Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market

The English translation of Neruda’s poem loses the poem’s original sounds and cadences, as all translations do to some degree. Spanish has many more natural rhymes and flowing rhythms and sounds than English. The difference is apparent when examining the first stanza.

In English, the first stanza goes:

Here,  

among the market vegetables,

this torpedo

from the ocean  

depths,  

a missile  

that swam,

now  

lying in front of me

dead.

In Spanish, the original poem reads:

En el mercado verde,

bala

del profundo

océano

proyectil

natatorio,

te vi,

muerto.

The main difference in sound is the lack of rhyme in the English version. The only assonance—repetition of nearby vowel sounds—present in the English version is “torpedo/ocean.” The Spanish version, though, heavily relies on rhyme in this first stanza: “mercado/profundo/océano/natatorio/muerto.”

This is one issue with translation. While a translator can translate the literal meaning of a poem, they can’t translate the sounds of the original language. When reading a poem in translation, it is important to try and hear the poem in its original language.

Neruda personifies the tuna for many reasons, but the main reason is to force the reader to identify with the fish. But not only does Neruda give the tuna human characteristics, but he also gives it human tools. This allows the tuna more agency and power in the