Analysis of Neruda's Poem 20
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ScribdTranslationsAnalysis of Neruda's Poem 20
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ScribdTranslationsAnalysis of Poem 20 - Pablo Neruda
INTRODUCTION:
Poem 20 by Pablo Neruda deals with the loss of romantic love and
the nostalgia of remembering the loved one. Neruda wrote the verses
inspired by his relationship with Albertina Azocar, a woman with whom
he secretly maintained a romance for almost 10 years.
SUMMARY:
The story begins by describing a starry night, where the lyrical self...
express the end of a romantic relationship with feelings of pain,
solitude and melancholy. It tells its sorrow by narrating in detail the memory.
sad from a night, where he loved her and kissed her many times looking at her
fixed eyes.
But later he confesses that everything has changed, implying the
transformation that human relationships undergo over time
time: they are no longer the same.
Throughout the poem, the verse is repeated three times: 'I can write the
"the saddest verses tonight." This rhythmic repetition gives it a certain
melancholy in its rhyme. The lyrical speaker knows that he has lost his beloved,
but that does not mean he resigns, he does not put an end to his mourning, he insists and searches for her in the
wind to touch her ear. Her heart seeks her, although she has understood
that her beloved will soon "belong to another".
If we had to summarize the entire poem in one line, it would probably be
The revelation that 'Love is so short, and forgetting is so long.'
AUTHOR:
Poem XX was written by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, and it is the
penultimate of the collection 'Twenty Love Poems and a Song'
desperate,” published in the year 1924.
This is the most read poetic work in history, due to the enormous
author's sensitivity, his great mastery, and his ability to connect in a
deep level with the feelings and experiences of many types of
different readers. It speaks of love as a universal language.
Pablo Neruda is the pseudonym of the poet, as his real name is
Ricardo Eliecer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto. He was born in Chile.
In 1971, in addition to the Nobel Prize in Literature, he won the title of being
considered the best writer in the western hemisphere in history and a
one of the most important figures of 20th-century lyric poetry.
Content and interpretation stanza by stanza:
1st, 2nd, 3rd Stanza
The poetic I tells us that it can "write the saddest verses this
night," and gives us an example of how to do it (when he recounts: to write by
for example the night is starry). That is to say, it does so masterfully in two
poems in one. Take two characters, the one who observes with sensitivity of
the author and the lyrical speaker who expresses and connects with the reader's feelings.
In this way, in these first verses, he speaks of a starry night.
The lyrical self lifts us to the twinkling stars and reveals his love for that
woman. He compares her to the firmament, to the wind. Then, he is the
universe, the sky that spins and sings its love to her.
4th and 5th Stanza
I can write the saddest verses
that night, quickly afflicted the poetic self descends again to the earthly and
He speaks to us about their human love, in which he loved her and she loved him.
He described how he hugged her and kissed her under the infinite sky of a night.
starred, like that of today where I write these verses.
6th and 7th Stanza
The lyrical I insists that he loved her and that she loved him. Showing us what
there was between them and she presents it with her big fixed eyes. Then with
immense nostalgia to confess that she feels like 'she has lost it'.
8th Stanza
Hearing the immense night, more immense without her. And the verse falls to the soul like to
dew of the pasture." The poetic voice expresses that his pain is as great as the
sound of the immense night, a night that grows in solitude and in an immense
empty. Their pain is so great that the text describes it when it raises the verse
and drops it straight to his soul: 'like dew on the grass.' It is a pain
deep that expresses what he feels for not having her with him.
9th and 10th Stanza
Suddenly, the lyrical self no longer cares about being unable to keep his love, he believes that
his love was not enough to keep her. After all, she is in 'the
starry night, and she is not with me. She is among the stars but not
present with him. Then from a distance a voice marks a song, that to the
far reminds him of his wounded soul.
11th and 12th Stanza
The lyrical self continues to seek where the voice comes from, it searches for it with its
look to bring her. And not being able to find her with reason and sense
from sight, she searches with her heart, but it is in vain: 'she is not there
with me.
Then in the 12th verse, it describes ghostly trees, bleached by the
night like saying that there is a cold moon that illuminates them like in the
beyond, where they, the lovers, "are no longer the same."
13th Stanza
I no longer want her, it's true, but how much I loved her. My voice sought the wind
to touch her ear." Once again, the poetic self blasphemes that he does not want her,
he claims it, but it's a lie. He wants to merge with the wind to 'touch his
ear." It is evident that he cannot approach to talk to her.
14th Stanza
Of another. It will be of another. Like before my kisses. His voice, his clear body.
"Her infinite eyes." Now the poetic self reveals jealousy, feels, intuits.
who is with another, who kisses her, who speaks to her, who touches 'her clear body'. And
just remember her infinite eyes.
15th Stanza
I no longer love her, it’s true, but maybe I love her. Love is so short, and it is
so long the forgetfulness." He tells us that he no longer loves her, but maybe he does love her. A
classic contradiction of someone experiencing the grief of unrequited love.
And then he masterfully presents the great revelation of the poem, the
deeper understanding of how a breakup can turn out
Love is so short, and forgetting is so long.
16th Stanza
Because on nights like this I held her in my arms, my soul does not
happy to have lost her." The lyrical I now reveals that, on nights
starred like that, she was in his arms. But she is not satisfied, she does not want
forgive the night, not even for itself, for having lost it.
