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HERE I LOVE YOU - Pablo Neruda (1904-1973)


Here I Love You

Here I Love You (1924) is an evocation of a romantic mood. The poem is split into six stanzas of uneven lengths. The stanzas range from three-six lines, with no rhyme scheme. The speaker in this poem loves his departed beloved. He passionately recalls the sweet moments he spent in her company. The pathos of separation is centralised by the poet’s skilful handling of “here” and “there” by using two sets of contrasting pictures. This romantic poem is held together by a series of brilliant and startling (surprising) images of love and death. 

The speaker is sad because of his separation from his girlfriend/beloved. His beloved is not with him. She is far away. The speaker uses ‘here’ to suggest this mortal world and ‘there’ to suggest out of this world. She is beyond his reach. She is beyond mortal’s reach. He feels alone in this mortal (physical) world. But his love for her is still the same as in the past. He passionately recalls the sweet moments he spent in her company.

His companion is "there" far away in another world. Thus “here” contrasts with “there”. “Here” in the poem refers to the dark pine wood, moonlit waters, snowy evenings and all those places the speaker travels alone with the memories of his beloved. “There” signifies the world where the speaker’s beloved has already reached and now dwells. The grief of separation is immense in this poem because the speaker is alone here in this physical world. However, he still loves her as faithfully as before but the horizon hides her in vain. He looks at the ships sailing out of sight if he could send his kisses to his beloved.

He recalls the times he spent with her in the natural surroundings of the moonlit waters, snowy evenings in the pine forests and the coastal areas. He remembers the black cross of the ship, the symbol of his beloved’s funeral. So the speaker feels that he is alone in this world. He feels that days are passing monotonously. Sometimes he wakes up early. His whole body is sweating because of some kind of bad dream. Even his soul is wet and he feels as if he had no energy. He feels that he had heard the sound of the sea far away. He loves her although he is here in this world.

His days are passing slowly due to his monotonous life without his beloved. He is suffering from a bad dream that is haunting him after his separation from her. He compares himself with the old anchors because he is also forgotten. His days and nights are filled with sadness. It is very difficult for him to spend his evenings without her. He is living but without any love, hope or purpose. He tries to make him comfortable by talking with her at night in his dream. He finds his beloved in the big stars as well as in the pine trees. The pine trees are celebrating his beloved’s death by singing her name. He consoles himself by looking at the big stars. He finds her image in it. In this way, the poem presents the theme of solitude.

Bibliography

Neruda, P. (2021). Here I Love You. In S. Lohani, Visions: A Thematic Anthology (pp. 187-189). Kathmandu: Vidyarthi Pustak Bhandar.

Neruda, P. (2019). Here I Love You. Retrieved from All Poetry: https://allpoetry.com/Here-I-Love-You

ScotDir.com. (2015). Retrieved from Poetry analysis: Here I Love You, by Pablo Neruda: http://scotdir.com/other/poetry-analysis-here-i-love-you-by-pablo-neruda

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