BY PABLO NERUDA
TRANSLATED BY ALFRED YANKAUER
My dog has died.
I buried him in the garden
next to a rusted old machine.
Some day I'll join him right there,
but now he's gone with his shaggy coat,
his bad manners and his cold nose,
and I, the materialist, who never believed
in any promised heaven in the sky
for any human being,
I believe in a heaven I'll never enter.
Yes, I believe in a heaven for all dogdom
where my dog waits for my arrival
waving his fan-like tail in friendship.
Ai, I'll not speak of sadness here on earth,
of having lost a companion
who was never servile.
His friendship for me, like that of a porcupine
withholding its authority,
was the friendship of a star, aloof,
with no more intimacy than was called for,
with no exaggerations:
he never climbed all over my clothes
filling me full of his hair or his mange,
he never rubbed up against my knee
like other dogs obsessed with sex.
No, my dog used to gaze at me,
paying me the attention I need,
the attention required
to make a vain person like me understand
that, being a dog, he was wasting time,
but, with those eyes so much purer than mine,
he'd keep on gazing at me
with a look that reserved for me alone
all his sweet and shaggy life,
always near me, never troubling me,
and asking nothing.
Ai, how many times have I envied his tail
as we walked together on the shores of the sea
in the lonely winter of Isla Negra
where the wintering birds filled the sky
and my hairy dog was jumping about
full of the voltage of the sea's movement:
my wandering dog, sniffing away
with his golden tail held high,
face to face with the ocean's spray.
Joyful, joyful, joyful,
as only dogs know how to be happy
with only the autonomy
of their shameless spirit.
There are no good-byes for my dog who has died,
and we don't now and never did lie to each other.
So now he's gone and I buried him,
and that's all there is to it.
In the first stanza, it seems as though the persona is mourning the loss of his dog, however, at the same time, he is also behaving as if it is something of not much importance. It is evident from the lines,”My dog has died, I buried him in the garden, Next to a rusted old machine”. The dog was buried in the garden and this suggests an idea of keeping the dog close to the persona in a familiar place. However, the fact that the dog is buried next to a rusted old machine suggests that there was not much importance placed upon the dog’s death. There is no mention of a particular act of kindness, such as the dog being wrapped in a blanket so it appears as though not too much love and care took place in the burial, and therefore the dog’s death was of no real significance to the persona, yet he mourns the loss of the dog.
In the second stanza, it can be said that the persona placed the nature of his dog’s above his own. From the lines, “And I the materialist, who never believed, In any promised heaven in the sky, For any human being”, suggests that the persona did not believe that there was a Heaven for human begins. However, evident from the lines, “I believe in a heaven I’ll never enter, Waving his fan-like tail in friendship”, it suggests that the persona believed in a Heaven for his dog. This further implies that he considers the nature of his dog’s to be more superior to his own.
In the third stanza, it explains how the persona seems to favor the dog’s particular type of friendship, a relationship similar to mutualism. He also suggests that he was pleased to be the master of this individual dog and explains how he considers his own dog to be better than others. This is evident from the lines, “ He never climbed all over my clothes, Filling me full of his hair or his mange, He never rubbed up against my knee, Like other dogs obsessed with sex”
While, it may seem that the persona did not take good care of the dog, due to the reference of “mange”, it is also noted that this was written at a time an affliction like mange, was common due to the era where dogs did not visit groomers, and they rarely received veterinary care.
In the fourth stanza, the persona described him to be a vain person in need of attention and that the dog helps him to understand it is a common human characteristic. From the lines, “But with those eyes so much purer than mine, He’d keep on gazing at me ,With a look that reserved for me alone, All his sweet and shaggy life, Always near me, never troubling me, And asking nothing”, it suggests that he realizes that dogs live in the present moment and therefore are incapable of vanity. The dog also gives unconditional love towards the persona which was something that does not pertain to him as a human being.
From the fifth stanza, it can be inferred that the dog is joyful when taking walks on the beach. It is evident from the lines, “Ai, how many times I have envied his tail, As we walked together on the shores of the sea” The tail is an indication of the dog’s mood and emotion ; when the tail wags, it meant that the dog was happy. The persona then implies that the same feeling does not apply to him; hence he envies the dog for feeling contented. This is suggested in the line “In the lonely winter of Isla Negra.” The words ‘lonely winter’ summarizes the persona’s feelings about the nature of the place and that the dog is unaware to such matters.
In the sixth stanza, the words “My wandering dog, sniffing away, With his golden tail held high, Face to face with the ocean’s spray” explains that the dog loves the ocean with all of its unique sounds and smells. The sixth stanza also mentions how dogs currently live, evident from the lines, “Joyful joyful joyful, As only dogs know how to be”.
To put the poem in a nutshell, what the poet is trying to say is that he knows that his dog was considered to be more superior to him. He has already described himself as materialistic and vain and therefore, he is not going to pretend to be a worthy person by saying farewell to his dog, in the form of a proper burial. However, it is clear that he loved and respected his dog, and that was why he is buried in the garden, even if it is next to a rusted old machine.
Portrait of Pablo Neruda
How a dead dog looks like
You did best when you looked at specific phrases closely.
ReplyDeleteIs the picture of the shot dog most suitable for this post?
no
DeleteMy dog died by an accident and hit by a car, and unfortunately, she was like that in the picture when I saw her lying on the ground. We cremate her and after her pet cremation seattle I started to grieve of her loss.
ReplyDelete