For this week’s readings, I read “20 love poems and a song of despair” by Paul Neruda. These poems illuminate themes of passion and lust through the use of strong imagery, expressing the human form with the natural elements of the world. This can especially be seen in lines such as: “white bee, you buzz in my soul, drunk with honey/ And your flight winds in slow spirals of smoke” (page 27) and “you were what the wind was making with illuminated leaves/ Behind the nocturnal mountains, white lily of conflagration/ Ah, I can say nothing! You were made of everything” (page 39). The use of environmental metaphors throughout these poems provides an extra layer of intensity and emotional impact, allowing the reader to deeply connect with the feelings of the narrator as he seems to experience the progression of love and loss. The images created in these poems also may allow the readers to clearly understand the heartfelt emotions as the carefully picked out words emphasizes the heartfelt emotions within each poem. Additionally, I found a quote from the introduction to be quite interesting, stating “these are not abstract poems aimed at idealizing beauty or love, but the messy, scented perceptions of lived loves-and lusts” (Page VIII). As mentioned, these poems do not seem to reflect what one may first think of when they see the words “love poems” but rather emphasize the darker parts of love in the aftermath of passion.
If I am going to be completely honest, I have always had trouble with reading poems as I generally find them quite hard to interpret. These poems were no different to me, so I turned to the lectures in order to deepen my understanding of the content. In watching these, I became increasingly aware of the underrepresentation of the role of the woman in his work and could not look passed the overt objectification of the woman throughout the poems. In particular, in the poem “Vastness of Pines”, Paul Neruda refers to a female as a “toy doll” within the poem as though she is solely an object resembling a status of high beauty that is there to fulfill his desires rather than an actual human being with their own feelings and emotions. While he does mention feelings of love toward the women within his poems, this love does not seem to me to be a reciprocal relationship but instead, a love of a woman in a passive sense as, in accordance with one of his poems, “I like for you to be still: it is though you were absent, distant and full of sorrow as though you had died” (page 57).
Discussion question: What are your thoughts on how the woman is described by Paul Neruda throughout his poems? Were there any quotes related to this that really stuck out to you? Why?
I think it’s an excellent strategy to read the texts and then watch the videos of the lectures. In particular, this week the conversation with Prof. Orr-Álvarez can give you many clues on how to follow the reading of Pablo Neruda. However, the first reaction as readers is very important, it is that “first impression” that makes you wonder about this poet. In truth, it can be problematic: how do you interpret that silence of the woman in the poems in the face of the poet’s verbal fireworks?
I enjoyed reading your reflection on Pablo Neruda’s work, and I have similar feelings to the ones you explain at the time of reading poetry. Answering your question, I think that in “Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair”, Neruda generally shows admiration and passion for women and romanticizes the idea of being in love with a woman. Something that I liked and found original is how he sometimes talks about the mystery behind a woman, making the idea of falling in love and conquering women a thrilling adventure. For example, this is illustrated in the following quote that I found: I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul.”
Hi there,
My thoughts on this were somewhat conflicted. When I began reading metaphors and comparisons of the feeling body to nature felt artistic, however this soon changed to a more critical perspective. I think that Neruda did at times play into a male gaze orientated perspective of women, where they are seems as something that is “nice for men to look at” or are pretty much like an element of nature. There weren’t any quotes in particular, but any one that directly and in detail compared elements of a women’s body to an object or element of nature.
In response to how the woman is described – I’m not entirely sure whether the woman even was described. I don’t recall any line from the collection that could be used to distinguish her from any other woman. There’s a lot of flowery language but hardly anything that couldn’t be equally applied to any number of women. Barely anything about her personality comes up, and even her body, seemingly a major focus of the poems, isn’t given much of a concrete description; what colour is her hair, her eyes? Perhaps this is because the poems aren’t specifically about one particular woman, or perhaps it’s because Neruda is more interested in her as a manifestation of his concept of woman as such rather than as an individual, unique human being.
Hi Mandy, great post!! I think you offer a great interpretation of the book and provided me with some new insights I may have not thought deeply enough. For example, you mention that Neruda and the way he describes the woman in a very passive sense is very accurate. It is very one-sided, from his perspective–we are totally lacking the perspective of the woman herself. And when we do, it is his interpretation of how she might be feeling. Although, I do like his descriptions of how it feels to be in love–I found it heartwarming in a way. To answer your question further, I think any poem in which he used metaphors to describe her body as interesting. He did it very often, which also made me think perhaps his poems weren’t about one woman alone but rather his infatuation with women in general.