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8. To the Foot from its Child, Pablo Neruda, Comprehension I., 1. What would the foot like to be?, It would like to be a butterfly or an apple., 2. Line 1 of the poem conveys, The child’s ignorance of harsh realities., 3. What does time teach the child?, Time teaches the child that it cannot fly. It cannot be a butterfly or an, apple., 4. The line ‘stones and bits of glass, streets, ladders and the paths in the, rough earth’, a) indicates hardships one has to face in life., 5. Why does the child’s foot feel defeated?, The hard realities of life make the child‘s foot feel defeated. It has to live, like a prisoner, condemned to live in a shoe, and it can never be free to, escape from the difficulties of life., 6. Which words convey the real experiences of the foot?, The words ‘But in time, stones and bits of glass, streets, ladders, and the, paths in the rough earth’ convey the real experiences of the child’s foot., 6. Which lines in the poem suggest transformation of the foot., The Lines 17 – 28 suggest the transformation of the foot., “These soft nails of quartz ……… ……………………. …………………… a, coarsening hard to accept.”, 8., , “….. condemned to live in a shoe” suggests that the foot is, (c) forced to give up its dreams., , 9. Identify some examples of the mundane (routine) activities of an adult., The mundane activities of the adult are walking, ploughing the fields,, mining, working in offices, markets and ministries., 10., , What does the line ‘until the whole man chooses to stop’ mean?, The line, ‘until the whole man chooses to stop’ means death of the man.
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Comprehension II., 1. We think of a foot as belonging to a person, but Neruda says ‘To The, Foot From Its Child’. Why?, The poem ‘to the foot from its child’ is a symbolic poem of contrasting, thoughts. Pablo Neruda uses child as a symbol of innocence and full of, imagination. The poet views the child as part of society or system. Neruda, uses ‘foot’ as a metaphor for life and focuses on the changes seen in the, transition of an infant’s foot through adulthood and until it dies and gets, buried. Now the foot is part of child and dreams of becoming a butterfly, or an apple. It is true that we think of a foot as belonging to a person, but, Neruda sees it in a philosophical way and says “To The Foot From Its, Child”. Though it belongs to a person physically, philosophically like the, child who is the symbol of innocence, the foot also does not know about, its future. But in adulthood, it faces many challenges of life and steps over,, “stones and bits of glass, / streets, ladders / and the paths in the rough, earth, it learns that its role is that of a foot. In course of its journey the, child is exposed to the harsh realities of life. All this makes the foot realizes, that it cannot transform its dream into reality., 2., , Pick out the expressions that suggest the child’s imagination is fertile., Pablo Neruda is a Chilean Poet, diplomat and politician. He expresses His, revolutionary ideas through his intellectual poetry. His poems are deep, in thought and rich in imagery. In this poem ‘To the Foot from Its Child’, he presents the dream of an individual against the hard realities of life as, part of a system or society., The poem begins with the lines, ‘The child’s foot is not yet aware it’s a foot’, and would like to be a butterfly or an apple’. At the child’s age, it does not, realise that it was a foot. It describes the innocence of the child with, unmatched imagination. The child is filled with colourful dreams of, becoming either a butterfly or an apple. In contrast with this beautiful, dream, stones, bits of glass, and the paths in the rough earth teaches the, foot that it can neither become a butterfly nor a fruit. After facing many, difficulties in life, it understands that it was a prisoner inside a man’s shoe., It felt the darkness inside the shoe that it couldn’t even get an opportunity, to communicate with the other foot. It is imprisoned by the forces of
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society and misses its form. The expressions, ‘to be a buttery’, or ‘an, apple’, ‘can not fly’, ‘cannot be a fruit bulging on the branch’ suggest that, the child’s imagination is fertile., 3., , What contrasting descriptions of the foot does the poem offer? Why?, The poet Pablo Neruda presents a contrasting description of a child’s foot, and an adult’s foot to describe the changes that are seen in a person’s life, as he or she changes from an infant into an adult, until his death. Initially,, the child or the infant’s foot has soft nails of quartz and its toes are tiny,, soft, and rounded at the tips like the petals of some flowers. As the child, learns to walk and starts walking on stones, bits of glass, streets, ladders, and the rough surface of the earth, the child’s foot becomes aware of its, role. It learns that it is a foot and cannot become a buttery or a bulging, fruit on a tree. Once it realizes that it is a foot, it is defeated in realizing its, aspirations and gets imprisoned in a shoe. Inside the shoe, it tries to, understand the world in its own way, alone, like a blind man groping in, the dark. During this period its soft nails of quartz become opaque, are, bunched together, and look like eyeless reptiles with triangular heads,, grow callused, and are covered with faint volcanoes of death., These changes happen because, once the child’s foot becomes an adult’s, foot, it walks as the foot of a man or woman and keeps walking in the, fields as a farmer, or as a grocer in the markets, or as a miner in the mines, or as a church minister or a government worker, until its death. Thus, the, foot experiences the hardships of life and loses its ‘soft’ and flowery petallike form., , 4, , The poem begins with the idea that the child’s foot is not yet aware that, it is a foot; at the end, the foot is unaware that it had ceased to be a, foot. What is the poet trying to convey through these statements?, OR, 5. How can the foot fly or become an apple after it is buried?
