To me, poetry is a very subjective thing. When I am reading a poem, I don’t judge it based on grammar or accuracy, like I might with longer-form writing, but rather on how it makes me feel. Based on that notion, here is my criteria for what makes a quality poem.
1. Evokes strong and specific mental or visual imagery.
2. Meanings and themes that go beyond superficial or ‘typical’ poem subjects (more complex takes on common themes)
3. Opportunity for different interpretations (the beauty of poetry is its subjectivity; a quality poem does not lead the reader down one narrow line of interpretation but is unrestricted enough for the reader to create their own meaning)
4. Natural flow (whether it rhymes or not, an exemplary poem has to have a natural and flowing rhythm to help the reader move throughout the piece and truly grasp the imagery being provided)
5. Genuity (I want to feel like I am reading the author’s diary, that the subject matter of their poem is something they have lived through)
With an established list of criteria, I can now introduce my poem of choice.
“Tonight I Can Write (The Saddest Lines)” by Pablo Neruda
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
Write, for example, ‘The night is starry and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.’
The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines. I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.
Through nights like this one I held her in my arms. I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.
She loved me, sometimes I loved her too. How could one not have loved her great still eyes.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines. To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.
To hear the immense night, still more immense without her. And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.
What does it matter that my love could not keep her. The night is starry and she is not with me.
This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance. My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer. My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.
The same night whitening the same trees. We, of that time, are no longer the same.
I no longer love her, that’s certain, but how I loved her. My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.
Another’s. She will be another’s. As she was before my kisses. Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.
I no longer love her, that’s certain, but maybe I love her. Love is so short, forgetting is so long.
Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer and these the last verses that I write for her.
Pablo Neruda was a famous Chilean poet who was revered for his use of imagery and he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. Neruda commonly writes about the human experience and the dept of emotion that comes with it. “Tonight I Can Write (The Saddest Lines)” was published in 1924 in a collection of poems titled Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada.
Aesthetic Criticism: Defense
1. Evokes strong and specific mental or visual imagery
Although the imagery in the poem is not necessarily the most striking, the approach Neruda takes to it is unique. Instead of describing the environment and setting in a way that creates that strong visual imagery, Neruda intertwines his own feelings and emotions with the environment. For example, the numerous descriptions of vastness, emptiness, darkness, and distance within this setting reflect on how Neruda is feeling those same emotions. This creates the visual imagery of isolation and loneliness, which are both very present within this poem.
Neruda’s choice to weave the core themes and the emotions he is feeling with the description of the setting personally helped me to establish the setting in my mind. Taking these emotions Neruda is describing and reflecting on times I have felt them makes the expansive and lonely setting much easier to imagine. This relation to human experience unlocks a sense of imagery that cannot be reached solely with words.
2. Meanings and themes that go beyond superficial or ‘typical’ poem subjects
Heartbreak and love are prevalent themes in this piece, but Neruda adds a twist by focusing on the element of time in relation to these things. Neruda emphasizes the impact time has on love in the way that it regards to how we both remember and forget love. One line in specific that has stuck with me is “Love is so short, forgetting is so long.” For me, this line is incredibly powerful. You can have the absolute love of your life, but it can feel short-lived and fleeting. But once it’s over, trying to forget seems to last forever.
Neruda’s poem is a recount of love and how we remember it. For such a cliché poem topic, Neruda focused on unique aspects of the experience. I have never thought so intently about the way I remember (or forget) love, I think I have always focused on the actual love itself. I think Neruda is also commenting on the fact that we truly do miss something more when it is gone, and that love is something that should be appreciated when you have it.
3. Opportunity for different interpretations
By not including specifics of this relationship, Neruda leaves a lot of room for the reader to insert their own experiences and interpretations. Additionally, the poem is not necessarily tied up neatly with an answer to what to do after a great love. It is up to the reader to take Neruda’s words and move forward with them. By leaving it so open-ended, Neruda allows for each reader to interpret it individually and in a way that can really resonate with them. This piece creates a lot of room for reflection, making it so much more personal and powerful than a poem that includes a specific answer to how the reader should proceed.
4. Natural flow
This piece does not have a rhyme sequence or a pattern of sentence lengths, but the flow is perfect for the content being discussed. With themes of distance, isolation, and memory instability, the ununiformed sentences cater to these ideas perfectly. The poem is effortless to read and flows very naturally. The short and powerful lines are almost hypnotic, you can tell that this narrator is not entirely present in reality, which fits seamlessly into the themes and other elements of the poem.
5. Genuity
This poem feels like it came straight out of Neruda’s diary. The way it is not polished and formal speech makes it feel vulnerable. Neruda does not force his emotions to be neat, he just lets them be. This poem is messy, conflicting, and overall human. That is what makes it so visceral to read, because this experience is so innate and relatable for humanity and by letting it be raw and unfiltered Neruda really comes across as authentic and genuine. You can tell he is truly writing what he is feeling and that he experienced what he is writing. I think by allowing the poem to be unresolved or uncertain also ups the authenticity of this poem. As an example “I no longer love her, that’s certain, but maybe I love her”. There is no way to make complete sense of this sentence, but it is what Neruda meant and he is not shy to put it out there.
Part of the genuity of this poem is the fact that so much of the reader’s opinion and emotions are inserted. Neruda serves as a guide to bring these emotions to the light by putting himself in the spotlight first, and from there it is up to the reader to let themselves be vulnerable too. Neruda really struck on how uncertain human emotions are and did not force his poem to have the closure or answers that many do. This ambiguity creates a sense of pure, unfiltered truth and makes the reader feel like they are reading straight from Neruda’s own heart and soul.
Judgement Call
If you could not already tell, I LOVED this poem. I have never been big into poetry, but this has totally shattered my perception of poetry. My primary exposure to poetry has been through school, where I am forced to extract meanings that I do not really feel are there. But with Neruda’s “Tonight I Can Write (The Saddest Lines)”, being able to interpret and apply his words however I want was so freeing. I think Pablo Neruda is truly gifted to be able to capture a human experience as complicated as love, heartbreak, and memory so accurately while also leaving room for the reader’s own emotions to shine through.