Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market

“Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market” (1954) is an ode by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. One of Neruda’s many odes to common things, the poem glorifies and personifies a piece of fish. Neruda wrote many odes about everyday items, and “Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market” is one of these. While the poem was originally written in Spanish, this guide will utilize a 2007 English translation by Robin Robertson.

“Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market” features an unnamed speaker who walks through a market and comments on the body of a dead tuna for sale in the market. The poem gives new life and mystery to the tuna’s dead body, as it glorifies and almost deifies the tuna’s very existence. Most of the poem focuses on the tuna’s qualities while alive, and Neruda describes the fish in an almost mythological way, comparing it to various weapons of the sea and other creatures.

Through the use of the ode, Neruda speaks to the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual significance of the tuna; in a larger sense, he comments on the grandeur of the natural world while also noting on the cycle of life and death. Additionally, Neruda subtly remarks on humanity’s treatment of nature and the way people commodify that which should not be commodified. In this sense—and combined with Neruda’s communist beliefs—the poem has a bit of a Marxist sense while remaining a simple, metaphorical celebration of the tuna.

Poet Biography

Pablo Neruda (born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto) (1904-1973) was a Chilean poet, diplomat, political activist, communist, and politician. He is widely considered one of the most accomplished poets of the 20th century, and critics believe him one of the most important Latin American poets of all time. He won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971 and published numerous volumes of poetry throughout his life. His most well-known poems are his odes and numerous love poems, which critics consider particularly powerful examples of emotional poetry.

Neruda was born in a rural community in Temuco, Chile. As a boy, his father discouraged his poetic aspirations, but famous Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral mentored Neruda when he was young, encouraging him to read, write, and publish. Neruda started publishing in 1917 and by the early 1920s, he had already published numerous works and adopted the pen name Pablo Neruda. Critics believe he adopted a pen name so his father wouldn’t find out he was writing and publishing.

Neruda earned success with his second book of poetry, Veinte Poemas de Amor y Una Canción Desesperada (1924). The book of romantic poems remains one of his most popular collections of poetry, and is famous for its powerful explorations of love and sadness. The book made Neruda popular and he continued to write and translate into the 1920s, though he did not make much money from his work, resulting in squalor, desperation for work, and feeling isolated.

In 1927, Neruda took a job as consul in Burma and he lived in Asia for five years, though this job did not reward him with much money or satisfaction. His senses of despair and alienation grew, leading to his 1933 masterpiece Residencia en la Tierra. In this volume, Neruda moved from romantic poetry to surrealist verse, gaining acclaim in the poetic world. The shift in style foreshadowed Neruda’s lifelong ability to transform his voice and poetic approach from collection to collection.

In 1934, Neruda moved to Spain and became entrenched in the communist movement there. The conversion to communism inspired Neruda and offered him a new sense of purpose in his life, helping to alleviate his feelings of loneliness and despair. Inspired by the famous poet Federico García Lorca, Neruda’s poetry became more political. The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 pushed him further to the left, and he spent time during the war supporting the republican cause in several ways, including helping to raise money for the country’s rebel forces.

For the rest of the 1930s, Neruda spent time in Spain, Chile, Mexico, and France. He worked in various government jobs and continued to write about and support communist movements across the globe.

In 1943, Neruda won a seat in the Chilean senate; however, after criticizing the Chilean president in 1948, Neruda was expelled from the senate and had to leave the country in fear for his life. His journey out of the country was dramatic as he had to cross the mountains on horseback at night with nothing but his most basic possessions, including his writing. He would not return to Chile until 1952.

In 1954, he wrote one of his most famous books, Odas Elementales, which contains many of his most famous odes.

Neruda spent the rest of his life writing and continuing to advocate for various communist governments and revolutions across the world.

He died from cancer in 1973 under mysterious circumstances. His death has been the subject of much speculation: Many believe the Chilean government poisoned him. At the time, Chile was under the rule of the right-wing dictator Augusto Pinochet, an opponent of Neruda’s. However, even in death, Neruda inspired the people of his home country as they defied Pinochet’s orders that Neruda’s funeral not be public. At the time of his death, the Chilean people—and the rest of the world admired Neruda—considering him one of the best poets of the 20th century.

Neruda married three times and had one child. His personal life remains controversial for a number of reasons, chief of which is a self-reported sexual assault he wrote about in 1925. However, his poetry remains popular in the 2020s, and modern critics still consider him both one of the most important writers of the modern era and a defining voice of Latin America.

Poem Text

Neruda, Pablo. “Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market.” 1954. Poetry Foundation.

Summary

The poem opens with immediacy as the speaker declares that “[h]ere” (Line 1) lies the dead fish near the market vegetables. The speaker does not name the type of fish nor even that the subject is a fish, but the metaphorical imagery of the first stanza suggests some kind of fish; further, the title informs the reader of the subject. Neruda’s imagery in the first stanza focuses on weaponry, as he describes the tuna as “this torpedo” (Line 3) and “a missile” (Line 6). The stanza ends with a simple pronouncement of the fish’s current state: “now / lying in front of me / dead” (Lines 8-10).

The second stanza echoes the first’s image of the market vegetables and elaborates on the images, listing lettuce and carrots as the specific vegetables surrounding the tuna. The speaker directly addresses the dead fish, complimenting it for surviving “the unknown, the / unfathomable / darkness” (Lines 18-20) of the sea. The speaker plays up the danger and mystery of the ocean, calling it “le grand abîme” (Line 24), or the great abyss. The speaker uses romantic language to describe the fish: “varnished / black-pitched” (Lines 26-27) and saying it, unlike the vegetables grown from earth, was “witness / to that deepest night” (Lines 28-29), meaning the dark sea.

Stanza three opens with another weaponry image as the speaker calls the tuna a “dark bullet” (Line 31). Later in the stanza, the speaker echoes this description by comparing the tuna to a flying bird, a flying arrow, a flying javelin, and a flying harpoon. The fish is also wounded, as if fishermen have already attacked it, and it carries its “one wound” (Line 37) with grace, as it is resurgent and powerful when it swims through the waves.

The final stanza returns the reader to the scene of the market. The tuna is no longer lively and romantic as it swims through the waves; instead, it is dead and lifeless. The speaker describes it as a royal body on display in a coffin with the phrase “catafalqued king” (Line 54). The speaker imagines themself as a subject of the tuna, saying the fish was king “of my own ocean” (Line 55), and gives the tuna even more power in the next lines as they describe it as “seed / to sea-quake, / tidal wave” (Lines 59-61). However, once more, the speaker reminds the reader that the once powerful fish is now dead and for sale in the market.

The poem ends with a shift to a more philosophical contemplation of nature as the speaker calls the tuna “the only shape left / with purpose or direction / in this / jumbled ruin / of nature” (Lines 66-70). The speaker then returns to the weaponry imagery, comparing the tuna to a man of war and a ship—a “machine / of the sea” (Lines 81-82). The final three lines of the poem imagine the tuna flying in much the same way it did earlier in the poem, except now the tuna flies and navigates “the waters of death” (Line 85).