘Banana Republics’, a euphemistic phrase, derogatory in the sense that it belittles the idea of democracy in Latin America as limited and primitive, almost cute, and conveys the not so subtle message that by selling off their natural resources, the ‘Banana Republics’ could be elevated from their primitive conditions towards a more modernized and democratic level of existence.

Neruda uses the image and language of fruit as an extended metaphor for the Latin American countries, using adjectives like ‘juicy’ and ‘sweet’. By describing the coastline of his country as the hips of a woman, Neruda likens the plundering of Latin America to the act of rape. For Neruda, the Latin American countries are like a fresh, virginal fruit, consumed by the north then carelessly cast aside to rot.

By invoking the memory of dead ancestors, over whose graves the North American companies erect their operations, Neruda both comments on the irreverent attitude of the northern companies towards the cultures and histories of the exploited lands, but also points to the history of imperial conquest that has manifested Latin American history from the time of the great indigenous empires like the Incas and Mayas, to the conquistadors of Spain.

The cavalier attitudes of companies like the United Fruit Company and Coca Cola are only the most recent iterations of the pattern of conquest and domination that has plagued Latin America since its earliest history:

Here, the biblical reference to the ‘crowns of Cesar’ (translated in the English version as ‘imperial crowns’) represents the United States. The ‘comic opera’ refers to the puppet governments set up by the CIA in Latin America to safeguard the interests of North American companies at the expense of the Latin American people. Neruda describes the orgy of blood and greed that ensued, portraying the bloody Latin American dictatorships supported by the United States as carnivorous flies, parasites that live off the suffering, rotting fruit of Latin America.

The repetition of the word ‘mosca’ (fly), combined with the alliteration of ‘zumban’ (buzzing noise of an insect) and ‘tumbas’ (tombs) creates a musical tone that amplifies the extended metaphor of Latin America as a fruit being consumed by parasites. Now, however, the fruit is rotting and putrid.

Toward the end of his poem, Neruda’s sarcasm changes to lamentation as we witness the pillage of his country:

The ripe, juicy. virginal fruit we saw at the beginning of the poem has turned into a ‘bunch of rotten fruit’ cast aside to the waste pile. The Latin American people have been used and discarded mechanically in the same manner as expendable produce, their dead bodies buried in obscurity or dumped into the water. 42

Neruda’s poem, “La United Fruit Company” is a protest, not just against the greed and corruption of North American companies in Latin America, but also against the consumeristic propaganda used by companies like the United Fruit Company and Coca-Cola in the United States to portray their activities in the South as benign.

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Un Análisis de 'La United Fruit Company' de Pablo Neruda por Jason Hawkins

Parte de la crónica poética titulada Canto General, "La United Fruit Company" de Pablo Neruda lamenta la explotación de los países latinoamericanos por las compañías norteamericanas. Neruda comienza el poema con un tono bíblico que presta al poema un sentimiento de una fábula o una epopeya.

El lenguaje religioso yuxtapuesto contra las muletillas de consumismo estadounidense como 'Coca Cola' y 'Ford Motors' revela, con mucho sarcasmo, el desdén que tiene el escritor hacia la actitud orgullosa de los norteamericanos. Además, este estilo religioso hace referencia al lenguaje cuasi- religioso de la Democracia y la cultura popular del norte usado por las compañías del norte para enmascarar sus acciones.

Usando la sinestesia para describir las tierras latinoamericanas, Neruda emplea los adjetivos 'jugoso' y 'dulce' para crear una imagen de su tierra como una fruta rica y virginal. La metonimia de 'la dulce cintura de América' que refiere a Centroamérica produce una imagen de la cintura de una mujer. Entonces, más tarde en el poema, cuando los países son invadidos de una manera glotona y destructiva por los norteamericanos, el efecto es más triste y personal, como la violación de una chica o el robo de una objeta preciosa.

