Symbol Analysis
Just as the speaker focuses on plant life in the first two stanzas, we get planes, trains, and automobiles in the last two stanzas. Okay, so maybe there are no planes in this poem. All the same, two out of three—in such a short poem—ain't bad. What's more, it indicates that these vehicles have a symbolic importance in this poem. They're more than just a way to get from A to B. For Neruda, these are overlooked occupants of our reality that might be able to say something about the way we approach the world.
- Lines 5-6: So we have an automobile gone bad, but somehow it's able to feel guilty for all the robbin' and rippin' it's been up to. Thanks to this personification, the poem asks us to think about our relationship to our cars in a new light. Maybe we should feel guilty about their guilty feelings? After all, we're the ones who designed them to run on the Earth's natural resources.
- Lines 7-8: We haven't seen a train this sad since Henry. Seriously, though, what makes a train a train? If it's not moving along a track, can it really be a train? Is the key to happiness fulfilling your purpose and design? This train is more than a train for our speaker. It's an opportunity to pose philosophical questions that really just raise more questions. Thanks a lot, pal.