Student Question
Can you explain the symbolism and meaning behind various elements in Pablo Neruda's poem "Here I Love You"?
Quick answer:
The symbolism in Pablo Neruda's "Here I Love You" centers on the speaker's deep love and longing for his distant beloved. Nature imagery, combining dark and light elements, reflects his conflicting emotions of loneliness, fear of being forgotten, and hope for reunion. The poem's free verse structure enhances the raw, emotional expression of the speaker's enduring and powerful love.
"Here I Love You" is a love poem written by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. In it, the speaker talks about his beloved, who is far away from him; he's "here," and his beloved is "there." The readers learn that the speaker is deeply in love with his lover and that the distance between them is painful and unbearable for him.
The poem is written in free verse with no specific rhyme scheme and no consistent meter. It consists of six stanzas of varying lengths: the first and last stanzas have four lines, the second and fifth stanzas have five lines, the third stanza has three lines, and the fourth stanza has six lines.
Neruda uses a lot of imagery , specifically images from nature, to showcase the speaker's emotional state. He combines both dark and light elements from nature to represent the speaker's conflicting emotions. At first, the speaker...
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pines after his beloved and wishes that they were together; he describes himself as lonely and desperate.
Oh the black cross of a ship.
Alone.
Sometimes I get up early and even my soul is wet.
Far away the sea sounds and resounds.
He's also slightly worried that his beloved may not remember him due to the distance between them; he fears that his lover may forget about him and even stop loving him as deeply as before.
Sometimes my kisses go on those heavy vessels
that cross the sea towards no arrival.
I see myself forgotten like those old anchors.
The piers sadden when the afternoon moors there.
My life grows tired, hungry to no purpose.
I love what I do not have. You are so far.
In the end, the speaker is more optimistic than melancholic and hopes that he will once again be reunited with his lover because he knows that their love is strong and everlasting.
But night comes and starts to sing to me.
The moon turns its clockwork dream.
The biggest stars look at me with your eyes.
And as I love you, the pines in the wind
want to sing your name with their leaves of wire
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