poem analysis

Poetry blog post #one  choose any poem from the ones posted on the class blog (or Seize the Day from the handout) and analyze 1) how it works, and 2) what it means. 500 words.

The poem A Dog has Died by Pablo Neruda tells the story of his dog that had died.  In the poem the author Pablo Neruda describes the importance of the dog to him and how the dogs death affected him.  The poem has eight stanzas all with a differing number of lines. The number of lines in each stanza ranges from two to twelve.  The last two stanzas contain two lines while the first one contains three, and all the ones in between have between four and twelve lines in them.  I couldn’t find a pattern for the number of syllable in each line in the poem. I also couldn't figure out what the rhyme scheme of this particular poem either,  but it still seemed to flow very well and everything just seemed to fit very well. This poem is being used to help the author relieve the pain he has as a result of his dog dying.  This is shown by the quote “There are no good-byes for my dog who has died, and we don't now and never did lie to each other”. This quote is saying that he never got to say goodbye to his dog and that he had never lied to him.  Which is saying that he trusted him. He then goes on to say “So now he's gone and I buried him, and that's all there is to it.” This quote is showing that he is trying to get over his dog dying but that it is hard for him. I feel that the poem means a couple of different things.  The first thing that this poem means to me is the love shared between the dog and the narrator. This is shown in the quote “No, my dog used to gaze at me, paying me the attention I need, the attention required”. This quote is showing how the dog gave the narrator the attention that he needed.  The second thing that this poem means to me is this it just describes the relationship between the narrator and the dog. The author talks about what the dog did for him and how he made the narrator feel. Which is shown by the quote “His friendship for me, like that of a porcupine withholding its authority,”.  This quote shows how the dog makes the narrator feel because he talks about his friendship with the dog and he even makes a comparison.