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Comment 15 of 35, added on April 29th, 2005 at 10:53 AM.
If you are in love deeply or not; this poem speaks. All one has to do is listen with an open mind and an even more open heart. If you have ever loved, or hope to, read it again and again.
Deanna from United States
Comment 14 of 35, added on April 28th, 2005 at 5:32 PM.
My lover sent it to me three years ago when we were just one another's fling on the side.
That is what it did the first time I read it ...like magic, the words reached beyond my rationale, my worry ...my need for reason and stole my breath right out of me.
This is the most beautiful collection of words I have ever read and quite possibly the most articulate description of love that I have ever come across.
Perhaps the meaning is in our own hearts; simply put, the poem means exactly the feelings that it seems to stir in all of us.
For me it is a feeling of instinctual, unexplainable connection that raw, indestructable and beyond all reason. That is what I have for Him and always will.
Breathtaking.
Viveca from Canada
Comment 13 of 35, added on April 5th, 2005 at 3:04 AM.
Another reader said this was the most natural poem. That is the telling quality of the impression Neruda gives here. But the poem is not natural so much as it is a hard sparkling diamond, fused carbon of stylistic skill and emotional intensity.
The poem is postmodern in style. It sets up a term for meaning, then evades it. I will demonstrate this in the first stanza:
I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.
Between what and what? Well, this is where the reader is expected to do some cognitive work, to try and discover what Neruda is on about. Eliot's 'The Wasteland' offers the same device ("between X and Y") for distinguishing a modern vision, but that is not Neruda's way. He is happy for you to wonder and wander around his meaning, so long as you get the emotion:
I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.
The unique cultural sense of South America makes this poem distinctive, yes, but I am tempted to give a more direct and simple interpretation. Read on and I'll give it:
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way
than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.
Okay. My interpretation is that Neruda is talking about his gay lover. The feelings of dirtiness from their lovemaking, and the deep need for secrecy in the macho culture of South America, are what he is talking about in the first two stanzas.
In the last two stanza he is coming to terms with the fact that he love another man because he knows "no other way". And with exhaustion and acceptence comes sleep in the final stanza.
That is my interpretation of this poem, knowing as I do only the basic fact of Neruda's homosexuality.
Paul Bard from Australia
Comment 12 of 35, added on March 30th, 2005 at 12:50 PM.
this poem has taken its toll on me and it has made such a big diffrence in my life the pem was brillent magnifigent and had so much structue
lovely from United States
Comment 11 of 35, added on March 27th, 2005 at 8:35 PM.
I think that this is an amazing poem from Pablo Neruda. I was wondering if anyone knew much about it. I understand it a little bit but if anyone knows exactly what he is talking about or has any suggestions please email me: Wackychic143@aol.com I am analyzing this poem for a class and it would be great to get some help.
Ashley from United States
Comment 10 of 35, added on March 6th, 2005 at 9:41 AM.
i think its a deep love that know one needs to know
about.it doesnt need to be flashed around.
a secret love maybe affair.
hollie from United States
Comment 9 of 35, added on January 23rd, 2005 at 11:21 PM.
i absolutely love this sonnet. i think its beautiful and full of hat neruda was really about. i need to analyze it for a class and im actually having a hard time doing it. anyhelp would be awesome. please email me at cwcreasey@hotmail.com with any comments or help! thnk you!
Cary from United States
Comment 8 of 35, added on January 18th, 2005 at 3:30 PM.
This poen is really good. When i first read it in class as an assignment i wrote it out to give to my fiance. I am still currently tring to analyz it. Any suggestions
Evon from United States
Comment 7 of 35, added on January 10th, 2005 at 9:38 PM.
this poem is the most beautiful love poem I've ever read! It's just soo... it makes love itself seem more beautiful then it already is. His words are just phenominal. The lines "I love you without knowing how" (right?) were just so lovely. Just..how can he portray love how it should be put as?
Toniann from United States
Comment 6 of 35, added on January 1st, 2005 at 6:18 PM.
This poem is one of the most beautiful, soul striking poems I have ever had the privilege of reading. To be loved so deeply, and biblically, that "two become one flesh" (so close that your hand on my chest is my hand, so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep...), is simply amazing, and Pablo Neruda has articulated that awe-inspiring fusion better than anyone ever has, or will.
Just me. from United States
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If you are in love deeply or not; this poem speaks. All one has to do is listen with an open mind and an even more open heart. If you have ever loved, or hope to, read it again and again.
Deanna from United States