Ode to My Socks

Ode to My Socks Summary | Detailed Summary

"Ode to my Socks" is Pablo Neruda's short but eloquent poem about the exquisite beauty and soul satisfaction found in mundane objects, a pair of socks, found in everyday life.

As the poem begins, the narrator has received a gift of a pair of hand knitted, woolen socks from a woman named Maru Mori. The narrator is amazed that this woman could have made such fine items as soft as rabbits with her own big hands, which are like those of a sheepherder.

Slipping his feet into the socks feels to the narrator as if he is encasing his feet in jewel cases with mystical qualities, held together with bits of twilight and goatskin.

The narrator considers his feet entirely inappropriate to wear such beautiful items and compares his feet to fish, two long sharks, immense blackbirds, and cannons, which are also elements that would never benefit from such luxurious warmth.

In addition to being inappropriate, the narrator's feet are also deemed unworthy to wear such heavenly comfort. Comparing his feet to two decrepit old firemen, the narrator claims his feet to be unworthy of such beauty and warmth provided by the glow of the new socks.

Although the socks are exquisite, the narrator intends to wear them and not put them away for special occasions or "save them somewhere as schoolboys keep fireflies." The socks will not be stored away as if they are sacred, even though they are special. The narrator will also not display the socks in a cage and provide birdseed and pieces of melon every day.

Owning these luscious socks engenders the same feelings that a hunter must feel when forced to eat the rare and beautiful deer he has stalked and killed. In spite of all the conflicting emotions about using these precious items, the narrator pulls on the socks and then his shoes and decides that there is twice the beauty in an object, and that anything good is doubled when there are two woolen items for the winter.