La profanación de las tierras sagradas de su gente representa aún otra repetición del ciclo de conquista y reconquista en Latinoamérica. Está sobre las tumbas de conquistadores anteriores que las compañías levantan sus operaciones. Aquí, César representa el gobierno y la gente de los Estados Unidos- otra referencia bíblica y una referencia al obvio imperialismo de los norteamericanos. La 'ópera bufa' se refiere a los gobiernos títeres organizados por la CIA en colaboración con las compañías, en países como Guatemala. Neruda continua, describiendo los efectos del imperialismo como una orgía de sangre y codicia que reveló las peores calidades de varios dictadores, ellos mismos latinoamericanos.

Horripilante, sino casi cómico, la repetición de la palabra 'mosca' crea el efecto de un ritmo musical, casi como un canto religioso, que orquestra y enumera los insectos enjambrando, ayudando pintar una cuadra satírica de 'moscas borrachas que zumban/ sobre las tumbas populares,/ moscas de circo...'. La elección de usar la mosca para representar los dictadores continua la metáfora de su tierra como una fruta, sino ahora la fruta está pudriendo y atrayendo los insectos.

Neruda termina el poema con una imagen de fruta, pero es diferente que al inicio del poema. Esta imagen no es de una fruta jugosa sino "un racimo de fruta muerta,/ derramada en el pudridero", marcando la pérdida de las tierras. Marca también el desarrollo completo de su analogía de fruta y, además, el ciclo completo de conquista y reconquista en América Latina- 'un cuerpo rueda'.

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“We Are Many” “Muchos Somos”

Of the many men whom I am, whom we are, De tantos hombres que soy, que somos, I cannot settle on a single one. no puedo encontrar a ninguno: They are lost to me under the cover of clothing, se me pierden bajo la ropa, they have departed for another city. se fueron a otra ciudad.

When everything seems to be set Cuando todo está preparado to show me off as a man of intelligence, para mostrarme inteligente the fool I keep concealed on my person el tonto que llevo escondido takes over my talk and occupies my mouth. se toma la palabra en mi boca.

On other occasions, I am dozing in the midst Otras veces me duermo en medio of people of some distinction, de la sociedad distinguida and when I summon my courageous self, y cuando busco en mí al valiente, a coward completely unknown to me un cobarde que no conozco swaddles my poor skeleton corre a tomar con mi esqueleto in a thousand tiny reservations. mil deliciosas precauciones.

When a stately home bursts into flames, Cuando arde una casa estimada instead of the fireman I summon, en vez del bombero que llamo an arsonist bursts on the scene, se precipita el incendiario and he is I. There is nothing I can do. y ése soy yo. No tengo arreglo. What must I do to distinguish myself? Qué debo hacer para escogerme? How can I put myself together? Cómo puedo rehabilitarme?

All the books I read Todos los libros que leo lionize dazzling hero figures, celebran héroes refulgentes brimming with self-assurance. siempre seguros de sí mismos: I die with envy of them; me muero de envidia por ellos, and, in films where bullets fly on the wind, en los filmes de vientos y balas I am left in envy of the cowboys, me quedo envidiando al jinete, left admiring even the horses. me quedo admirando al caballo.

But when I call upon my dashing being, Pero cuando pido al intrépido out comes the same old lazy self, me sale el viejo perezoso, and so I never know just who I am, y así yo no sé quién soy, nor how many I am, nor who we will be being. no sé cuántos soy o seremos. I would like to be able to touch a bell Me gustaría tocar un timbre and call up my real self, the truly me, y sacar el mí verdadero because if I really need my proper self, porque si yo me necesito I must not allow myself to disappear. no debo desaparecerme.

While I am writing, I am far away; Mientras escribo estoy ausente and when I come back, I have already left. y cuando vuelvo ya he partido: I should like to see if the same thing happens voy a ver si a las otras gentes to other people as it does to me, les pasa lo que a mí me pasa, to see if as many people are as I am, si son tantos como soy yo, and if they seem the same way to themselves. si se parecen a sí mismos When this problem has been thoroughly explored, y cuando lo haya averiguado I am going to school myself so well in things voy a aprender tan bien las cosas that, when I try to explain my problems, que para explicar mis problemas I shall speak, not of self, but of geography. les hablaré de geografía.