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‘To the foot from its child’ is a remarkable poem about an individual’s, struggle to become one that he dreams to be in a controlled society., When the poem begins, the ‘foot’ is the infant’s foot which suggests, man’s ‘childhood’. The child’s foot does not know that it is a foot. This, state refers to the innocence of childhood where ‘Man’ has many dreams, and aspirations. The child’s wish to become a buttery or an apple stands, for man’s aspirations and dreams., Once the child’s foot enters the real world, it starts walking over stones,, bits of glass, streets, ladders, and the rough surface of the earth. Thus, as, the child grows over a period of time, the child’s foot realizes that it is only, a ‘foot’ and cannot become fruit or a butterfly. Then, since it has to serve, its role as afoot, it is imprisoned in a shoe. Inside the shoe, it tries to, understand the world alone, in isolation. The child’s foot, as it grows old,, serves as the foot of a man or a woman working in the fields, or market, or mines or ministries and toils hard day and night until it dies., When it dies, the foot loses its human awareness and that is why when it, is buried the foot again gets its child-like innocence. It again dreams of, becoming an apple or a buttery. It is this journey from childhood through, adulthood and the final death that the poem focuses on. Pablo Neruda is, saying that life and death are part of a continuous cycle. Secondly, the, poet wishes to say that the freedom of childhood is lost when a person, becomes an adult and faces a life of constant work and struggle. Thus, life, takes away people’s free spirits until they are freed again by death. In this, poem, ‘foot’ is a metaphor for ‘life’. The poet Neruda using the foot as a, metaphor to explore ‘life’ through its various stages from infancy through, childhood until death., 6, , How does Neruda describe the busy life of the individual as represented, by the foot?, Once the child develops into an adult, the adult keeps on walking without, break either as a man or as a woman. The adult foot is now in the harsh, world outside, suggesting that the adult gets trapped in the routines of, everyday life or the unexciting or boring commonality of existence. It is, now less capable of enjoyment and finds life difficult in every walk of life., The man continues to walk restlessly to meet the various deeds of him, and his family. He cannot stop the work, because if he stops he couldn’t
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survive and can’t take care of his family. The individual spends his life, working either as a farmer in a field, or as a miner in mines, or as a, salesperson in the market or as a government servant or as a church, minister., The ‘foot’ blindly, without rest and sleep continues to walk and habitually, has no time to stop or take off the shoe. It has no time for love or sleep, until when man decides to stop i.e., till the man’s death. It sweats in the, shoe, day and night, scarcely finding time to enjoy the pleasures of life or, sleep. It works without respite or break and finally meets with death. This, way the individual toils hard in society until his death., Comprehension III, 1), , Examine how Neruda’s poem works out the contrast between colourful, dreams and the humdrum reality of life. OR, Is Neruda criticizing how society crushes childhood dreams and forces, people into rigid moulds?, Pablo Neruda is a Chilean Poet, diplomat and politician. He wrote in a, variety of styles and he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1971. The, poem ‘To the Foot from its Child’ is richly filled with meaning and striking, imageries., The poem, ‘To the Foot from its Child’, presents a contrast between, colourful dreams and the humdrum reality of life. It depicts how an, individual is reduced to an object of suppression under varying, circumstances. The poet conveys his view of life through his description, of a ‘foot’. The foot is a metaphor for expressing the crushing of a child’s, spirit through the challenges and restrictions that life places upon him., One can undoubtedly infer that the poem is basically a criticism of how, people force children to grow in society and make them to forget all their, dreams and imaginations., With a view to defining the forces that capture the child’s freedom and, aspirations, the poet begins the poem making a statement directly that, the child’s foot, which is not aware that it is a foot, would like to be a, buttery or an apple. From this one can infer that man’s spirit dreams of, enjoying unlimited freedom in this world but it comes to know that it
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cannot enjoy unlimited freedom and has to pass through several, obstacles before it matures into an adult., But, in time, stones and bits of glass, streets, ladders, paths in the rough, earth go on teaching the foot that it cannot fly. As the infant is growing, and developing into a mature adult, he is exposed to the harsh realities of, life which are metaphorically expressed as stones, bits of glass, ladder,, street, etc. These are the problems and obstacles an individual has to face., Thus, once the child becomes a boy, an adolescent, and an adult, the, problems of life teach the individual that he is a ‘mortal’ and his powers, are limited and can only serve the society as a member like other human, beings. This sense is expressed in the line ‘that it cannot fly, cannot, become a fruit and is defeated, falls in the battle, is a prisoner condemned, to live in a shoe’. Here, the ‘shoe’ can be taken to mean the human society, that regulates his mind and activities., Wearing the shoe refers to the infant becoming a mature adult. Soon after, entering the adulthood, the individual explores ‘life’ within the shoe. He, loses touch with the reality of the outside world but experiences the, world through the eyes of society. As a member of the human society, he, starts exploring the human world