I contend that Pablo Neruda’s poem “Walking Around” is important as a historical and political piece, and understanding it through these contexts can help readers to understand the poem through a modern lens. As a United States citizen presenting to an audience living in the U.S., I am using scenery from the U.S. to explore the poem. Though Neruda was a Chilean poet writing about the economy/urban poor in Latin America, I believe that Neruda’s poem can be used to understand The Great Depression in North America by examining the economy in the country at that time as many people in the country struggled with poverty as the speaker does in the poem. I believe that the poem doesn’t just represent one voice, but the voices of all of those in Latin America and in the world at the time who were dealing with poverty and urban life. Given the recent Great Recession in America I believe that understanding this poem in a modern context can help readers relate and find comfort in, or a generally better understanding of, America’s current urban poor and the emotions prominent in that group of people.
I filmed a young man (representing the poem’s speaker and to visibly show emotions of the speaker) walking around/exploring all of the places and objects/images in the poem in an urban setting here in West Lafayette/Lafayette, Indiana. I narrate the poem, filming mostly in grayscale to give a darker and more depressing tone as is present in the poem itself, as well as a sense of uniformity and discontent with such a black and white world. Using Roland Bleiker’s article “Pablo Neruda and the struggle for political memory” to support my idea that Neruda’s piece portrays a historically and politically important piece that can be understood through a modern lens, I hope that readers can relate to/understand the poem both now and in the “memory” of a historical time and the politics associated with it at the time of its writing. I wanted readers to feel a solidarity with the past by understanding the emotions/suffering and urban life at the time of the poem through a modern lens.
Works Cited:
Bleiker, Roland. “Pablo Neruda and the struggle for political memory.” Third World Quarterly 20.6 (1999): 1129-1142. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 5 April 2016.
Neruda, Pablo. “Walking Around.” Trans. W.S. Merwin. The Norton Anthology: World Literature. Ed. Puchner, Martin. Volume F. 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. 583-87. Print.
nthndmng. “DEAD NUNS!” Photograph. Tumblr. 22 April 2012. Web. 5 April 2016.
Ortega, Tony. “You Just Can’t Shout at Ashtrays Enough.” Photograph. The Underground Bunker. 9 July 2013. Web. 5 April 2016.
Pedroza, Jody. “Easter lily.” Photograph. Webshots. 2014. Web. 5 April 2016.
Schoeller, Martin. “Donald Trump and Uncle Sam the American Bald Eagle.” Photograph. Time. 2015. Web. 5 April 2016.
I filmed a young man (representing the poem’s speaker and to visibly show emotions of the speaker) walking around/exploring all of the places and objects/images in the poem in an urban setting here in West Lafayette/Lafayette, Indiana. I narrate the poem, filming mostly in grayscale to give a darker and more depressing tone as is present in the poem itself, as well as a sense of uniformity and discontent with such a black and white world. Using Roland Bleiker’s article “Pablo Neruda and the struggle for political memory” to support my idea that Neruda’s piece portrays a historically and politically important piece that can be understood through a modern lens, I hope that readers can relate to/understand the poem both now and in the “memory” of a historical time and the politics associated with it at the time of its writing. I wanted readers to feel a solidarity with the past by understanding the emotions/suffering and urban life at the time of the poem through a modern lens.
Works Cited:
Bleiker, Roland. “Pablo Neruda and the struggle for political memory.” Third World Quarterly 20.6 (1999): 1129-1142. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 5 April 2016.
Neruda, Pablo. “Walking Around.” Trans. W.S. Merwin. The Norton Anthology: World Literature. Ed. Puchner, Martin. Volume F. 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. 583-87. Print.
nthndmng. “DEAD NUNS!” Photograph. Tumblr. 22 April 2012. Web. 5 April 2016.
Ortega, Tony. “You Just Can’t Shout at Ashtrays Enough.” Photograph. The Underground Bunker. 9 July 2013. Web. 5 April 2016.
Pedroza, Jody. “Easter lily.” Photograph. Webshots. 2014. Web. 5 April 2016.
Schoeller, Martin. “Donald Trump and Uncle Sam the American Bald Eagle.” Photograph. Time. 2015. Web. 5 April 2016.