Poem Analysis ODE TO SALT

To begin with, I'd like to say thank you to Sara for working with me on a presentation for the subject with me <3

Today I'd like to display an analysis on the poem we worked on:

ODE TO SALT, a magnificent piece from Pablo Neruda about the enormous secret on salt!

(derived from: Uyuni Salt Flat | salt flat, Bolivia | Britannica )

find the poem here !

Reason why we chose this poem: Salt is at the basis of every cuisine, probably the most common one, and for this very reason, we thought it would be the most approachable poem among the other food poems. However, when we started to analyze the poem, we realized that because salt is so common, we didn’t really know about it. We decided to take this opportunity to research and appreciate salt, an ingredient most of the time undervalued and took for granted. 

Analysis: 

● Alliteration:In the poem you can see the tequnics alliteration is used, mostly in the first part. Alliteration creates musicality by repeating the initial stressed, consonant sounds within a phrase or verse line. “It sings salt sings, the skin of salt mines sings” By repeating the same sound from the word “salt”, it creates a particular musical impression, while emphasizing the topic at the same time. 

● Personification: Additionally to what Riona just presented, there’s also another vocabulary of poetry. I am talking about “personification”, a figure of speech in which the poet describes a nonhuman form as if it were a person. Salt, the nonhuman object of this ode, “sings”, “shouts out in its cracked voice”, is the “preserver of the ancient stores in the holds of ships” and is also the “explorer of the seas” 

● Persona: You can not really identify the persona briefly, but that is the point. It is an obscure being somehow lonely, just observing the world from a timeless perspective. “You won’t believe me” “Alone when I heard the voice of salt” “I trembled in the empty desert” 

● Timeline: As it was for the persona, it is impossible to define the timeline precisely. From the use of words that create an image of vastity and of uncertainty, such as “oblivion”, “oceanity” and “infinite”, we arrived to the conclusion that this poem is permeated by a sense of timelessness. Through this timelessness, Neruda managed to transmit us the importance of salt which is beyond time and beyond nations or cultures. 

● Theme: To explain briefly, it is about how precious and powerful the salt is. The poem is written in a style of ode, which has its origin in ancient Greece. Commissioned by rich people,they used to write odes to praise Olympic winners, but in modern centuries odes are to praise ordinary things in everyday life enjoyed by ordinary people. Those odes are called “elementary odes”. In the poem Neruda glorifies the history of salt, and shows its importance with simplicity. 

Poet’s background: The author of the poem is a Chilean, Pablo Neruda who lived from 1904 to 1973. He was a precocious boy who started writing poetry at the age of 10. His works have positioned him as one of South America’s greatest writers and he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1971. He aligned himself with the communist party and besides being a poet, he was also a diplomat and politician. He used to be a senator of Anthofagasta, which is a region mentioned in this poem as well. 

Impressions: 

● Sara: I found interesting Neruda’s decision of using simple words to match the simplicity of salt that nonetheless gives honor to this common ingredient through a very poetic and evocative language. 

● Riona: The contrast of two faces of salt observed by the mysterious narrator was impressive: on one hand salt is very basic and ordinary though, on the other hand it’s precious and universal