45 “When?” “Cuando de Chile”

Oh, Chile, long petal Oh Chile, largo pétalo of sea and wine and snow, de mar y vino y nieve, oh when ay cuándo oh when and when ay cuándo y cuándo oh when ay cuándo will I be home again? me encontraré contigo, The sash of your enrollarás tu cinta black-white foam will encircle my waist de espuma blanca y negra en mi cintura, and my poetry desencadenaré mi poesía will flood your land. sobre tu territorio.

My people, truly, in the springtime Pueblo mío, verdad que en primavera does my name echo in your ears, suena mi nombre en tus oídos do you recognize y tú me reconoces in me a river como si fuera un río flowing past your door? que pasa por tu puerta?

I am a river. If you strain Soy un río. Si escuchas to hear beneath the mines pausadamente bajo los salares of Antofagasta, to de Antofagasta, o bien the south of Osorno al sur, de Osorno or the cordillera in the Melipilla, o hacia la cordillera, en Melipilla, in Temuco, in a night o en Temuco, en la noche of dewy stars and rustling laurel, de astros mojados y laurel sonoro, if you place your ear to the ground pones sobre la tierra tus oídos, you will hear me flowing escucharás que corro submerged and singing. sumergido, cantando. October, oh springtime, Octubre, oh primavera, let me be again among my people! devuélveme a mi pueblo.

Oh patria, patria, Ay Patria, Patria, oh native land, when ay Patria, cuándo and when and when, ay cuándo y cuándo when cuándo will I be home again? me encontraré contigo?

When, oh native land, new-clad, Ay cuándo when, oh springtime, encontraré tu primavera dura, oh when and when y entre todos tus hijos will I waken in your arms, andaré por tus campos y tus calles sea-sprayed and wet with dew? con mis zapatos viejos.

When, oh native land, will I go Ay cuándo, Patria, en las elecciones from door to door during the elections iré de casa en casa recogiendo collecting the fearful liberty la libertad temerosa so that it may shout in the middle of the street. para que grite en medio de la calle.

When, oh native land, Ay cuándo, Patria, will you marry me te casarás conmigo with your seagreen eyes and your dress of snow con ojos verdemar y vestido de nieve and we will have millions of new children y tendremos millones de hijos nuevos that will return the land to the poor. que entregarán la tierra a los hambrientos.

Ay, my native land, without rags, Ay Patria, sin harapos, ay, my springtime, ay primavera mía, 46 when? y cuándo ay, when and when ay cuándo y cuándo will I awaken in your arms despertaré en tus brazos soaked with sea and dew? empapado de mar y de rocío.

Ay, when I stand close to you, Ay cuando yo esté cerca I will take you by the waist, de ti, te tomaré de la cintura, and no one will harm you, nadie podrá tocarte, I will defend you, yo podré defenderte singing, cantando, when cuando I walk with you, when vaya contigo, cuando you walk with me, when vayas conmigo, cuándo ay, when. ay cuándo.

47 Poetry for use with African American students

We have been very surprised to find that in Dallas, Pablo Neruda’s name and vision are much more familiar to African American literary circles than they are within mainstream literary groups, while Latino immigrants frequently know his love postry, and university professors of Latino studies educators have little knowledge of his work or impact.

The following lines, we have found, may be of special interest to African American students.

* Where the blacks are beaten, I cannot be dead. When my brothers are thrown in jail, I will be with them.

* Where one man has no voice, my voice.

* The people, united, can never be defeated!

* There is no such thing as solitary hope or lone struggle.

* I can accept no other road for a writer in our vast and harsh landscape if we want the darkness to flower, if we are to hope that millions who still have not learned to read us or even to read, who still cannot write or write to us, will live in a climate of dignity without which it is impossible to be a whole man.

