What poetic devices in "Ode to my Socks" contribute to the poem's meaning?

The theme of “Ode to my Socks” is that beauty is made more beautiful if it is also utilitarian. This theme is most evident in the last stanza, where the speaker explains the “moral” of his ode:

So this is
the moral of my ode:
beauty is beauty
twice over
and good things are doubly
good
when you're talking about a pair of wool
socks
in the dead of winter.

The usefulness of the socks is made clear in the reference to the setting being “the dead of winter,” because the socks can be used for the practical purpose of keeping his feet warm. But what about the beauty of the socks? This is where Neruda’s fantastic use of imagery comes in.

The majority of the poem sets up this moral by celebrating the fierce beauty of the socks. The beauty is found in the visual imagery when Neruda describes his temptation to put the socks into a casement where they can be showcased for their beauty. In stanza seven, he compares them to “fireflies in a bottle” that children commonly store away in jars. The reason people put fireflies in jars is to appreciate and show off their glow. In stanza eight, he compares the socks to a beautiful bird that he has the urge to lock away in “a golden cage” for his own appreciation. The imagery is reinforcing that the socks are worth valuing for their beauty alone.

Neruda also describes his feet as ugly, violent things in contrast to the beauty of the socks. He calls his feet “two gangly / Navy-blue sharks” that are “impaled / on a golden thread” in stanza 4. He later compares his feet to “firemen / unworthy of that embroidered / fire.” The image is exaggerating the beauty of the fire, saying it is worth more than the firemen trying to put it out. In the scenario, his feet are the “unworthy” firemen bringing damage to the beautiful, embroidered socks.

The speaker has the impulse to set the socks aside for display, but in the end, he must damage them by wearing them and make use of their warmth and beauty. He has determined that using the beautiful socks makes them “doubly good.”

The poet also uses a series of images to describe how his feet feel when he puts on the socks. His feet become woolen fish, like two blue sharks. His feet also become two huge blackbirds and two cannons. These metaphors call attention to how extraordinary the socks are that they could transform his feet into such objects. To describe how unworthy his feet are to be wearing the socks, he describes his feet as two old firefighters, afraid that his plain feet will put out the fire of the socks.

The very first line, “Maru Mori brought me,” sets a rhythm to the poem through the repetition of “m” and “r,” which seem to roll, not unlike the sounds of the entire poem. No specific rhythm dominates, but sounds link lines together, creating an inner beat.  The abundant presence of l’s and h’s and oo’s in the first stanza, for example, give the sense of luxury, contrasting with mundane topic of “socks,” a word itself consisting of pleasant sibilants of the “s” undermined by the vigor of the hard “k.” The poem uses images that appeal to the senses, such as  “soft as rabbits”  and “two knitted cases.”  Note here also the parallelism in structure that imitates the nature of the socks (always a pair).  This follows with the metaphor of “with threads of twilight and goatskin.”  Twilight and goatskin again contrast with each other (one ethereal and gentle, the other concrete and rough), reflecting the main idea of the poem concerning the beauty in something simple and useful.

Can you explain the poem "Ode to My Socks?"

The more ancient odes were written about epic characters and events. The Romantics (Keats, Shelley) wrote odes about elements of nature (Nightingales, Seasons) which provided a means for them to consider transcendent experiences. In this poem, Neruda is praising a very simple, common thing: his socks. He describes them in terms not usually associated with socks: as "knitted with threads of twilight" (or dusk, depending upon the translation). Twilight (dusk) is the transition from day to night, when there is still a glow from the sun which has just set. That is to say, the socks were formed by this mysterious glow that exists between two times: night and day. 

His feet are "honored" by these socks, as if the socks imbue his feet with life, becoming like "woolen fish" and "blackbirds" with the power of canons. He is humbled by these gifts (from Maru Mori) and feels that his feet are not worthy. This poem has all the form and language of an epic ode, but is about socks. And there is a reason for this. 

The speaker (Neruda) clarifies that he will not keep the socks like some Holy Grail or some object in a museum. That is, he will not treat them like some sacred object that is worth only what it symbolizes. He resists treating them like captured fireflies, like the "sacred documents" of scholars, or like animals in a "golden cage." This is not an ode to some object that is "objectified" and praised only for its symbolism or outward appearance. This is an ode to something that is useful every day. In comparing his socks to these sacred objects, the speaker concludes that his socks are twice as valuable as those sacred things: 

what is good is doubly 
good
when it's a matter of two
woolen socks
in winter. 

The literal meaning is that they are doubly good because there are two of them. But they are also doubly good, twice as good as, say, a sacred object because they are practical and symbolic of warmth, and generosity (being gifts). This is a poem about finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. Neruda celebrates the beauty of the utility of his socks. 

What are the motifs in the poem "Ode to My Socks"?

Neruda’s "Ode to My Socks," which celebrates the extraordinary in an everyday item (a pair of handmade socks), is filled with nature motifs: rabbits, blackbirds, fireflies, fish, and deer, just to name a few. The mystical is also a recurring motif throughout the poem. Maru Mori’s wool, a textile described as being crafted from strands of dusk, gold, and, at one point, “woven fire,” transforms his otherwise ordinary feet into precious jewel boxes, cannons, sharks, and blackbirds. Light, as it appears as a time of day and a color, is also a motif. Since a motif may also be a recurring concept or feeling, one could argue that the immense joy that the narrator experiences from receiving his gift is a motif in itself.