Pablo Neruda’s Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair was a beautiful read. As I watched the lecture video before I read the book, I was able to set aside the controversies surrounding the author and focus solely on the work itself. Accordingly, I will only reflect on the work itself and the author as he is—directly or indirectly—represented within his work.
My first interest was the translation of Neruda’s poems. Although the English version was beautiful, resonating, and—at times—heartbreaking, I constantly wonder how accurate W. S. Merwin’s translations are. I have no doubt that Merwin is a superb translator; however, there are words, tones, and nuances that just cannot be translated accurately. Moreover, translation in itself is a new form of representation; the translator ultimately decides—based on his own perspective—what words fit best for a certain translation. I wonder how different Neruda’s untranslated version is from the English version.
Throughout the chapters, I found it interesting that I kept reading with an emphasis on the words “I” and “My.” Throughout the first half of the book, the narrator uses the words “I” and “My” a lot. This tendency is only disrupted in chapter 4, when the tone shifts—as if the poem was addressed to a third person, many uses of “our” and “her” instead of “I” and “My.” In line with the lecture, the fact that I kept reading with an emphasis on these words revealed to me that these poems are extremely one-sided—as in, it only shows ‘his’ side of the love story. Reasonably inferring that this is a heterosexual relationship, ‘her’ perspective is nowhere to be found. Even in places where we might be able to assume ‘her’ perspective, that too is a conscious representation of the male narrator. Relating back to the idea that “history is written by the victors,” these poems were written by one side of a two-way relationship. This left me wondering what she might think of these poems… Considering the frequent mentioning of a “toy doll” and the overall desperation/ resentment shown by the narrator, I wouldn’t be too pleased to read the work if I was ‘her’.
Solely as a literary work, this book is just mesmerizing. The quality of the poems (lines, rhymes, metaphors, imagery, etc.) are just amazing. I am not so much into poetry but some lines just resonated with me. My top two favourites were: “I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees” (46-47); “The biggest stars look at me with your eyes” (58). As a poetic work, I think there are multiple ways the reader can approach this book. Whether that is to take it in face-value or try to find some ‘hidden message’ (perhaps a political message), these different approaches would entail different interpretations. I think that is the beauty of poetry—and literature in general.
Question: What is your most favourite line or phrase from the poems in the book?
Daniel, I want to focus on two or three things that you have mentioned. I also wonder how much of Neruda’s poetic values can be transmitted, even in a translation. For a Spanish speaker, reading these poems is a journey where all the resources of the language are being used. That is undeniable. But there is also the question of perspective that you say: this poetic self, so embodied in a male gaze is shocking at the same time. How much does this reflect a stage, let’s say youthful, that later was transformed? Especially when compared to Mistral’s poems, which are built from a female gaze that has a powerful voice that breaks the feminine silence (which Neruda seems to like so much).
Hi Daniel!
I really enjoyed reading your blog post and I liked how you read the book after watching the lecture, so that your perception of Neruda’s poems weren’t influenced by his past.
To answer your question I really enjoyed the poem “White Bee”, and the two lines that really stood out to me were “I am the one without hope, the world without echoes, he who lost everything and he who had everything”. There was something about these lines that struck something within me and had me thinking about it a lot. It seemed a bit out of place from his usual writing style, and maybe that’s why I liked it so much.
Hi Daniel! Loved reading your analysis and thoughts on this collection. I also agree with the point you brought up about translation. I think with any work that is translated, a lot of nuance and emotion can be lost in translation; the ideas can get across, but some power may be stripped. Your point about ‘I’ and ‘my’ also struck me because it is something I noted while reading these poems in my head. I touched on it in my blog but to me, sometimes, this feels like it had to do with possession of love, or at least making the love more personal.
By far my favourite line, or the one that struck me the most, was “love is so short forgetting is so long.” It is so simple, but devastating when you understand the pain and grief Neruda expresses. Love is beautiful but short lived, but it leaves a lasting mark on us forever.