alone, groping in the dark like a blind, man. This again means that a lot of restrictions are imposed on the, individual. Now that he is an adult he keeps on walking without respite, through the fields, mines, markets, and ministries. The line ‘this foot toils, in its shoe, scarcely taking time to bare itself in love or sleep’ expresses, the fact that once he realizes that he is a man destined to live in a society,, he learns to face the humdrum realities of life. He has no time to let his, human spirit indulge in ‘love’ and ‘sleep’. He is a prisoner and keeps on, working until he dies. Once he dies his spirit loses its human awareness, and is once again as free as the children., 2, , Neruda’s poem is a salute to the ordinary human being, who continues, with life braving all odds. Do you agree? Give reasons., Yes. In this poem, Neruda tries to outline the journey of human ‘life’ from, its infancy to death and beyond. With a view to expressing the changes, that the ‘life spirit’ undergoes through its journey from an infant to an, adult and beyond death, Neruda uses ‘foot’ as a metaphor. That is why he
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calls ‘life’ during infancy as the infant foot and the life spirit of an adult as, the adult foot., The whole poem can be summed up as the ‘surrender’ of life force to, societal pressures. During infancy, the child’s spirit dreams of infinite, possibilities and hence dreams of becoming a fruit or a butterfly. Once it, starts growing in society the harsh realities of life expressed as ‘stones,, bits of glass, ladder, and rough surface of the earth’, teach the infant spirit, that it is a ‘foot’ which means ‘you have a role’ to play in the society and, ‘you are an individual subservient to the whims and fancies of the society’., Once the infant spirit gradually accepts its defeat and tries to live in, conformity with the norms of the society, it becomes an adult. This is, expressed metaphorically as the ‘foot being imprisoned in a shoe’., Once you become a member of the society you learn to live like others,, giving up your pleasures and gradually you get to know the realities of life., You go on slogging throughout your life without indulging in ‘love and, sleep’ which symbolically represent your rights on this earth. You sacrifice, your rights and live like an adult and serve the society until you die and, you get your freedom after your death. As long as your life spirit is in your, body you have human awareness and you are aware of your limitations., Once you die you lose human awareness and your spirit is free to enjoy, its freedom., In the poem, Neruda does not speak of the possibilities of the human spirit, ‘rebelling’. Nor does he say that human spirit is being crushed by, oppressive forces; the human spirit does not commit suicide. On the, contrary, he describes the journey of the human spirit as an infant’s foot, until it becomes an adult foot and after its death how it becomes free, again. From this, it can be argued that Neruda’s poem is a salute to the, human spirit for braving all odds and completing one’s cycle of life and, death peacefully, and not rebelliously., 4., , ‘Foot’ is a key word in the poem. Comment on Neruda’s skilful use of the, word and its associations in terms of imagery to convey his ideas., In this poem, as the title ‘To the Foot from its Child’ suggests, ‘foot’ is the, keyword in the poem. The poet uses ‘foot’ as a metaphor for his view of, ‘life’. The poet personifies the ‘foot’ and focuses his attention on the ‘life’
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of man, using the ‘foot’ as the protagonist. ‘Life’ begins in infancy and so, even in the poem, ‘life’ begins as an infant’s foot., It is natural that children, who are naive and innocent, do not know that, their foot is meant for walking and it has a function to discharge. Through, the use of the ‘foot’ as a metaphor, the poet cleverly brings out the battle, between harsh realities of life symbolically expressed as stones, streets,, ladder, bits of glass, etc. The child dreams of becoming a butterfly or an, apple. So naturally, the metaphor of foot helps the poet to convey his, meaning through an imaginary battle fought between the child’s foot and, the surfaces on which the child is likely to walk., The child’s foot is sure to be hurt when it walks on a street laden with, stones and bits of glass and paths in the rough earth and when it climbs, the ladder pressing his soft foot on the pointed edges of the rungs of the, ladder. Then it realizes that it is a ‘foot’. Here, the poet wants the reader, to know that the adult world fights against the spirit of the child and, makes him become aware of his role as an individual in human society. At, this stage, the foot is imprisoned in a shoe, which means, the child’s, consciousness reaches maturity and adulthood., Adulthood is now represented as ‘adult foot’ enclosed in a shoe. The adult, foot gropes in the dark and learns about the harsh realities of life like a, blind man. Here, it means, unlike the child’s foot which had more, .freedom than the adult’s, the adult foot has to work in a rigid mould given, by the society. The ‘shoe’ represents this framework given by society., Here again, the ‘foot’ as a metaphor comes to his help. Therefore, the, poet chooses ‘shoe’ as representing societal norms and traditions., The blind adult foot now walks and works without respite until he dies., The different professions of men are mentioned in the poem. The adult, foot may be a man’s foot or a woman’s foot and keeps walking through, fields, markets, mines, and ministries, and finally toils hard scarcely, finding time to enjoy ‘love’ and ‘sleep’. Here also the metaphor of the, ‘foot’ facilitates the expression in the line ‘scarcely taking time to bare, itself in love or sleep’. Finally, it ceases to be a ‘foot’ when a man chooses, to stop working. Thus, the ‘foot’ as a metaphor has been skilfully used by, the poet to evoke the right imagery to suit his meaning., xxxxxxxxxxx
