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).