Neruda and Whitman: comparative poetic analysis

¶ … Hughes in week five, tell us about one of Neruda's poems. Don't tell us about theme or how you relate to it. Tell us about the form of the poem. Name and define some of the elements of the form. Tell us about its attributes and history, what are Neruda's influences in this poem, and so on. Can you find Whitman's influence? How is it revealed in ways comparable to Hughes? You'll have to do some research and attribute it in MLA style. You'll have to make specific references to Neruda's poem to clarify and exemplify what you are saying about his form. You'll need a thesis.

Neruda was a politician, social activists and poet and his poetry often follows many of these influences. In fact, his politics - where he espoused Communism and sought to free the Chilean people - was often confused with love poetry where his love for his people romanticized itself into erotic love for women. One of his most famous poems in this regard was his "Body of a Woman." criticized for its eroticism, its figurative beauty is evident.

Imagery and metaphor are resonant in this poem:

But the hour of vengeance falls, and I love you.

Body of skin, of moss, of eager and firm milk.

Oh the goblets of the breast! Oh the eyes of absence!

Oh the roses of the pubis! Oh your voice, slow and sad! (allyshenandoah.wordpress.com)

It is sensuous with details and descriptive playing heavily. There is also a languid tone (contrast with Hughes angry brusque tone when describing the plight of the Blacks or his languorous tone when describing the journey of the woman in "Bound North Blues").

The repetition of "Oh" alludes to and reinforces Neruda's desire for the woman -- or rather for her physical attractions?

There is figurative language and metaphor a-plenty here. In lines 1-4, for instance, Neruda describes the body of the woman as white-fleshed, lying helplessly in surrender, vulnerable to advance: "Body of a woman, white hills, white thighs, you look like a world, lying in surrender," She sounds like the Earth and, indeed, Neruda will plow into her depositing his seed in her and she, the woman, is Mother Earth, giver of life.

He goes on to describe his own body s worthless and rough in comparison to his treading on her. This is a metaphor to careless footsteps f man that scrunches up the earth.

Color is used heavily in the poem with different connotations. In the first line of "Body of a Woman," the narrator praises the whiteness of the body of his love; he loves its "white hills, white thighs." Later he describes that she is "a magnetic slave / of the circle which happens in black and gold" (allyshenandoah.wordpress.com) indicating that both joy and misery are tied up in his experience of her.

Symbolism is manifest in his work: The greatest stars look at me with your eyes." This may be happiness; it may also be allusion to the saintliness of the woman, all "white' who appears godly in comparison to his uncouth peasant nature. The woman is ethereal to the man, foreign since he cannot understand her (Nature and the Beloved: Pablo Neruda's Exploration of Love through Natural Metaphor and His Environments)

Who was this woman who inspired him and served as Muse behind at least 20 other famous love pomes?

Neruda one admitted that two particular Chilean women -- called Marisol or Marisombra -- whom he loved during his adolescent days were influences of many of these poems. Marisol was associated with happier memories and, therefore, was often connected to the joyful, lighter side of the beloved whilst Marisombra gave Neruda anguish and is associated with his more pessimistic aching poetry. This poem "Body of a woman" may well be associated with Marisombra.

Whitman's influence may be seen on Neruda in that both romanticized the common folk and used poetry to point attention to the problems of the people and show that the 'common folk' were worthy of interest. This is the same aspect that is conspicuous in Langston Hughes poetry. Whilst Hughes, however, focused on the Black individual and Whitman on the common American laborer, Neruda turned his attention to the Brazilian peasant who was oppressed by the bourgeoisie and by a corrupt government. All three poets, however - Hughes, Whitman, and Neruda -- play the theme of nation / government ignoring the plight of the vulnerable citizen and manipulating him.