"I Explain a Few Things" appears in the second and third volumes of this collection, reflecting its author's output from 1931-35 while stationed as a diplomat in Madrid, and then from 1935-45, influenced by the horror of the Spanish Civil War.
The speaker of this collection charges "stockings and shoes" with "dividing my feet from the dust of the world, / compelling my solitude, compounding my exile," in its poem "Ritual of My Legs." The speaker prophesies that, "out of your turpitude, bullets are born / that one day will strike for the mark / of your hearts," in a poem from this collection ending with a thrice-repeated call to "come see the blood / in the streets!" The speaker examines "courtyards with laundry hung out on a wire" while "slowly dribbling a slovenly tear," at the end of a poem in this collection that begins: "It (*) so happens I'm tired of just being a man." The poems "Walking Around" and "I Explain a Few Things" appears in the second and third volumes of this collection, reflecting its author's output from 1931-35 while stationed as a diplomat in Madrid, and then from 1935-45, influenced by the horror of the Spanish Civil War. For 10 points, name this three-volume collection spanning two decades of poetry by Pablo Neruda.
The speaker of this collection charges "stockings and shoes" with "dividing my feet from the dust of the world, / compelling my solitude, compounding my exile," in its poem "Ritual of My Legs."
Residence on Earth [or Residencia en la Tierra]