5 Most Famous Poems by Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda's 5 Most Famous Poems

Do you enjoy reading poetry? If you are an emotional person, Neruda’s poetry is the right choice for you. These are the five most famous poems by Pablo Neruda. They will make you cry, but they will also make you feel alive. While most of these poems are love poems, there's a lot of hidden meaning in these lines. Neruda's love poems are tender, melancholic, passionate, and breathtaking. He truly is one of the best poets of his generation. So, let's take a look at these marvelous poems!

1. "Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines"
2. "Don’t Be Far Off"
3. "When I Die"
4. "Die Slowly"
5. "Here I Love You"

The books that help you most are those which make you think that most. The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading; but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty.

— Pablo Neruda

1. "Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines"

Appeared in: Veinte Poemas de Amor y una Cancion Desesperada

Year Published: 1924

My Analysis of the Poem

In this poem, the speaker's feelings of loneliness lead to immense sadness. The opening line instantly establishes the mood of this poem. It establishes the incredible sense of loss the speaker feels early in the poem. This line repeats two more times in poem, giving it the feel of a terrible epiphany. In this poem, the sorrow does not diminish but intensifies as you read.

The recurring images of night can present internal darkness, sadness, and lost romance. At night we think about something that tortures us, tossing and turning in bed, unable to be comfortable, unable to sleep. In short, this is a breakup poem, so perhaps night represents the emptiness he feels after she left.

The loneliness of night is immense without her. He couldn’t keep her. She has gone, but he still can’t accept it. It is hard to forget someone you love. You feel like your lover is still with you. You remember everything you passed through together. The poet wants to forget her, and he is trying to convince himself he doesn’t love her anymore, but he clearly does.

The theme of Pablo Neruda's poem “Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines” is the finality of lost love. The speaker is so upset that he starts to ask himself if they ever truly loved each other or if it was all a figment of his imagination. In short, he discovers how sometimes she loved him and other times he loved her, but that his love was not enough for her to stay with him. While he might not write about his lover anymore, it doesn’t mean he will forget her.

"Love is so short, forgetting is so long."

— Pablo Neruda

2. "Don’t Be Far Off"

Appeared in: Poetry of Pablo Neruda

Year Published: 1979

My Analysis of the Poem

This is another of Neruda's great love poems. In this poem, the speaker simply can’t live without his lover—not even for a day! One day without someone you love can still be devastating.

Structurally, "Don’t Go Far Off," by Pablo Neruda, is a four-stanza poem. It is separated into two sets of three lines, or tercets, and two sets of four lines, or quatrains. Neruda’s text does not follow a specific pattern of rhyme or rhythm. A reader will notice though that there is a similarity in the line lengths. Generally, the entire piece is structured with lines that are about nine to ten words long. This consistency gives it its rhythm and lyrical flow.

Recommended

Doesn’t Have to Rhyme: Understanding Syllabic Verses

In an effort to make the speaker’s feelings clearer, Neruda utilizes the metaphor of an “empty station,” where the trains wait quietly for the morning (when the passengers will return). This is when they will come to life, just as Neruda will come back to life if his love were to return.

In this poem, Neruda uses gradation to describe his feelings, saying, "Don't go far off, not even for a day,/Don't leave me, even for an hour,/Don't leave me for a second." His pleas continue throughout the poem, becoming more and more desperate. By the end of the poem, he informs us that he would wander the entire earth seeking his love if they were ever separated.

While I'm writing, I'm far away; and when I come back, I've gone.

— Pablo Neruda

3. "When I Die I Want Your Hands on My Eyes"

Appeared in: Poetry of Pablo Neruda

Year Published: 1979

My Analysis of the Poem

"When I Die" is an incredibly emotional love poem. In this poem, the speaker talks about wanting his spouse to remember him after he passes, but he doesn’t want her to mourn his loss so much that she doesn’t continue living her life. Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet who lived from 1904-1973, and his first wife did not speak his native language of Spanish. This poem is made up of quatrains (four-line poems) and tercets (three-line poems).

The poet wants his lover to remember him after his death. His last wish is to feel her hands one more time. She was the reason for his happiness. He wants her to go on living after his death because he loves her very much.

For me writing is like breathing. I could not live without breathing and I could not live without writing.

— Pablo Neruda

4. "Die Slowly"

Appeared in: Poetry of Pablo Neruda

Year Published: 1979

My Analysis of the Poem

In this inspirational poem, Neruda writes about the importance of living a full life. What can we learn from the poem? Neruda suggests that we all should follow our dreams. We should take risks and change our bad habits.

In short, this is a poem about personal change. This poem reminds us that we can easily become slaves to certain attitudes and habits. It reminds us that freedom comes from self-reflection!

As long as we are stuck in our comfort zone, we are not growing. If you want to live a full life, you should be more open to new experiences. Someone who is not capable of taking a risk and changing their routines "dies slowly". A life that is stuck in a comfort zone is not a full life. Neruda advises us to never forget that we only live once.

We must be better tomorrow than we are today. Self-growth should never stop. It is never too late to be better and happier. It is never too late to start living life with purpose. What are you waiting for? Change yourself. Change your life. Don't waste your time. We cannot have our time back, so don't waste it!

"Being alive requires an effort far greater than the simple fact of breathing."

— Pablo Neruda

5. "Here I Love You"

Appeared in: Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair

Year Published: 1924

My Analysis of the Poem

Neruda imagines kissing her lover, but she is not there. She is far away in another world. He passionately recalls the sweet moments he spent in her company.

This time our poet speaks to his departed beloved. She has gone "there" while he remains "here." The sadness that echoes through the line Sometimes I get up early and even my soul is wet is richly melancholic. He sends her his messages of love but waits for a reply that never comes. Now, he is traveling alone. He feels like he is alone in the world. His life has no purpose without her. It's so very sad.

Writing poetry, we live among the wild beasts, and when we touch a man, the stuff of someone in whom we believed, and he goes to pieces like a rotten pie, you... gather together whatever can be salvaged, while I cup my hands around the live coal of life.

— Pablo Neruda

More Famous Poems by Pablo Neruda