You can say anything you want, yessir, but it's the words that sing, they soar and descend...I bow to them...I love them, I cling to them, I run them down, I bite into them, I melt them down...I love words so much...The unexpected ones...The ones I wait for greedily or stalk until, suddenly, they drop.
Interpretation
This quote expresses a deep passion and reverence for the beauty and power of words.
In this quote, Pablo Neruda conveys his profound admiration for the magic of language. He describes words as living entities that evoke emotions, inspire creativity, and connect people. The act of chasing after words symbolizes the relentless quest for expression and meaning, showcasing how they can resonate with the soul and elicit powerful feelings. His enthusiasm for the unexpected and unique words underlines the joy of discovery in language, emphasizing its significance in the human experience.
In practice
In a speech about the impact of literature on society, one might say, 'As Pablo Neruda said, words soar and descend; they hold the power to inspire change.'
Perhaps this war will pass like the others which divided us leaving us dead, killing us along with the killers but the shame of this time puts its burning fingers to our faces. Who will erase the ruthlessness hidden in innocent blood?
I want to see the thirst inside the syllables I want to touch the fire in the sound: I want to feel the darkness of the cry. I want words as rough as virgin rocks.” - Verb.
Only do not forget, if I wake up crying it's only because in my dream I'm a lost child hunting through the leaves of the night for your hands.
And here am I, budding among the ruins with only sorrow to bite on, as if weeping were a seed and I the earth's only furrow.
Once more I am the silent one who came out of the distance wrapped in cold rain and bells: I owe to earth's pure death the will to sprout.
I learned about life from life itself, love I learned in a single kiss and could teach no one anything except that I have lived with something in common among men.
I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own.
New Jersey is the most poetic state: close enough to New York to be urban and cosmopolitan, far enough to be desirous and unsure; densely populated, but full of farms and woods, with the most deer of any state.
A studio, like a poem, is an intimacy and a freedom you can look out from, into each part of your life and a little beyond.
Dancing is bigger than the physical body. Think bigger than that. When you extend your arm, it doesn't stop at the end of your fingers, because you're dancing bigger than that. You're dancing spirit.
Second hand books are wild books, homeless books; they have come together in vast flocks of variegated feather, and have a charm which the domesticated volumes of the library lack.
Nearly everybody is looking for something brave to do. I don't know why people shouldn't write poetry. That's brave.
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