Neruda Talks about poppies in his poetry.What do they represent?

try a search on all forums. Pam once told us that poppies represent world war I for a lot of people (especially in britain however). If you post the poem you are referring to, maybe we can try to determine if this interpretation applies here?

Yes, poppies from In Flanders Fields

hey, could be opium too

Neruda Talks about poppies in his poetry.What do they represent?

What about some examples? Sometimes they just represent flowers, I mean. I see one flower below and one 'poppy-petalled metaphysics', but I don't immediately follow that reference.

[oldpoetry.com] />
"You are going to ask: and where are the lilacs?
and the poppy-petalled metaphysics?
and the rain repeatedly spattering
its words and drilling them full
of apertures and birds?
I'll tell you all the news."


"My somber heart seeks you always
I love your happy body, your rich, soft voice.
Dusky butterfly, sweet and sure
Like the wheat field, the sun, the poppy, and the water."

Some findings:

In Spanish the word is AMAPOLA. (Accent on 3rd syllable.) A very different sound than the sharp word POPPY.

Neruda loved the WORD ITSELF. He wrote a "Book of Questions" and one of the questions is: ¿Hay una estrella más ABIERTA que la palabra "amapola"? Translation: Is there any [star] more OPEN than the word "amapola"? I put "star" in brackets because I need to check (at home) whether the word estrella has alternate meanings.

Searching on line, I looked at several places where Neruda uses the word AMAPOLA. He often uses it to describe a woman, or his love for a woman. He seems to use it to mean something LOVELY AND VULNERABLE. He often contrasts it with another noun such as CLAY.

I'll post again tomorrow if I come up with more.

I would check this.

Yes, what do poppies represent? What do bluebells represent?

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