Ode to My Socks Group

Question:

vwitme
vwitme
Student
High School - 10th Grade

What is the moral or message of Ode to my Socks? What proof is there for this message?

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Posted by vwitme on Sunday November 25, 2007 at 3:29 PM and tagged with message, moral, ode to my socks, themes.

Answers:


  1. malibrarian Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    "So this is the moral of my ode: twice beautiful is beauty and what is good doubly good when it is a case of two woolen socks in wintertime."

    The poet states that his moral is that something is twice as beautiful, twice as good, when, specifically, it is two warm socks in the winter. But to go further, one could say that the moral of this is to appreciate the little things in life...or depending on your point of view or your economic situation, appreciate everything you have, especially a good pair of socks that will protect your feet from the cold.

    I think he is celebrating the ordinary things in our everyday existence - if we're lucky enough to have those things. For people not fortunate enough to have warm socks in the winter time, maybe it is a call for us to not be selfish and to help people out who are in need.

    Check the links below, especially the one about his themes, for more information.  Good luck!

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/ode-socks/text-poem
    http://www.enotes.com/ode-socks/themes

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    Posted by malibrarian on Sunday November 25, 2007 at 4:20 PM


  2. sagetrieb Teacher
    Doctorate

    .  Besides celebrating the beauty of the mundane, Neruda also redefines art in this poem.  Art—Beauty—has been traditionally defined as something very special, often difficult to understand, something sophisticated, perhaps hung up in museums.  Poetry is supposed to be about lofty subjects such as Love, Death, or the Meaning of Life.  Neruda’s poem says, “no, art is useful as well as beautiful.”  It is for this reason the narrator says “I resisted the sharp temptation / to save them somewhere as schoolboys keep fireflies, / as learned men collect / sacred texts, / I resisted the mad mpulse to put them / in a golden cage.”

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/ode-socks/text-poem

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    Posted by sagetrieb on Sunday November 25, 2007 at 5:23 PM