Valery begins by highlighting the fact that his commentary on the Chilean poet's work might seem strange to the reader who knows his preferences in poetry; nevertheless, he develops justifications for his interest. He considers Gabriela Mistral's work to be great poetry, a natural production that distances itself from the affected aestheticism of many vanguard or experimental poets. He thinks that the author "limits herself to extracting from its substance (that of its language) the extraordinary expression of a profound life, which is organic and sometimes violently lived". When Valery refers to the themes of the poet, he mentions among the principle ones those of childhood ("The transcendental fact par excellence, the production of a living being by a living being") and, tied to the previous theme, that of "the material of simple things: bread, salt, water, rock..." Valery understands the harmony that exists between these motifs: "the substantial identity of mother and son..." and "The intimacy of the material". Finally, the French critic points out the importance that Mistral's work has for its time since "it owes very little to the European tradition" although it uses one of the languages that has made one of the greatest contributions to the constitution of the master works of European literature.