Pablo Neruda's "Ode to Wine": Love, Imagery & Symbolism

Introduction: Neruda and the Ode Tradition

Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet whose influential works helped earn him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. His poem "Ode to Wine," from Full Woman, Fleshy Apple, Hot Moon, uses allusion, imagery, and the theme of love and admiration to compare his love of wine — and the pleasure he derives from it — to the sensuality and sexuality of a woman.

Neruda structures "Ode to Wine" as free verse; like traditional odes, he praises an object — in this case wine — and draws inspiration from the wine's essence as well as its container to explain how wine makes him feel. Furthermore, Neruda uses wine to express his love of women, or of one specific, albeit unnamed, woman. It may be argued that the poem follows a modified ode structure that introduces the object of his affection, explains the correlation between wine and the woman he loves, and explores the ways in which the woman surpasses the qualities he admires in the wine.

Moreover, it can be argued that Neruda fulfills Eckhart Tolle's "three modalities of awakened doing" described in A New Earth. Neruda fulfills the first modality — acceptance — by recognizing not only the pleasure that wine evokes, but also its pitfalls and the "mortal memories" that it brings up. The second modality, enjoyment, is expressed through his love of wine and the unnamed woman, and the pleasure derived from both. The third modality, enthusiasm, is fulfilled through the bringing together of wine and the woman and the mutual love Neruda holds for each.

Wine's Power and Polar Attributes

The poem carries an overall tone of admiration — both for wine and for women. In "Ode to Wine," Neruda exalts the power of wine, ranging from its ability to bring people together — telling wine that "you must be shared" — to its capacity to "feed on mortal memories" (lines 19, 21–22). Not only does Neruda celebrate wine's influence over people, but he also highlights its polar attributes. Wine is not a single-note beverage; it is a multi-faceted drink.

Neruda demonstrates the distinction between wine's many features through highly descriptive imagery. His ode does not discriminate between red and white varieties but encompasses both, comparing them to celestial characteristics. White wine is described as "Day-colored wine… with topaz blood… starry child of earth… smooth / as a golden sword," whereas red wine is characterized as "night-colored wine, / with purple feet… soft / as lascivious velvet" (lines 1–4, 6–11). Despite these differences, Neruda contends that wine, in general, "stirs the spring" and is powerful enough to cause "walls [to] crumble… and rocky cliffs, chasms close" (lines 37, 39–41).

The Female Form and the Wine Goblet

In the second stanza, Neruda shifts his focus from wine and the power it holds to how it evokes the qualities of a sensuous woman. Unlike the first stanza, which uses the natural world to create a backdrop for comparison, the second stanza also takes the goblet into consideration. The comparisons and allusions Neruda draws here are reminiscent of Robert Herrick's poems and Shakespeare's sonnets. Neruda finds similarities between a woman's figure and a wine goblet, and continues to compare different physical characteristics of a woman to the components of wine.

Neruda writes: "your breast is the grape cluster, / your nipples are the grapes / the gleam of spirits lights your hair / and your navel is a chaste seal / stamped on the vessel of your belly" (lines 52–56). Neruda also places equal importance on the container — in this case the body — as well as what is inside: the essence of a person. He writes that the love he receives from this woman is "an inexhaustible / cascade of wine, / light that illuminates [his] senses, / the earthly splendor of life" (lines 57–60). This comparison reinforces his praise for wine and the sense that it has transformed his life. Neruda contends that the woman embodies the qualities he most appreciates in wine, and that she is the "light that illuminates [his] senses, / the earthly splendor of life" (lines 59–60).

Conclusion: Wine as a Standard for Love

"Ode to Wine" does not simply praise wine, but also highlights how it makes him feel and how it compares to love and companionship. Neruda is able to demonstrate how love can be found in just about anything. Moreover, this love can serve as a standard for other areas in which a person may be seeking connection. For example, one can establish a sense of what one wants in life through various books, films, and other artistic works, and apply the ideal characteristics derived from these experiences to determine whether to pursue something or someone. The poem ultimately teaches that substance is equally — or more — important than the outward appearance of an object or a person.