{"id":8647,"date":"2025-12-05T10:12:58","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T17:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=8647"},"modified":"2025-12-05T10:16:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T17:16:48","slug":"pablo-neruda-the-poets-obligation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/05\/pablo-neruda-the-poets-obligation\/","title":{"rendered":"Pablo Neruda – The Poet’s Obligation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Poet\u2019s Obligation
\nby Pablo Neruda<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Alistair Reed<\/font><\/p>\n

To whoever is not listening to the sea
\nthis Friday morning, to whoever is cooped up
\nin house or office, factory or woman
\nor street or mine or harsh prison cell:
\nto him I come, and, without speaking or looking,
\nI arrive and open the door of his prison,
\nand a vibration starts up, vague and insistent,
\na great fragment of thunder sets in motion
\nthe rumble of the planet and the foam,
\nthe raucous rivers of the ocean flood,
\nthe star vibrates swiftly in its corona,
\nand the sea is beating, dying and continuing.<\/p>\n

So, drawn on by my destiny,
\nI ceaselessly must listen to and keep
\nthe sea\u2019s lamenting in my awareness,
\nI must feel the crash of the hard water
\nand gather it up in a perpetual cup
\nso that, wherever those in prison may be,
\nwherever they suffer the autumn\u2019s castigation,
\nI may be there with an errant wave,
\nI may move, passing through windows,
\nand hearing me, eyes will glance upward
\nsaying, \u201cHow can I reach the sea?\u201d
\nAnd I shall broadcast, saying nothing,
\nthe starry echoes of the wave,
\na breaking up of foam and of quicksand,
\na rustling of salt withdrawing,
\nthe grey cry of sea-birds on the coast.<\/p>\n

So, through me, freedom and the sea
\nwill make their answer to the shuttered heart.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from On the Blue Shore of Silence: Poems of the Sea<\/a>, by Pablo Neruda \/ Translated by Alastair Reid<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Nina Stawski<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

The poet is telling us that it is time for a prison break!<\/p>\n

Neruda is reminding us that poetry is an act of rebellion. The most binding chains are the hidden ones we forge ourselves. Poetry frees the mind and the heart. Poetry \u2014 and, by extension, all art \u2014 is a revolutionary act, a declaration of psychic freedom. More than a declaration, it is a remembrance, a recollection of the wider, untamed life that awaits us.<\/p>\n

All freedoms we strive for in the troubled world around us must first be imagined and felt. Through poetry and art, we shift and reawaken. That is the real freedom regardless of outer circumstance. When enough people carry within themselves that inner freedom, how can it be stopped in the world?<\/p>\n

So, through me, freedom and the sea
\nwill make their answer to the shuttered heart.<\/i><\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Pablo Neruda<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Book of Questions<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nNeruda: Selected Poems<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nOn the Blue Shore of Silence: Poems of the Sea<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nPablo Neruda: Selected Poems<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nExtravagaria: A Bilingual Edition<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"Pablo<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nPablo Neruda<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Chile (1904 \u2013 1973) Timeline<\/a>
\nSecular or Eclectic<\/a><\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

More poetry by Pablo Neruda<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Poet\u2019s Obligation by Pablo Neruda English version by Alistair Reed To whoever is not listening to the sea this Friday morning, to whoever is cooped up in house or office, factory or woman or street or mine or harsh prison cell: to him I come, and, without speaking or looking, I arrive and open […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2616,595,2618,2617,2279],"class_list":["post-8647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-latin-american-poetry","tag-pablo-neruda","tag-poetry-and-activisim","tag-poetry-and-freedom","tag-poetry-and-spirituality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8647"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8651,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8647\/revisions\/8651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}