" perhaps it was only a ripple, drop, and yet its great cataract falls and falls."" (Neruda 570) By using active human-like and nature-like qualities, Pablo Neruda gives birth to, "The Word-. He used many comparisons between language, life and blood; this was an ode to any word that has been uttered unto the world. This was very crucial to him during the changes of political power because people were being condemned for their words. He celebrated language because it could stir people act "by writing this poem, he urged people to speak their mind, even if it meant to die for their words. .
Neruda began the poem very powerfully by writing, "The word/ was born in the blood/ grew in the dark body, beating/ and flew through the lips and the mouth."" (570). Just by that stanza alone, Neruda displays his outspoken passionate for the gift of language. "The word- (570) is symbolized as being newly brought unto the world, like a newborn infant. Neruda repeatedly ties blood with language, stating, "because the verb is the source and vivid life "it is blood,/ blood which expresses its substance and so implies its own unwinding--/ words give glass-quality to glass, blood to blood, and life to life itself."" (571) .
There was an interesting order that structured this poem. The second paragraph takes the reader to the past, where the word emerged, immature and still growing. It gives the reader a history to refer to before reading the complete poem. Neruda describes the growth of the word was arduous and as a metaphor, he compares languages to tribes that seek to gain new land to sow, implying that language is just like those early tribes, always growing and gaining new regions. " the settlements set out and arrived/ and new lands and water reunited/ to sow their word anew."" (570).
The author acknowledged the fear and hesitance that a person might feel when they begin to conjure the strength to speak/write.
