Fear in Neruda’s
Poetry
It
is recognized as the mark of a great poet to pick up a personal preoccupation
and make it a part of universal thought, and Pablo Neruda has done this in a
lot of his poems. "Fear" is no exception to this,
and in it as the poet vocalizes his own concerns about death and lack of
reflection, each reader is able to identify an inevitable human condition in
the lines.
Everyone
is after me to jump through hoops
whoop it
up, play football,
rush
about, even go swimming and flying.
Fair
enough.
When
Neruda says, "Everyone is after me to jump through hoops/ whoop it up,
play football, rush about,/" the busy din and excitement of normal
everyday healthy life is invoked, where man rushes on from one thing to another
without pause. Also important is the introduction of the phrase that is
repeated in the poem " Everyone is after
me": it is human nature to push the blame on others; people fondly imagine
that it is not they themselves that are so preoccupied with the external world,
but that others are forcing them to it.
Everyone
is after me to take it easy.
They
all make doctors' appointments for me,
eyeing me
in that quizzical way.
What
is going on?
When
health fails, it is again the involvement of the people around one that
concerns one the most: "Everyone is after me to take it easy./ They all make doctors' appointments for me, eyeing me in
that quizzical way." The attitude of people around a seriously ill person
begins to change, the "quizzical" looks are
part of an effort to deal with the nearby prospect of mortality.
Everyone
is after me to take a trip,
to come
in, to leave, not to travel,
to die
and, alternatively, not to die.
It
does not matter
Everyone
is spotting oddnesses
in my
innards, suddenly shocked
by
radio-awful diagrams.
I
do not agree
When
confronted by evidence of an illness, one goes into denial: "Everyone is
spotting oddnesses / in my innards, suddenly shocked/
by radio-awful diagrams. I do not agree". Neruda correctly diagnoses the
human weakness of not wanting to face facts, and most importantly, not wanting
to face the transient nature of existence and the cold touch of death.
Everyone
is picking at my poetry
with
their relentless knives and forks,
trying,
no doubt, to find a fly.
I
am afraid.
The
same weakness of not knowing and acknowledging the truth about human existence,
plagues people when things are not going so well professionally: "Everyone
is picking at my poetry/ with their relentless knives and forks,/ trying, no doubt, to find a fly./ I am afraid." This
confession of fear is uncharacteristic of people in general but the poet Neruda
takes the first step towards confronting his fears: accepting that he is
afraid. His apprehensions stem from the criticism of his work: just as a chef
serves cuisine, the poet serves poetry, and Neruda is worried that critics
would find fault with his writings just as a diner tends to find problems with
the food.
I
am afraid of the whole world,
afraid of
cold water, afraid of death.
I
am as all mortals are,
unable to
be comforted.
But
once he begins to face his fears, Neruda is forced to confront what he is
really afraid of : " I am afraid of the whole
world,/ afraid of cold water, afraid of death./ I am as all mortals are,/
unable to be comforted." He takes stock of the fact that human beings are
the children of fear: they are spiritually afraid of everything around them,
they are trying to run on and on because they are afraid to stop; they do not
reflect because they are scared of their thoughts.
The
use of "cold water" and "death" is significant. A
comparison could be drawn between the two. Just as someone is hesitant to enter
cold water for a bath, but when one actually steps into it, one gets used to it
and is no longer afraid, one could reflect on mortality and get used to the
idea of death, and then the fear of death vanishes.
And
so, in these brief, passing days,
I
shall not take them into account.
I
shall open up and closet myself
with my
most treacherous enemy,
Having
confessed and faced his fear, Neruda is determined to set it aside and reflect
in the silence of solitude, and make closer acquaintance with his own self:
"I shall not take them into account./I shall open up and closet myself/
with my most treacherous enemy, Pablo Neruda." The poet brings himself
into the universe of the poem, and knows that his gathering realization of
mortality has given him the strength to confront his own weaknesses, the
"most treacherous enemy", his own self,
known to the world as "Pablo Neruda".
In
conclusion, Neruda talks about the human condition dominated by worries,
preoccupations, surrounding people, their concerns and opinions and a thousand
such thoughts which leave little time for meditating on an inner silence. In
this superficial and perpetual busyness with externals, the reality of death is
evaded. It is not confronted, left unknown, and hence feared, because anything
that is unknown is generally feared. The poem "Fear" is about facing
the things that make one afraid, confession of those fears, and a calm reflection
of one's shortcoming in tranquil solitude.
Damyanti
Ghosh
http://www.helium.com/items/872535-poetry-analysis-fear-by-pablo-neruda