Pablo Neruda Research Articles

La Bella Dormida: An Interpretation of the Image in Selected Spanish American Poets

century poetry by a rather widespread penchant for nocturnal themes and oneiric imagery. In Spanish America the modernista poets, Jos6 Asunci6n Silva, Rub6n Dario and Leopoldo Lugones clearly reflect this tendency; more recently, such markedly different poets as Pablo Neruda, Xavier Villaurrutia, Octavio Paz and Jorge Luis Borges share this preoccupation with Sleep and her two inseparable handmaidens, Love and Death. My objective in this study is to examine one particular image cluster within this general area of the nocturnal motif: that of the dormida, or sleeping woman. The realm of the sleeper may be poetically viewed either internally or externally. If the artist adopts the first of these approaches, he attempts to re-create the world of dreams with its ever-changing images and unexpected associations and, by so doing, endeavors to have his reader participate in the experience. By contrast, when the poet employs the external approach to the subject, he focuses upon the sleeper and his or her relationship to a second being. This second being may be simply a casual observer, or-and this is the specific situation which concerns us here-he may be the poet-lover. It is precisely the inability of this person to penetrate the dream world of the sleeper which provides the poetic crux of his creative problem. The poet thus finds himself in the realm of conjecture, of doubt, and quite often, of fear. The notion that the dreamer has in some manner abandoned his body, that his soul or spirit wanders during the eriod of sleep is deeply rooted in folkbeliefs and in primitive psychology. Closely related to this idea is the suggestion that in the somnolent state the wandering spirit returns to its original, genuine, primordial condition. This differentness which transcends the obvious physical problem of communication between the sleeping and waking state gives rise to a kind of amatory relationship that often approaches the mystical in its intensity. The theme of the beloved asleep, so rich in poetic suggestion, so laden with paradoxes and antitheses-death and regener tion, possession and loss, fear and tranquility-has been treated by a number of Spanish American poets: Jos6 Asunci6n Silva in Oh dulce nifia pilida and Mariposas; Leopoldo Lugones in Endecha; Octavio Paz in the Oda al suefio; Xavier Villaurrutia in some of his Noctumos; Herrera y Reissig in Plenilunio; Humberto Diaz Casanueva in La bella durmiente; and most notably by Jorge Luis Bo ges in Amorosa anticipaci6n.' A close examination of the Borges piece shows the richness of the poetry inspired by th dormida and also provides an excellent starting point for an analysis of the complex of images frequently surrounding the central figure:

Jorge Guillen and the Poetry of Commitment

Few contemporary poets shared Guill6n's unconditional acceptance and celebration of life. MacLeish mentions St. John Perse and Kazantzakis. There are others, of course: William Carlos Williams singing his red wheelbarrow, his yellow chimney; Pablo Neruda's delightful odes to celery and the potato. Most poets, however, especially in English, have chosen to lament and groan in the face of nothingness. The poetry of Cdntico is positive, optimistic, affirmative, it sings and rejoices. Ccantico ended with the 1950 edition. Jorge Guil'n has begun the writing of a new work called Clamor, two parts of which have already appeared: Maremdgnum (1957) and ... Que van a dar en la mar (1960); a third, A las alturas de las circunstancias, is in preparation. A poet is not a Platonic idea, he is a man of flesh and bone who grows and changes. The poet of Clamor is not the poet of Cdntico, although the great spirit of Jorge Guill6n and the underlying optimism are still present. Cdntico represented a search for pure beauty, for the eternal moment, for order and symmetry in the universe; in Maremdgnum the search for order has not been abandoned, but it has been overshadowed by the poet's concern for his fellow man and strife-tormented world; it is a poetry of commitment to the struggle for man's dignity, survival and essential worth. And this poetry of social concern and commitment was already announced in the final poem of Cadntico:

The Elementary Odes of Pablo Neruda

The Elementary Odes of Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda in Mexico

Pablo Neruda in Mexico