Man Is a Paradox

【Abstract】In the poem "Always", the author Pablo Neruda employs the first person narration to incisively reveal the paradoxical traits in human nature by exploring man in relation to love. "I" play a role shifting from a calm narrator to a furious one, and the last recovering to a mild one, which offers a multiple visual angle to observe humanity. In sum, by means of continuous changes of my inner feelings in the poem, Pablo Neruda reveals the paradoxical humanity .

【Key words】Pablo Neruda;"always";love;Paradox

【中图分类号】 G02 【文献标识码】 A【文章编号】1671-1270(2009)6-0009-01

Pablo Neruda's poem "Always" incisively reveals the paradoxical traits in human nature by exploring man in relation to love.

The author employs the first person narration to show various conflicting emotions in "my" heart. "I" seem to mutter to myself and also to my love. "I" play a role shifting from a calm narrator to a furious one, and the last recovering to a mild one, which offers a multiple visual angle to observe humanity. Meanwhile, in the poem, the author calls for the reader's sensuous reaction to the visually and acoustically oriented description, which is in perfect according with "my" vivid telling.

In the opening stanza, lying out before the reader is only one sentence--"Facing youI am not jealous" which shows my attitude toward "you"--"not jielousy". Here the author sets an example to show how unselfish "I" am. And the manner of my speaking is very quiet, just like calm sea under the blue sky.

For the fist stanza, the reader only knows "I am not jealous", but what am "I" not jealous of? With this question, the reader comes to the second stanza. Until now, the reader knows "I" am not jealous of anybody that you love and I don't envy whether you take one or a hundred or a thousand men back.

But for a careful reader, it is difficult to detect traces of the author's endeavor to weave his sentences in a way that can both fit the character's inner feeling and carry rich implications of the poem. After the reader has a continuous reading, he may find the calm mutters begin to become roars, just like a calm sea turning into a furious one. Even though the reader can't find accurate words to show that "I" am roaring, from the words that "I" use, the reader can know "my" inner feeling——"I" hope all my rivals are "drowned men" (Line 9) floating on "the furious sea" (Line 8). Now the reader knows "I" am not only jealous but also furious because love is selfish and can't share with any man.

Not only language can cause the reader's boundless imagination about "my" indignation and jealousy, but also the exaggerated description can evoke the reader's attention to the visual senses. At the beginning of the second stanza, the author sets up a series of funny scenes. A man comes with "my" girl at her back; the more funny scene is a hundred men come with "my" girl in her hair and even more comical scene is a thousand men come with "my" girl between her bosom and feet. How can men be like that? They are not real men. They are babies at your back and your bosom; they are beggars at your feet; and they are as small as fleas in your hair. All of them are not your Mr. Right, and all that they can do is to suck up what you can give them. Not only can they do nothing for you, but they will hurt you like fleas and blood flukes. Compared with them, I am a real man; I can do anything for you and I am the right person you are looking for.

Another scene is thousands of hundreds of men coming with "my" girl like a river filled with drowned men in the furious sea and on the sea is the eternal foam flowing. This is a tragic scene. These men can not triumph over the furious sea. And I am the furious sea. Therefore all my rivals, you can come and I will defeat you, and all of you will be like drowned men.

The never——ending unsteadiness is a court for man's paradoxical emotions. In the third stanza, "I" gradually calm down. I murmur to "you" : "bring them all" (Line 11) and "I" always "wait for you" (Line 12)--my love. But paradoxically, I hope "we shall always be alone, we shall always be, you and I" (Line 13, 14)

In sum, by means of continuous changes of my inner feelings in the poem, Pablo Neruda reveals the paradoxical humanity, thus furthering the title "Always" which means I am always paradoxical; I am always jealous; I always wait for you and I always love you.

Always

Facing you

I am not jealous.

Come with a man

at your back,

come with a hundred men in your hair,

come with a thousand men between your bosom and your feet,

come like a river

filled with drowned men

that meets the furious sea,

the eternal foam, the weather.

Bring them all

where I wait for you:

we shall always be alone,

we shall always be, you and I,

alone upon the earth

to begin life.

【References】

[1]徐明.当代欧美文学名篇导读 [M].南京:南开大学出版社学,2009.

[2]陈立华.经典诗歌欣赏[M].武汉测绘科技大学出版社,1997.

【作者简介】王茂娟(Wang Mao-juan)(1976.11-),女,四川乐山师范学院外国语学院讲师, 硕士, 主要从事英语语言学研究。