2/24/2023 0 Comments Toward the splendid city![]() It was a sacrifice intended for stray travelers and all kinds of refugees who would find bread and succor in the dead ox's eye sockets. Coins and food were placed in the eye sockets of the skull. In the midst of the space, the skull of an ox was set up. Amidst this wilderness, Neruda and his escorts came to a beautiful little meadow huddled among the rocks: clear water, green grass, wild flowers, the purling of brooks and the blue heaven above, a generous stream of light unimpeded by leaves. In such situations, only perseverance in our action will be able to help. Many a times we’ll come almost close to giving up. Alternatively, there will be obstacles in life which will look daunting. Decisions taken at such moments can either make or mar everything. In life there will be seemingly innocent moments which in reality are very crucial. His horse lost footing and he was almost drowned. But when they started crossing the river, they realized that the water current was not as placid as it appeared. Neruda mentions that on the way, they came across a river with calm water, clear and still as a mirror. Instead, he paid his respects to the ones who had at least tried to embark on that same path, even though they could not make it and moved forward. On seeing these burial mounds, he could have been dissuaded by the hazardous nature of his journey. He paid them homage before moving further. A burial mound indicates respect being shown to the person buried there. He also came across burial mounds in memory of those who could make it till that point but not any further. On the way, sometimes Neruda used to see faint trails indicating the passage of others before him. The only way to overcome such situations is to never lose sight of our goal and keep on going till we reach it. In fact life itself will put us in situations where we will be in a fix. They will try to put obstacles on our paths to dissuade us. People will call it a foolish idea and turn against us. ![]() But we have to undertake it because it might be the only possible way to achieve what we want. Many times in life we have to make decisions which are not favorably looked at by the people around us. This is what he meant by the words “the solitude, the danger, the silence, and the urgency of my mission”. There is an age old belief that when one is in a desperate situation everything starts going wrong, people start deserting him, and the person starts feeling hard pressed to keep on going, if for nothing else, at least for the sake of his mission. And the atmosphere grew increasing hostile. New obstacles kept appearing at every possible turn. But he ploughed on ‘blindly seeking the quarter in which my own liberty lay’. He had to overcome obstacles like the huge trees, impassable rivers, immense cliffs and desolate expanses of snow. Hence, he didn’t have anyone or anything to guide him on this untrodden path. Neruda had embarked on a journey that very few people may have ever undertaken. The journey to leave Chile was as contrasting as it can be to the status that he has reached now. These very words signal the readers to the nature of discussion that Neruda is going to undertake. But now that he is not attached to that land, he can describe it more explicitly. Back then he might not have realized these characteristics about Chile. ![]() Neruda starts his speech describing his birthplace as distant and antipodean. He reflects back on his role as a poet, about his achievements by being a poet. The second is when he is now an established persona. At the time, he was just like any other ‘ordinary man’ untouched by fame and unaware of his skills with verses. One was when he had to leave his homeland, long before he had become who he is now. Through this speech, he illustrates two critical phases of his life. This is the speech he gave upon winning the Nobel Prize. As a poet, he has influenced generations of writers. 3) Towards the Splendid City Pablo Neruda won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |