Love and Loss in Pablo Neruda's 'Tonight I Can Write'

Tonight I Can Write: A Reflection on the Cycle of Love

About the poet

Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto is a Chilean poet, politician, and diplomat who wrote under the pen name of Pablo Neruda. He was a controversial poet who wrote mainly in Spanish. He was recognized as the national poet in Chile. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1971.

About the poem

● The poem 'Tonight I Can Write' was taken from Pablo Neruda's first book "Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair".

● It was published by Pablo Neruda in Spanish, and later it was translated into English by W. S. Merwin.

● The poem 'Tonight I Can Write' sets in the night under the sky.

● The poem is an elegy, in which the poet mourns for separation from his beloved.

● The poem is written in free verse. It has a tone of melancholy.

● The poem depicts the theme of love, sorrow, and frustration over break up, memory, and moving on.

Word-Meaning:

starry-full of stars, shiver-shake, revolves-rotates, immense-great, verse-poem, dew-waterdrop of the morning which is seen on the grass, a pasture-a field where animals graze, distance-far from here, whitening the same trees- The Moon gives its silvery light to the same trees, certain -sure, infinite-limitless

Substance

The poet has been separated from his beloved and feels extreme pain that he has not expressed his sorrow for several days. The night when the poet writes the poem 'Tonight I Can Write' is the night when the poet feels capable of writing the most painful lines of his life. He recalls how he and his beloved loved each other sometimes. That night makes him recall the night when he held his beloved and kissed her several times. His beloved had great eyes and a bright body. According to him, he can write the poem to think of her, feeling her absence. He claims this poem fell to his soul like a dew to the pasture, but losing his beloved does not matter in his life. He feels lonely and that night becomes larger without his presence. No song can satisfy his soul, and his eyes find her. He guesses she will spend time with someone else as she did with him. He becomes sure that he does not love her, but again he remembers how he loved her earlier. He admits that loving somebody takes a short duration of time but forgetting somebody takes a longer duration of time. Again he feels dissatisfied due to the loss of his beloved. At the end of the poem, he confirms that the poem he writes is the last verse and the pain is the last pain for her.

Multiple choice questions

1. In the poem “Tonight I Can Write”, the poet mourns the loss of his –

a)beloved b)identity c)wife d)self

2. ‘Tonight I Can Write’ was first written in -

a)English b) Italian c) Spanish d) Bengali

3. The eyes of the beloved appeared to be -

a) bright b) infinite c) saddest d) lost

4. What was someone doing in the distance?

a) walking b) talking c) writing d) singing

5.'.... soul like dew to the pasture’-Identify the figure of speech which is used in this sentence.

a)oxymoron b)antithesis c)simile d) apostrophe

6. In 'Tonight I Can Write the poet expresses his sorrow for his –

a)unrequited love b)loss of his faith c)friend d)failure

7. In 'Tonight I Can Write' the stars are ______.

a)white b)pale c)blue d)grey

8. Pablo Neruda became a celebrity with the Publication of-

a)Poetics b)Paradise c)A Dog Has Died d)Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair

9. The poem 'Tonight I Can Write is an-

a) lyric poem b)elegy c)epic d)satire

10. The setting of the poem 'Tonight I Can Write' is –

a) Summer b) Winter night c)Autumn d)Afternoon

Short Answer Type Questions

1. What is the full name of Pablo Neruda?

Ans: The full name of Pablo Neruda is Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto.

2. What did the poet’s voice try to find?

Ans: The poet’s voice tried to find the wind that touched his beloved.

3.“the stars are blue and shiver in the distance”— Mention the figure of speech used in the given line.

Ans: The figure of speech used in the given line is Personification.

4.“She will be another’s”– Who will be another’s?

Ans: In the poem 'Tonight I Can Write' the poet's beloved will be another's.

5. What rhyme scheme is used in the poem?

Ans: The poem 'Tonight I Can Write' is written in free verse.

6. In which language was 'Tonight I Can Write' originally written and who translated it?

Ans: The poem 'Tonight I Can Write' was originally written in Spanish and American poet W.S. Merwin translated it.

7. Why did the poet's voice try to find the wind?

Ans: The poet's voice tried to find the wind that touched his beloved so that his beloved could hear him.

8. What does the poet want to convey when he says, "The night is starry and the stars are blue"?

Ans: When the poet says, "The night is starry and the stars are blue", he expresses his pain of separation from his beloved, which made him unable to have brightness in his life despite bright stars in the sky.

9."The verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture." -Explain the figure of speech which is used in this sentence.

Ans: "The verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture."-In this sentence, the poet's verse is compared to dew, and his soul is compared to pasture. It is a direct comparison between 'verse' and 'dew', and 'soul' and 'pasture'. So, the figure of speech used in this sentence is a simile.