* Negros del continente, al Nuevo Mundo habeis dado la sal que le faltaba: sin negros no respiran los tambores y sin negros no suenan las guitarras".

* Blacks of the continent, to the New World you have given the salt it lacked: without blacks the drums do not breathe and without blacks the guitars do not sing.

* Only with fiery patience will we conquer the splendid city that will shed light, justice, and dignity on all men. Thus, poetry shall not have sung in vain.

* I don’t want to shake the hand soaked in our blood. I ask for punishment. I don’t want the ambassadors to live in their tranquil houses. I want to see the indicted and tried in this plaza, right here. I want punishment.

* It is the voices of the people who bestow on me the strength and innocence that must animate all poetry. It is through them that I touch its nobility, its surface of leather, of green leaves, of joy. It is they, the people’s poets, who show me the light.

* We believe in peace, and we will knock at every door to achieve its sovereignty. We thirst for peace among men as pilgrims thirst for water to sustain their strength along the way.

* I do not want my country divided. We can all fit in this land of mine.

* I understood that my human mission was none other than to add my talents to the swelling force of unified peoples, to join them in blood and spirit, with passion and hope, because only from that swelling torrent can be born the progress necessary for writers and for peoples.

48 Poems for Use in Primary School

“To a foot from its child” (excerpt) “Al pie desde su niño” translated by Alastair Reid

The child’s foot is not yet aware it’s a foot, El pie del niño aún no sabe que es pie, and would like to be a butterfly or an apple. y quiere ser mariposa o manzana.

But in time, stones and bits of glass, Pero luego los vidrios y las piedras, streets, ladders, las calles, las escaleras, and the paths in the rough earth y los caminos de la tierra dura go on teaching the foot that it cannot fly. van enseñando al pie que no puede volar, Then, the child’s foot is defeated, que no puede ser fruto redondo en una rama. falls El pie del niño entonces in the battle, fue derrotado, cayó is a prisoner en la batalla, condemned to live in a shoe. fue prisionero, condenado a vivir en un zapato. Bit by bit, in that dark, it gorws to know the world. Poco a poco sin luz fue conociendo el mundo a su manera. These soft nails of quartz, bunched together, Aquellas suaves uñas grow hard and change themselves de cuarzo, de racimo, into opaque substance, hard as horn, se endurecieron, se mudaron and the tiny, petaled toes of the child en opaca substancia, en cuerno duro, grow bunched and out of trim, y los pequeños pétalos del niño take on the form of eyeless reptiles se aplastaron, se desequilibraron, with triangular heads, like worms. tomaron formas de reptil sin ojos, cabezas triangulares de gusano. This blind thing walks without respite, never stopping for hour after hour, Pero este ciego anduvo the one foot, the other. sin tregua, sin parar Through fields, mines, hora tras hora, backwards, el pie y el otro pie, forward, por los campos, las minas, it walks, it grows calloused. los almacenes y los ministerios, atrás, . afuera, adentro, adelante.

“Here” “Aquí”

I came here to count the bells Me vine aquí a contar las campanas that live in the sea, que viven en el mar, that ring in the sea, que suenan en el mar, inside the sea. dentro del mar.

That is why I live here. Por eso vivo aquí.

49 “I don’t want my country to be divided’ “Yo no quiero la Patria dividida”

I don’t want my country divided Yo no quiero la Patria dividida nor bleeding from seven knife wounds. ni por siete cuchillos desangrada, I want the light to be hoisted quiero la luz de Chile enarbolada over new homes. sobre la nueva casa construida, We all can fit in this land of mine. cabemos todos en la tierra mia.

And those that don’t feel that they fit here y que los que se creen prisioneros can just take their songs and go far away: se vayan lejos con su melodia. the rich ones always acted differently from us, Siempre los ricos fueron extranjeros so let them go live with their relatives in Miami. que se vayan a Miami con sus tias,

I don’t want my country divided. Yo no quiero la Patria dividida Let them take their songs and go far away. se vayan lejos con su melodia.

