Activity One: `Poema XX`, Pablo Neruda (1924)

Activity One: ‘Poema XX’, Pablo Neruda (1924)
In 1924, when the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was only 19 years old, he published what
would become one of his greatest and best-known poetry collections, Veinte poemas de
amor y una canción desesperada. At the time, the collection was widely considered to be
controversial for the ways in which Neruda described his relationships with women,
particularly given his young age. While the poem we will study in this topic (‘Poema XX’) is
indeed considered to be a love poem, its tone and imagery suggest a far different
relationship between two partners than we might usually expect from conventional love
poetry.
Pablo Neruda
Read through the poem and pay attention to the way in which Neruda uses repetition and
natural imagery to give the reader a very strong and emotive sense of how he feels towards
the woman he loves. Pay close attention to any vocabulary you do not understand and any
grammatical constructions that are unfamiliar to you. Once you have understood the text,
answer the following questions, using a dictionary if you need to:
‘Poema XX’, Pablo Neruda (1924)
PUEDO escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.
Escribir, por ejemplo: "La noche está estrellada, y tiritan, azules, los astros, a lo lejos".
El viento de la noche gira en el cielo y canta.
Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche. Yo la quise, y a veces ella también me quiso.
En las noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos.
La besé tantas veces bajo el cielo infinito.
Ella me quiso, a veces yo también la quería. Cómo no haber amado sus grandes ojos fijos.
Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche. Pensar que no la tengo. Sentir que la he perdido.
Oír la noche inmensa, más inmensa sin ella. Y el verso cae al alma como al pasto el rocío.
Qué importa que mi amor no pudiera guardarla.
La noche está estrellada y ella no está conmigo.
Eso es todo. A lo lejos alguien canta. A lo lejos. Mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.
La misma noche que hace blanquear los mismos árboles.
Nosotros, los de entonces, ya no somos los mismos.
Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero cuánto la quise. Mi voz buscaba el viento para tocar su oído.
De otro. Será de otro. Como antes de mis besos.
Su voz, su cuerpo claro. Sus ojos infinitos.
Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero tal vez la quiero.
Es tan corto el amor, y es tan largo el olvido.
Porque en noches como ésta la tuve entre mis
brazos,
mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.
Aunque éste sea el último dolor que ella me causa,
y éstos sean los últimos versos que yo le escribo.
Questions
1. In your own words, what is the central theme of this poem? How does the poet feel
towards the woman he is writing about? Answer in around 40-50 words, in Spanish.
2. Can you find two examples in the poem of each of the following:
a. Imagery [when words are used to create visual images]?
b. Personification [giving human qualities to animals, objects or ideas]?
c. Repetition?
3. Consider the use of the verb querer in the following lines:
Yo la quise, y a veces ella también me quiso
[…]
Ella me quiso, a veces yo también la quería
What is the difference between the uses of the first person singular of querer in these
two lines? Why do you think Neruda makes this change? Bear in mind how the poet
may be feeling about his relationship at this stage of the poem.
4. Towards the end of the poem, Neruda writes:
Es tan corto el amor, y es tan largo el olvido.
Explain in your own words, and in English, what Neruda may mean by the contrast
he sets up here between amor and olvido. What is he trying to emphasise? Use
examples from the rest of the poem to back up your ideas.
5. You can hear another famous poem from the collection here, read by Neruda
himself. Listen to the first part of the poem and fill in the missing words below:
Me gustas cuando callas porque estás como ___________
y me oyes ___________ ___________, y mi voz no te toca.
Parece que los ojos te ____________
______________
y parece que ______ _____________ te cerrara la boca.
6. During the collection’s eponymous ‘Canción desesperada’, which comes directly after
the poem we have looked at, Neruda again discusses the pain of dealing with the
memories of a woman he has loved and lost:
Te ceñiste al dolor, te agarraste al deseo.
Te tumbó la tristeza, todo en ti fue naufragio!
[…]
Era la sed y el hambre, y tú fuiste la fruta.
Era el duelo y las ruinas, y tú fuiste el milagro.
Find the English translation for the words underlined above, then do the same for the
following words. Once you have translated the adjectives, find the equivalent noun.
For example: triste/sad; la tristeza/sadness):
a) enfadado/a
b) avergonzado/a
c) aburrido/a
d) deprimido/a
e) agotado/a
f) culpable
g) envidioso/a
h) enfermo/a
i) preocupado/a
j) tímido/a
Further exercises
Consider the following questions.

What do you think the purpose of writing this poem is? If it is not to win his lost
love back, then why does the poet write? Think of Neruda’s state of mind, and
why he may want to express his feelings on paper.

The poem contains quite a lot of repetition, particularly of the verb querer and
of the opening line, ‘Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche’. What
effect does this repetition have on the reader? Think about what is revealed by
the poet in the lines that appear between the various repetitions.

In this poem, Neruda carefully uses natural imagery to add depth to his feelings
of confusion and loneliness. Why do you think he turns to nature in order to do
this? Think, for example, of the following line:
La misma noche que hace blanquear los mismos árboles.
Nosotros, los de entonces, ya no somos los mismos.
What parallel is the poet setting up here between nature and his relationship?