Neruda

A City Of Death 7/21/13

            Pablo Neruda, author of the poem “Walking Around” depicts the city in which he lives in such a way that the reader believes the city to be full of death. The poem, written in 1933, feels as though it should come from an old man who has lived a full life and is tired of seeing his beautiful home, his city, fall to ruin. Yet, Neruda was only 29 years old when he wrote this poem.

            Neruda writes, “It happens that I am tired of being a man” (line 1). This subtle introduction to the poem indicates to the reader that this is not going to be a happy poem, in fact it will be one of sorrow and frustration and grief. He continues in the second stanza by saying “The smell of barber shops makes me sob out loud. / I want nothing but the repose either of stones or of wool, / I want to see no more establishments, no more gardens, / nor merchandise, nor glasses, nor elevators “ (Neruda lines 5-8). Neruda is pointing out how evolved the city is, and he does not like it. He wants stones back versus the pavement, and he is tired of the establishments and gardens versus pure nature. The world has changed too much; the city he lives in is not a natural place anymore.

            “It would be beautiful / to go through the streets with a green knife / shouting until I died of cold” (Neruda lines 15-17). Neruda wants to go through the streets of his busy and corrupt city and cry for peace. He is willing to fight for what he wants until he dies, and he believes that he will die fighting for what he wants.

            The second to last stanza of the poem states, “There are bids the colour of sulphur, and horrible intestines / hanging from the doors of the houses which I hate, / there are forgotten sets of teeth in a coffee-pot, / there are mirrors / which should have wept with shame and horror, / there are umbrellas all over the place, and poisons, and navels” (Neruda lines 34 – 39). Even nature and inanimate objects within the city are full of death like images. The birds are black and sick, and they sit on houses that are housing the evil and corrupt people of the city. There are false teeth implying that the health of the people has deteriorated. Mirrors have seen horrible and corrupt things and should be thrown away because the images are burned into them.

            The image Neruda creates is of a corrupt city full of death. Everyone, including the animals and nonliving things, are simply waiting to die. He is a man who is tired of living, tired of watching his once beautiful city turn to such a corrupt thing. “Walking Around” depicts a young man who is much wiser than his years explain how dead his home has become.

Work Cited

Neruda, Pablo. "Walking Around." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2013. 1423-424. Print.