Ode to My Socks Analysis

Form and meter? We hate to break it to you, but this poem isn't in a specific form or meter. Did Neruda leave his poetry cap at home the day he wrote this? Nope. We think not. More likely is that t...

It's really tempting here to call the speaker Neruda himself, because of the reference to Maru Mori (see "Shout-Outs" for more on her), his actual friend who knitted the beloved socks. However, tha...

There are a few clues as to the location of the action of this poem. Since Maru Mori is Chilean (more on her in "Shout-Outs"), and so is the poet, we can jump to the wild conclusion that these sock...

Reading this poem aloud gives your front teeth a work out—that's a lot of S's! The title "socks" are repeated over and over, and their front and back S's are slipped into almost every line with t...

The title "Ode to My Socks" is a straightforward description of what the poem is and what it does. That is, it is an ode to a pair of socks. An ode is a traditional poetic form, started back in Anc...

Pablo Neruda wrote four books of odes, all of them taking down the ancient Greek tradition by praising really ordinary things: apples, lemons, wine, even laziness. If you were to come across "Ode t...

Take an easy stroll with Neruda along the seashore with this purposefully short-lined, simple poem. But don't forget your socks! The Chilean coast can get chilly.

Pablo Neruda once ran for president of Chile on the Communist Party's ticket. (Source.) As a boy, Neruda's poetry teacher was Chile's other Nobel Prize-winner, Gabriela Mistral. (Source.) Pablo Ner...

Nothing to see here, gang. Just a pair of woolen socks on some guy's feet.

Maru Mori: She was the wife and muse of Chilean painter, Camilo Mori, and a friend of Neruda's. Her full name was Maruja Vargas de Mori. (1)