ODAS ELEMENTALES – PABLO NERUDA

Every year in my Spanish 4 we read Pablo Neruda’s poems and “Odas
Elementales”.  Every year I’ve had the
idea of having my students write an Oda of their own, but I have never gone
through with it.  This week, in spite of
my hesitations, I decided to have students write one. 

The idea of Odas is to bring life to an object, and to
vivify it with passion and admiration, as if you were talking directly to the
object itself.

In many ways, Neruda used odas as a way of connecting with
his town and people.  He used them as a
vision of the world starting from the very ordinary, inconsequential things,
but things that represented the history of the time, the politics, the culture,
the careers, the struggles, etc.

I presented the topic by stating that in today’s society we
are all so busy that we rarely stop to think about ordinary things that are
important in our lives, and that are an essential part of our lives. We looked
at some of Neruda’s examples. The assignment to students was to first identify
something ordinary but essential in their lives, and with some direction, they
were on their way to writing odas.

My hesitations were twofold – I’m not an expert on poetry, and
I feared the reaction that students may have when asked to write about simple,
ordinary things. My fears diminished quickly. 
Soon students were working hands on, looking up adjectives to personalize
and bring life to their ordinary object such as a toothbrush, glasses, a bed, ice
cream, etc.

As I went around helping students, I realized how much I was
enjoying this project as I instructed them “talk to it,” “say this, say that to
it,” and we laughed.    As Neruda did, I used Odas to connect with my
town and people (my students).  

Had my students enjoyed it? And how did this help them learn/practice
Spanish?

It made it personal for them, it taught them word choice,
they were engaged, and I saw a connection to their personal lives. I saw many
students having fun writing about every day, ordinary items that we often take
for granted.

My next step is to actually ask students their perspective
on this assignment and what they gained from it. 

Here are some examples of Odas Elementales by Pablo Neruda http://neruda.uchile.cl/obra/odaselementales.htm