Tonight I Can Write

by Pablo Neruda

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Memory and Reminiscence

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"Tonight I Can Write" explores the memories of a lost love and the heartache that follows. The speaker reflects on a relationship that has ended, consistently contrasting the intense moments shared with his lover against the loneliness he now experiences. As he considers his emotional detachment from the past, he acknowledges, "tonight I can write the saddest lines," suggesting that his former sorrow had prevented him from recalling or expressing his past love. Even though his pain once blocked his creative flow, he now finds comfort in writing about their relationship, comparing the process to "the verse [that] falls to the soul like dew to the pasture."

Love and Passion

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The poem powerfully illustrates the speaker's deep love for a woman with whom he had a passionate relationship. He remembers distinct physical features: “her great still eyes,” “her voice, her bright body,” and “her infinite eyes.” He also recalls frequently kissing her “under the endless sky,” admitting “how I loved her.” Although he claims, “I no longer love her, that’s certain,” his persistent affection is clear. The anguish of these memories stops him from fully recognizing his emotions, especially when he thinks, “Another’s. She will be another’s. As she was before my kisses,” imagining her “bright body” with someone else.

Physical and Spiritual

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Neruda employs imagery of nature to illustrate the speaker's spiritual understanding of his connection with his beloved. By describing their kisses as occurring "under the endless sky," he casts their physical relationship in a cosmic light. This imagery further links his lover to the natural world. René de Costa, in The Poetry of Pablo Neruda, observes that "love poetry has traditionally equated women with nature. Neruda elevated this comparison to a cosmic scale, making the woman a force of the universe." The speaker compares his lover's "great still" and "infinite eyes" to the "endless sky," utilizing elements of nature to convey his affection for her, as his voice endeavors "to find the wind to touch her hearing."

Alienation and Loneliness

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The speaker reflects on the memories of his intense relationship with his lover, contrasting them with his current feelings of isolation and loneliness in her absence. He employs imagery from nature to reflect his inner emotions. He pens his “saddest lines” on a night that reminds him of those he spent with his lover. Yet, the darkness and the stars that “shiver at a distance” emphasize his solitude. The “immense night” feels “even more immense without her,” particularly when he thinks, “to think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.” His anguish deepens as he remembers “nights like this one” when he held her close.

The speaker expresses his loneliness by noting a distant song and repeating, “in the distance.” No one sings for him now. He confesses, “my sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer,” and “my heart looks for her, and she is not with me.” As a result, his “soul is not satisfied.” In an effort to soothe his loneliness, he tries to convince himself, “I no longer love her, that’s certain,” but then concedes, “maybe I love her.” With a resigned and weary tone, he concludes, “love is so short, forgetting is so long.” Determined to move past his feelings of alienation and loneliness, the speaker declares that these will be “the last verses that I write for her.”

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