Tonight I can Write the Saddest Lines
Pablo Neruda
Pablo
Neruda is a much acclaimed writer from Chile. This poem was written in Spanish
in 1924 and later translated into English in 1969. This poem is celebrated for
its imagery and symbols to present the pain of jilted lover. It is about
memories of a lost love and the pain they can cause. Throughout the poem the
speaker recalls the details of his love that is now broken. He continually
juxtaposes the past with his ladylove with the loneliness he experiences in the
present. It is written in the style of monologue with the repetition of the
line “Tonight I can write the saddest lines” three times to emphasise his
sorrow.
The first line of the poem leaves
the readers with a curiosity to know the reason for the poet’s sadness. The
images like shattered night and shivering of the blue stars in the distance
indicate his melancholic mood. He decides to write a poem at night which brings
a dark imagery and his sad mood. The shattered night and the shivering stars
project the turmoil the poet experiences in his life. The night wind becomes
his companion as it revolves in the sky and sings. Moreover the night enables
him to write which he could not write till then. He confesses that he loved her
and the unnamed woman also loved him for some time. His memory takes him back
to a similar night when he held her in his arm. He admits that he was in love
with her deeply and says that her great still eyes will make anyone to fall in
love with her.
The writer feels that he can write the
saddest lines that night as he knows that she is no longer with him. Without
her the night seems to be immensely lonely. But his writing replenishes his
soul like dew drops to the pasture. He feels upset that in spite of everything,
his love could not have her and without her his soul is lost. The night is
traumatized as she is not with him. He hears someone singing in the distance,
which also indicates that he is alone as he could hear it from the distance. Now
he mentions his longing to get reunited with his ladylove as; his sight
searches for her, to go to her and his heart too looks for her. Again he
mentions that night is similar to the other night when they were together.
Suddenly he declares that he does not love her but he loved her greatly
earlier. He even tried to send the wind to touch her hearing. But she is
another’s now and to express his pain of losing her, the poet states it that
her voice, body and infinite eyes will be another’s. Again he declares that he
no longer loves her but contradicts himself by stating that he may love her.
His words, love is short but forgetting is long, reveals his love for her. The
night leaves him with the memory of his ladylove and her loss leaves his soul
disturbed. He concludes the poem with a determination that this is the last
pain she gives him and this is the last poem he writes for her. He hopes that
with this painful attempt of writing he wishes to get out of her memory.
