In "Ode to My Socks," by Pablo Neruda, what is the setting? What are 3 important images? What is the theme?

Setting: Neruda gives only a
few clues about the setting of this poem.

In the beginning
of the poem, the speaker tells us that a friend gave him a pair of socks that she had
"knitted herself /with her sheepherder's hands."  This could indicate that the poem is
set in Neruda's homeland of Chile, S.A., where sheepherding is an important
industry.

At the end of the poem, the speaker praises the
value of "two socks / made of wool in winter."  So, we know that the action of the poem
takes place in the
winter.

Images:  

The
most important image is, of course, the socks themselves.   They are described
as:

"soft as
rabbits";

"heavenly";

"handsome"; 

"glowing";

"magnificent."

The
speaker uses several images to explain that he does not want to store away the socks
like a museum piece:

He does not want to "save them
somewhere as schoolboys / keep fireflies, / as learned men collect sacred texts."  In
both these images, a precious object is kept for observation but is not really
used, the way the speaker wants to use his
socks.

Theme:  To me, the
theme of the poem is that a thing of beauty can be best appreciated by using it.  The
poem concludes:

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  beauty is twice beauty
and what is
good is doubly good
when it is a matter of two socks
made of wool in
winter.

The speaker seems to
be saying that the socks--when used properly, as coverings for the feet--have a double
beauty: their beauty as something to be observed, and their beauty as something to be
used.