To the Foot From It’s Child is a poem written By poet-diplomat and politician, Pablo Neruda. The poem was originally published in 1958 in poet’s collection, ” Estravagaris”.
To the Foot From Its Child Summary By Pablo Neruda
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Summary of To the Foot From Its Child By Pablo Neruda
In the poem, the poet has used “Foot” as a metaphor, when a child is born he does not know about the struggles of life but as he grows up he gets to know the reality of life.
The story of the poem starts with the description of a baby’s foot which does not know that it is a foot, it does not know the reality yet so it may be dreaming of becoming a butterfly or an apple.
Here the poet means, when a baby is born, it is born with infinite dreams and possibilities. A child is born with an optimistic attitude towards life. He does not know the reality of life.
As time passes and the child grows up, time takes its toll on the child and his little feet realize that the outside world is very harsh and has a lot of pain and discomfort. When he starts walking he realizes the pain of life.
He feels the stones, the glass, the roads, when he walks on rough ground he feels the streets. He becomes aware of his role in his life. A child learns that he cannot fly like a butterfly and neither can he become an apple.
A child’s foot now knows that it is just a foot. When it realizes this, it loses its soul, it loses the battle in this world and it is now a prisoner. It has now lived its life in shoes. A child’s foot knows that it has limitations because it is a human being. It has learned its role in the world. It has to live its life in shoes.
He is alone and cannot talk to his partner, slowly he learns about life and its ways. He starts understanding the reality of life. He learns that society will decide how he should live his life. He is not in touch with his partner and he is feeling like a blind person. He is living life like a blind person.
In the fifth stanza of the poem, the poet is describing in detail the changes taking place in the child’s feet. The soft nails of the child’s feet gradually harden, they become opaque, horn-like hard substances. The small petals of the child’s feet have now turned into clusters, now they have started looking like a blind reptile.
Later the child’s feet become even more rigid and numb. Here the poet is trying to say that when the child becomes an adult, he fully understands the reality of life and becomes rigid both physically and emotionally. He realizes that he is mortal and will die one day. Initially he was beautiful but now he has become ugly.
The journey of adult feet continues and it goes on till they die. He is now ready for this harsh world and due to being busy in his daily routine he is not able to enjoy his life.
The journey of the adult foot continues, whether it is a male foot or a female foot, both feet keep working in fields, mines, shops and government offices. The adult feet work day and night and they hardly get time to enjoy the pleasures of life. This goes on until they die.
After the death of the adult foot, it is buried in the ground and goes underground where everything is dark, it does not even know that it is dead. When a foot dies and is buried in the ground, its consciousness becomes like that of a child. And again it has the possibilities to fly like a butterfly and become an apple.
Amazon Link : The Poetry of Pablo Nerudo
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