17th Stanza
Finally, continuing the claim to the starry night in tone of
farewell, the lyrical self says: "Even if this is the last pain she gives me
Because of this, these will be the last verses I write to him/her." It is the end of a
suffering, the farewell of a great love before the starry night, and the
sure that he will never write her another verse. Never again. With enormous
sadness moves the pen away from the paper, it rises and definitively withdraws from
that love.
Literary figures:
In poem 20 we find literary figures such as anaphora, metaphor, and
hyperbole, conveys a rhythmic feeling of nostalgia. A
continuation, some of these literary figures are exemplified and how the
author uses them:
Personification: 'The night wind turns in the sky'
y canta”, “…tiritan, los astros azules,”, “Puedo escribir los versos más
tristes esta noche”, “Mi corazón la busca, y ella no está conmigo”, “Su voz,
your clear body. Your infinite eyes.
Alliteration: "I can write the saddest verses tonight."
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.
sometimes I also wanted her,” “Even if this is the last pain she causes me
cause, and these may be the last verses that I write to her.
Similar or Comparison: "How could one not have loved big eyes, their fixed ones."
the verse falls to the soul like dew to the grass.
mirada la busca”, “Porque en noches como esta la tuve entre mis brazos”,
Thinking that I don't have her. Feeling that I have lost her.
Metaphor: 'My voice sought the wind to touch his ear', 'I love you until the
sky", "...blue stars tremble...", "The night wind turns in the sky and
sings”, “The same night that whitens the same trees”.
Antithesis: 'Love is so short, and forgetfulness is so long', 'To think that I no longer...'
I have. Feeling that I have lost her”, “I don't want her anymore, it's true, but how much I
I wanted.
Anaphora: 'It will be of another like before my kisses', 'the night
estrellada”, “Mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido”, “Ya no la quiero,
It's true, but how much I loved her.”, “That's all. In the distance, someone sings. To the
far away.
Synesthesia: Visual, auditory, tactile images: "the stars tremble", "the
The night is starry,” “In the distance, someone sings.” The night wind swirls
in the sky and sings,” “Hearing the immense night, more immense without her,” “My voice
I was looking for the wind to touch her ear.
Hyperbole: 'The night wind swirls in the sky and sings.'
Epithets: "shivering, blue, the stars...", "I kissed her so many times under the sky"
infinito”, “… amado sus grandes ojos sus fijos.”, “Sus ojos infinitos”.
Irony: "What does it matter that my love could not keep her."
Exaggeration: "Hearing the immense night, even more immense without her," "Her eyes
infinites
Asyndeton: "Her voice, her clear body. Her infinite eyes." (The [...
conjunction 'and'.
Paradox: "Of another. It will be of another. Like before my kisses." "My soul does not..."
happy to have lost her," "I don't want her anymore, it's true, but maybe the
I want.
Chronography: 'The night is starry and she is not with me.'
environment in this case nighttime.
Epanalepsis: "That's all. In the distance someone sings. In the distance." (when to the
half or beginning is done in one way and ends in the same way).
Reduplication: 'It will be someone else. Like before my kisses.'
Composition and Rhyme:
This poem is constructed with 32 verses distributed in 15 stanzas in
pairs and two loose verses. All of major art, assonant rhyme and pattern
free.
The metric of the poem is in alexandrine verses accented on the
thirteenth syllable whose rhyme is as follows: A, B, C, B, A, D, E, D, F, D,
A, D, G, D, H, D, I, D, J, D, A, D, K, D, C, D, C, D, E, D, L, D.
Metric:
I can write the saddest verses tonight.
syllables
Write, for example: "The night is starry, =14
syllables
and/ you/ laugh,/ blue,/ the/ stars,/ at/ the/ distance"./ =14 syllables
The wind of the night turns in the sky and sings.
I can write the saddest verses tonight.
syllables
I/ the/ who/ and sometimes/ she/ also/ loves/ me./ =14 syllables
In the nights like this I had you in my arms.
syllables
I have seen so many times under the infinite sky.
I also want what you want.
There will not be a big love for their great children.
syllables
Can I write the saddest verses tonight.
syllables
I feel that I have lost it.
syllables
To hear the message at night, more thoughtful without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like the rock to the pasture.
What does it matter that my love couldn't keep her safe.
syllables
The night is starry and she is not with me.
syllables
And I am everything. Someone sings to them. To them.
syllables
I am not happy about having lost it.
How to clarify my admiration for the search.
My heart hurts, and she is not with me.
The night that makes the mosses white
ar/bo/les./ = 15 syllables (16 - 1)
Not us, back then, we are no longer the same.
syllables
Yes/ no/ I/ want/ it, it/ is/ true,/ but/ how/ much/ does/ it/ cost.
syllables
My voice seeks your sound.
It will be of another. How before my kisses.
syllables
Your voice, your clear body. Your infinite eyes.
Yes/ no/ I/ want/ it,/ it's/ true,/ but/ maybe/ I/ want/ it.
syllables
Love is so short, and forgetting is so long.
Because in nights like this you had me in your arms,
14 syllables
My soul is not content with having lost it.
Although this is the last pain she causes me,
syllables
These are the last verses that I write.
syllables
