Pablo Neruda’s “Ode to enchanted light” is a poem that utilizes alliteration, word choices, and metaphors to explain the vast possibilities that come with change. While Mary Oliver’s “Sleeping in the forest” is a poem that explains the sounds and visions of the beautiful land (with figurative language as well).
Neruda’s poem is an ode (a poem that deals with serious themes, an ode praises its subject) “Ode to enchanted light” is praising the light that seeps in through the forest of trees. In lines 1-9, it suggests a feeling of calmness, of being transfixed with the light that passes through the branches. The poet creates this feeling with the setting; “Under the trees”. Oliver’s piece is more of a lyrical poem than anything else (a short poem in which a single speaker expresses personal thoughts and feelings) because, it is intimate and brief, even though this poem is free verse it has a very steady rhythm. “ Sleeping in the forest” is a poem that is about how Mother Nature nurtures Oliver as she sleeps outdoors, and she becomes aware of “the small kingdoms breathing” experiencing a reverence for nature and femaleness. Oliver’s piece is more of a lyrical poem than anything else (a short poem in which a single speaker expresses personal thoughts and feelings) because, it is intimate and brief, even though this poem is free verse it has a very steady rhythm.
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The two poems that are being compared (Ode to enchanted light & Sleeping in the forest.) both have lots of alliteration (metaphors, similes, and personification) in the text. For example: in lines 8-9 in Ode to enchanted light when it states “Drifting down like clean white sand.” it is a simile that compares the light to the “clean white sand.”, it also states in lines 13-15 “The world is overflowing with water.” this is a metaphor that expresses that the world is almost like water- clear and abundant. Mrs.Oliver also has many examples of alliteration such as: when the earth is personified as a woman wearing dark skirts with pockets in lines 1-5, the poet is most likely making a connection to the familiar concept of Mother Nature who nurtures the speaker while she is sleeping in the forest. She also states in lines 9-11 “but my thoughts floated light as moths among the branches of the perfect trees.” The two poets use different alliteration to express themselves, for example, Neruda uses his simile to compare the light dropping through the trees while Oliver’s poem uses her simile to compare the speaker’s thoughts to the floating moths. One image gives you a visual of a downward motion and the other one of an upward.
“Ode to enchanted light” and “Sleeping in the forest” have very unique structures. Ode to enchanted light’s structure is a form of lyric poetry because it expresses the feelings of a single speaker, the poem gives a vivid image of what Neruda is seeing, the tone is peaceful, it is used to praise the light, and it has lots of metaphors & simile that make it fun to read. Sleeping in the forest is filled with imagery such as the stars, the bugs, and the luminous doom.
In conclusion, Mary Oliver and Pablo Neruda are both very talented poets whose writing styles are the same in some ways & different in others, they both find interesting ways to make all of their components come together to form beautiful poems that are worth learning about in our everyday classroom.
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