A Dog Has Died

1. Read the poem aloud as a whole class. Then, either as a whole class or in small groups, move through the poem stanza by stanza and jot down bullet points of how the speaker describes their dog. These can be brief, such as “a companion / who was never servile” (Lines 15-16). Afterwards, try to label these descriptors with tones. For example, what tone does the line “his bad manners and his cold nose” (Line 6) have? Then, making a kind of tonal map, track how the speaker’s descriptors and tones shift from stanza to stanza. Finally, discuss as a group why you think these tonal shifts occur and why the speaker might remember his dog as a nuisance in one stanza and as a sweet companion in another.

2. Neruda’s poem is as much about the dog as it is about the speaker. Work with your peers as a team of detectives, examining the lines of the poem closely and carefully to uncover facts revealed about the speaker through this elegy to their dog. Raise your magnifying glasses to lines like “to make a vain person like me understand” (Line 29) and explore what this off-handed aside reveals about the speaker and their personality.