I don’t want my country divided. Yo no quiero la Patria dividida. There is enough space here for all of us. There is enough space here for all of us. And I will remain to sing with the workers yo me quedo a cantar con los obreros songs of our history and our land. en esta nueva historia y geografia.

Sad Song to Bore Everyone Triste canción para aburrir a cualquiera translated by Ilan Stavans Toda la noche me pasé la vida I wasted my life all night sacando cuentas, doing some counting pero no de vacas, not cows, pero no de libras, not pesos, pero no de francos, not francs, not dollars, pero no de dólares, no, nothing like that. no, nada de eso.

I wasted my life all night Toda la vida me pasé la noche doing some counting, sacando cuentas, not cars, pero no de coches, not cats, pero no de gatos, not loves, pero no de amores, no. no.

Bestiary Bestiario translated by Elsa Neuberger Si yo pudiera hablar con pájaros, If I could speak with birds, con ostras y con lagartijas, with oysters and with little lizards, con los zorros de Selva Oscura, with the foxes of the Dark Forest, con los ejemplares pingüinos, with the exemplary penguins; si me entendieran las ovejas, if the sheep, the fluffy and lazy dogs, los lánguidos perros lanudos, and the horses that pull carts could understand los caballos de carretela, me, si discutiera con los gatos, if I could discuss things with cats, si me escucharan las gallinas! if hens would listen to me! En este mundo que corre y calla In this world which runs and is silent, quiero mós comunicaciones, I want more communications, otros lenguajes, otros signos, other languages, other signs, quiero conocer este mundo. I want to know this world.

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Ocean Océano translated by Steven Mitchell

Body purer than a wave, Cuerpo más puro que una ola, salt that washes the line, Sal que lava la línea, and the luminous bird Y el ave lúcida flying without roots. Volando sin raíces.

Fragments from several of Neruda’s ‘Odes’

Ode to the Rooster Oda al gallo

I saw a rooster Vi un gallo with Spanish de plumaje plumage: castellano: from black and red cloth de tela negra y blanca they had designed cortaron his shirt, su camisa, his short trousers sus pantalones cortos and the arched feathers y las plumas arqueadas of his tail. de su cola. His feet, sheathed Sus patas enfundadas in yellos boots, en botas amarillas revealed dejaban the glitter brillar of his defiant los espolones spurs, desafiantes and on top y arriba the lordly la soberia head, cabeza crowned coronada with blood, de sangre maintained mantenia that demeanor: toda aquella apostura: a statue la estatua of pride. del orgulo.

Ode to the Yellow Bird Oda al pájaro sofré translated by Steven Mitchell Te enterré en el jardín: una fosa I buried you in the garden: miniscule a grave como una mano abierta, tiny tierra as an open hand, austral, southern earth, tierra fría cold earth fue cubriendo fell covering tu plumake, your plumage, los rayos amarillos, the yellos rays los relámpagos negros the black lightnings de tu cuerpo apagado. of your snuffed-out body.

51 Ode to the Black Panther Oda a la Pantera Negra translated by Steven Mitchell

She walked Anduvo like fire, and, like smoke, como el fuego, y, como el humo, when she closed her eyes cuando cerró los ojos she became the invisible, se hizo invisible, unemcompassable inabarcable night. noche.

Ode to the apple Oda a la manzana translated by Ken Krabbenhofy

You, apple A ti, manzana, are the object of my praise. quiero I want to fill celebrarte my mouth llenándome with your name. con tu nombre I want to eat you whole. la boca, comiéndote. You are always fresh, like nothing Siempre and nobody. eres nueva como nada You have always o nadie, just fallen siempre from Paradise: recién caída dawn’s del Paraíso: rosy cheek plena full and perfect. y pura mejilla arrebolada de la aurora!

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