Pablo Neruda's TO WASH A CHILD

TO WASH A CHILD
by Pablo Neruda

Only the most ancient love on earth
will wash and comb the statue of the children,
straighten the feet and knees.
The water rises, the soap slithers,
and the pure body comes up to breathe
the air of flowers and motherhood.

Oh, the sharp watchfulness,
the sweet deception,
the lukewarm struggle!

Now the hair is a tangled
pelt criscrossed by charcoal,
by sawdust and oil,
soot, wiring, crabs,
until love, in its patience,
sets up buckets and sponges,
combs and towels,
and, out of scrubbing and combing, amber,
primal scrupulousness, jasmines,
has emerged the child, newer still,
running from the mother's arms
to clamber again on its cyclone,
go looking for mud, oil, urine and ink,
hurt itself, roll about on the stones.
Thurs, newly washed, the child springs into life,
for later, it will have time for nothing more
than keeping clean, but with the life lacking.

ANALYSIS:


MADONNA AND CHILD
A child is often described as innocent, care free and worry-free. He doesn’t care about appearances; he is not pretentious; and he tells everything as it is. He is perhaps the most delightful creature on earth, always smiling, facing the world without any fear and always full of wonder and astonishment. To him the world is full of surprises, full of places to explore, people to meet and things to do. The dictionary describes him as a young person or someone that is strongly influenced by something, a person, place, event or thing.

The same dictionary describes a mother as a female parent, someone who cares for and protects someone or something. Society describes her as the “light of the home.” She guides her child into the right path; someone who nurtures, cares, loves and understands. She is patient, tender and always protective of her child. She is the most important person in a child’s life; she is the one who determines what the child will be. She will instill values and teach her child lessons.

Pablo Neruda’s poem, To Wash a Child, tells us the story of a mother and child. How a mother nurtures and cares for her child and how the child is carefree and innocent.


Only the most ancient love on earth
will wash and comb the statue of the children,
straighten the feet and knees.The first line of the poem mentions “the most ancient love on earth.” This pertains to a mother’s love which existed even before the human beings did. No matter which one is true, the bible creation story or the theory of evolution, I can safely that other forms of animals existed before human beings did. Other animals such as monkeys, gorillas, even dogs and birds, are parental creatures. Their system of living includes the mother nurturing the offspring until the offspring is old enough to take care of itself. This love, maternal love, is the only love which will “wash and comb the statue of the children, / straighten the feet and knees.” The washing and the combing gives us a picture of the mother cleaning the child, freeing him of impurities and other things that pollute or destroy the child’s physical body. This may also be interpreted as the mother teaching his child the right values and filtering and ridding his mind of impurities. The image of straightening may also connote instilling the child with the values of being upright and honest.


The water rises, the soap slithers,
and the pure body comes up to breathe
the air of flowers and motherhood.The image of the water rising gives us the scene that the child is being emerged in water and the soap slithering gives us the feeling of being cleansed. The line “and the pure body comes up to breathe / the air of flowers and motherhood,” shows us the effort of the child to rise above the water to breathe, to live. The pure body signifies a clean body, free of dirt. It denotes free of moral fault, chastity and innocence. Flowers are the part of a plant which blooms and shows the plant’s maturity. In the poem, flower means the state of blooming, maturing or gaining wisdom. As mentioned motherhood is a state of nurturing a child, which also suggests the molding of a child by the mother.


Oh, the sharp watchfulness,
the sweet deception,
the lukewarm struggle!The “sharp watchfulness” means a distinct attentiveness. It expresses the mother’s protection over her child. While the “sweet deception” is juxtaposition with sweet meaning pleasing which is positive and deception meaning the act of causing belief in an untruth which is negative. What this paragraph probably suggests is the half-hearted sternness of the mother to discipline her child for love of her child. The “lukewarm struggle” is another juxtaposition with lukewarm meaning unenthusiastic and struggle being a violent or vigorous effort or exertion. The adjective lukewarm gives as a feeling of half-heartedness, where the child, in response to the “sweet deception,” half-heartedly fights or resists his mother. The usual conflict between a mother and her child is highlighted.


Now the hair is tangled
pelt crisscrossed by the charcoal
by sawdust and oil,
soot, wiring, crabs,The first four lines of the third stanza show us the image of the child being dirty and in a mess. The imagery suggests a child’s situation of being confused, of being exposed to the violence, greed and other impurities of the world.


until love, in its patience,
sets up buckets and sponges,
combs and towels,Until his mother patiently cleans him up again. This refers to the mother’s love nourishing him, comforting him, helping him sort out his confusion, absorbing his pain.


and, out of scrubbing and combing, amber
primal scrupulousness, jasmines,
has emerged the child, newer still
running from the mother’s arms
to clamber again on its cyclone,
go looking for mud, oil, urine, and ink,
hurt itself, roll about on the stones.
Thus, newly washed, the child springs to life,And after the cleansing, the child will come out unscathed and clean, ready to run from his mother to go out and play again. The image of the child going away from his mother expresses the child’s want for freedom. His clambering on a cyclone and looking for mud, oil, urine, and in, hurting himself and rolling about on stones gives us a picture of the child playing and frolicking. This is the child’s enjoyment of life, looking at life with innocence and wonder. Wanting to go out and experience more.


for, later, it will have time for nothing more
than keeping clean, but with the life lacking.The child is enjoying all his time because later, he will do nothing but clean himself. This shows a change in the child. In the second stanza and the first few lines of the third stanza, the child does not care at all with being clean and just wants to go out and play. But in the last two lines of the poem, the child will no longer have time to play; instead he will keep himself clean all the time. This reveals to us the child’s eventual maturity where he loses his innocence and carefree attitude. He will just be concerned with keeping himself clean, acceptable to society and will no longer enjoy himself. This last two lines also doesn’t show the image of the mother anymore suggesting that the child’s loss of innocence and carefree attitude may happen when he will have to care for himself.

The poem does not only speak to us the boundless love of a mother to her child. Her love being unconditional and patient. And the child being carefree and innocent. But there comes a time when a mother has to leave her child. When the child has to care for himself and no longer be carefree but careful of what he does, no matter how much he doesn’t enjoy doing so.