The impact of love on literature is profound. Love is generally considered as one of the dominant themes of literature. Since antiquity the love has been portrayed by literature in its many facets; romantic love, shared love, physical love, spiritual love, idealistic love and more often unrequited love.
When Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) named at birth as Ricardo Eliecer Neftali Reyes Basoatlo started writing poetry at a young age, he might not have dreamt of foreseeing him a poet/ a legend he will became in Chile or in globe. His poetry ranges over a number of themes ranging from political, social, surreal, historical, autobiographical and love poems.
There have been a number of poets across different nations writing in multiple languages of the world, who have filled their poetic oeuvres with their emotions, feelings, and breathings.
My first inclination happened a decade back, during our graduation class at Govt. Degree College Kupwara. ‘Tonight I can write the Saddest Lines’ was his poem in our syllabus. Mr. Sajad Malik wonderfully taught us Neruda that left an everlasting impression of him as a poet to read again and again. I again wish to thank Malik Sir, if reads this write-up.
A decade after, fortunately, I have been blessed with an opportunity to teach graduation students yet another poem of Neruda ‘Oh Earth, Wait for me’, though a poem with something novel to decipher, however reader may not run away without finding love in it. For an emotional reader, Neruda’s poetry is the best choice.
Since emotions are non verbal, an artist has to know the inner workings of his/her feelings and their expressions in different ways, as have been argued by Gawda et. al in their research paper. And for sure, Neruda is the best to ink the same. Sometimes his poetry may make you cry, however, sometime it will make you live.
His love poetry is amalgamation of tenderness, melancholic, breathtaking and passionate gaps. One could argue that Neruda is the best poet of his generation. In ‘Tonight I can write the Saddest Lines’ the feeling of loneliness leads speaker of the poem to immense sadness.
While reading in between the lines the sorrow doesn’t diminish, nevertheless intensifies as you read. While tossing and turning in bed unable to feel comfortable or sleep it tortures the speaker, makes him to cry, ‘love is so short, forgetting is so long’. This is just one example; one could find a number of other poems to substantiate the argument.
Reading his poetry offers the emotionally suffered lovers a balm. Neruda explores love in many forms and stages. He writes about love that have been lost, loves that replace solitude, and loves that haunt lovers forever as he writes, “immense night, still more immense without you”. In these poems, Neruda sees the entire world in terms of the beloved as at another place he writes, “Here I love you. In the dark pines the wind disentangles itself”.
Neruda is well-known for his beautiful and passionate love poetry. His love poetry is marked by intense emotional depth, vivid imagery and lyrical beauty. Neruda’s, love poetry explores a wide range of themes, ranging from the joys and sorrows of romantic love, the beauty of nature and the human conditions.
The poet implies the metaphorical language to convey the complexity of human emotions and interconnectedness of all things. One of his most famous poetry collections is even titled “Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair”. His number of poems captures the intensity of youthful love and pain of separation.
His love poetry is filled with sensual imagery and vivid descriptions of nature, creating a powerful and evocative picture of love and desire. In addition to this, his love poetry even compasses and reflects his political and social concern.
For he saw love as a vehicle of transcending the divisions and conflicts of the world, and his poetry express a vision of love as a force of unity and liberation. In the following verses the poet also switches to youthful passion and sensual poetic beauty:
In your gold laughter and your crystal voice.
To feel you in my veins like God in the rivers.
Neruda is regarded as one of the greatest love poet in Spanish language and his works continue to inspire and move readers around the world. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a world-renowned literary giant even went as far as to call Neruda ‘the great poet of the 20th century in any language’. His poems are a testament to the enduring power of love, and his unique voice and vision have made him a beloved figure in modern literature.
First, reading and now teaching Neruda is a great engagement.
Dr. Ahsan Ul Haq teaches English Language and Literature at GDC Dangiwacha.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.