1a. What is the reader told about the person who gave the socks to the speaker? What does the speaker say his or her feet turned into after putting on the socks?
2a. In lines 34–44, what attitude does the speaker express about his or her feet?
3a. What strong temptation does the speaker resist?
1b. How does the speaker feel about this gift of socks? How can you tell?
2b. Why do you think the speaker now feels this way about his or her feet?
3b. Why do you think the speaker feels this temptation? Why does the speaker not submit to the temptation?
4a. Identify the different attitudes the speaker expresses toward his socks throughout this poem.
4b. What do you learn about the speaker of this poem through his thoughts and reactions to his socks? What type of person does the speaker seem to be?
5a. What does the speaker say is the "moral" of the ode? Explain whether this is really a moral, or a lesson.
5b. Compare and contrast the speaker's reaction to the gift of socks in "Ode to My Socks" with Neruda's description of a gift he received as a child in the related reading, "Childhood and Poetry."
Metaphor and Simile. What are some of the metaphors and similes you found in this poem? Why do you think the speaker used so many different similes and metaphors to describe one thing? What does this say about the speaker's imagination?
Mood. How would you describe the mood of this poem?
1. Write a thank-you note to someone you know either thanking him or her for a gift that he or she recently gave to you or thanking this person for something nice he or she did.
2. Write your own original simile or metaphor about an article of clothing you enjoy wearing.
3. Write a short fantasy story about what might happen if the speaker's stockinged feet were to actually turn into one of the things to which they are compared. What for example, would happen if the stockinged feet really became sharks or birds?
Antonyms. An antonym means the opposite of another word. Write down one antonym for each of the following words. Then use the antonym in a sentence.
1. audacious antonym: sentence:
2. mammoth antonym: sentence:
3. celestial antonym: sentence:
4. luminous antonym: sentence:
5. hoard antonym: sentence:
6. sacred antonym: sentence:
7. impulse antonym: sentence:
8. remote antonym: sentence:
Identifying Parts of Speech. For each of the following sentences, look at each underlined word and identify each as noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, or interjection. Refer to the Parts of Speech Summary in the Language Arts Survey (3.51–3.73).
1. My cousin Brent is very smart.
2. I ate a hotdog with mustard and relish.
3. I think I'm getting sick again.
4. Neither Susan nor Maria volunteered for the assignment.
5. Aerial is going to Africa.
6. The cookies were in the oven too long, so they got burnt.
7. Yikes! That's hot!
8. Max got through the maze really quickly.
9. Did Maggie see them, too?
10. My generous aunt loves to send us presents.
Comparing and Contrasting and How to Locate Library Materials. Go to your school or local library and find two different translations of the same poem. You may choose to locate two different translations of one of Neruda's poems, or you may wish to explore other poets who wrote in Spanish, such as Octavio Paz, Gabriela Mistral, or Frederico Garcia Lorcia. You might begin your search by looking for collections of your chosen poet's work, noting whether your school or local library has more than one translated version of his or her poem. You can also expand your search to the Internet. Once you have located two different translations of the same poem, photocopy them, and write a paragraph in the space below in which you compare and contrast the two versions. Provide your teacher with your photocopies of the poems in addition to your paragraph comparing and contrasting the two translations.