10. What happened to the poet on one of these nights according to the poet in 'Tonight I Can Write'.

Ans: In 'Tonight I Can Write' The poet held his beloved in his arms and kissed her again and again under the endless sky

in one of these nights.

11. What do you mean by the sentence “She was before my kisses” in "Tonight I Can Write?

Ans: In "Tonight I Can Write” the poet has created an ambiguity in the sentence “She was before my kisses”. It may mean that the poet’s beloved will kiss someone else in the same way as she kissed the poet under the endless sky or the poet’s beloved had loved someone else before she loved the poet.

12 . The verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.’ Explain.

Ans: ‘The Verse’ falling to the ‘soul’ is compared to ‘dew’ falling to the ‘pasture’. His soul absorbed the verse but he was unable to stay with his beloved in the same way as the pasture absorbs the dew and reduces it to nothing. This sentence highlights the poet's genuine feelings and natural technique of writing.

Long Answer Type Questions

1. Justify the title 'Tonight I Can Write'.

Ans: The entire poem 'Tonight I Can Write' is a deeply felt elegy for lost love and a painful exercise to forget the poet's beloved after getting separated from her for a long time. The poem begins with the single line 'Tonight I can write the saddest lines', which implies that till that day he couldn't express his grief and feelings through a verse. This line repeats three times throughout the poem, depicts the recurrent theme of the poem, and suggests the way the poet is coming back to the same thoughts of his lost love again and again. According to the poet, this night reminds him of other nights when he held his beloved in his arms and kissed her many times.

The poet emphasizes the title phrase 'Tonight I Can Write' to convince himself that enough time has passed for him to forget his beloved and move on. The title phrase also emphasizes the unforgettable feelings and unbearable pains of the speaker, portrays the state of their love previously, illuminates how the poet regrets separation, and as a consequence," the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture". 'Tonight I Can Write' is a reduced phrase that hints at the entire content and theme of the poem. So the title Tonight I Can Write' is justified.

2. How does the poet mourn the loss of his beloved in the poem ‘Tonight I Can Write’?

Ans: The poem ‘Tonight I Can Write’, depicts the pain and suffering of a lover who can’t forget his separation from his beloved, remembers his past, and mourns the loss of his beloved. He recalls the night when he held her in his arms and kissed her many times. When he thinks his beloved is not with him and he has lost her, he convinces himself that he can the saddest lines through a verse that night. According to him, She loved him and he also loved her too. He thinks of her ‘great still eyes. That night seems to be ‘more immense’ without his beloved. He tries to forget her by saying to himself that it does not matter that his love could not keep her, but again his soul is dissatisfied with losing her. His sight tries to get her close, and his heart feels empty without her. The moon’s silvery light on the same trees makes him remember how their love for each other has changed though everything looks the same. His voice searched the wind which touched her. He imagines she will love another person, and kiss him as she did with the poet. He confirms that he expresses all of his sadness and sorrow for his separation from his beloved through this verse which is the last verse for his beloved.

Exercise

A. Answer each of the following questions in one or two complete sentences:

1. “I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.”– What do you mean by ‘endless?

2. How did Pablo Neruda describe the night in the poem ‘Tonight I Can Write’?

3. How does Neruda use ‘night’ as a symbol?

4. Why does the poet say ‘Tonight I can write the saddest lines?

5. What is the role of the wind in Neruda’s poem?

B. Answer the following questions in about 150-200 words :

1. What symbolism did Pablo Neruda use in "Tonight I Can Write"?

2. What are the underlying feelings of the speaker in "Tonight I Can Write"?

3. How is Pablo Neruda's poem "Tonight I Can Write" an elegy?

4. Discuss the themes of memory and love in "Tonight I Can Write."

5. Explore how the poet talks of his sadness in the context of nature.

6.“Love is so short, forgetting is so long” — Justify the statement with close reference to the poem.

7. How is the theme of love and passion expressed in the poem?

8. Justify the title of the poem.

Textual Grammar

C. Do as directed:

1. The same night whitening the same trees. We, of that time, are no longer the same. (Join into a complex sentence)

2. The poet said, “ Love is so short, forgetting is so long.” (Change the narration)

3. My voice tried to find the wind. (Correct the errors)

4. The poet says, “And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.” (Change the narration)

5. Through nights like this one I held her in my arms. (Split into two sentences)

6. The night is starry. She is not with me. (Join into a simple sentence)

7. My heart looks for her. She is not with me. (Join into a complex sentence)

8. This be the last pain that she makes me suffer and these are the last verses that I write for her. (Split into two sentences)

9. The poet says, “I no longer love her, that’s certain, but maybe I love her.” (Change the narration)

10. The night wind revolves in the sky. (Correct the errors)

11. I kissed her again and again below the endless sky. (Correct the errors)