If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda | #literatureanalysis

 

https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Neruda


Hello everyone.

I bring a new section for you. It’s a literature analysis. So, it can be a poem, song lyric, novel, drama, and others.

The first analysis is a poem written by Pablo Neruda entitled “If You Forget Me”

 

It tells about someone’s inner love. He states that no matter what does in his life, everything takes him closer to his girl. What is on his mind, what he feels or touches, reminds him of the girl. It makes him closer to the girl.

If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda

Poem

Analysis per stanza

I want you to know

one thing. 

The line indicates that the writer wants the one that he loves to know an important thing.

You know how this is:

if I look

at the crystal moon, at the red branch

of the slow autumn at my window,

if I touch

near the fire

the impalpable ash

or the wrinkled body of the log,

everything carries me to you,

as if everything that exists,

aromas, light, metals,

were little boats

that sail

toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

He uses sense of sight and touch just like using the beautiful words such as “crystal moon”, “red branch”, and “slow autumn”. What on his mind, what he does and touches reminds him to the girl. It makes him feel closer to his girl.

Well, now,

if little by little you stop loving me

I shall stop loving you little by little.

He does not want he has one-sided love. If the girl stops loving him, he will do so.

If suddenly

you forget me

do not look for me,

for I shall already have forgotten you.

The poem tells that if he is forgotten, the girl will be forgotten too. It is emphasized by the line “I shall already have forgotten you”. He tells his lover that if she suddenly forgets him, he wants her to know that he was the one who forgot first.

If you think it long and mad,

the wind of banners

that passes through my life,

and you decide

to leave me at the shore

of the heart where I have roots,

remember

that on that day,

at that hour,

I shall lift my arms

and my roots will set off

to seek another land.

The above lines imply a metaphor to point out that whether the girl lives in peace or in danger, he will be available if his girl needs him.

But

if each day,

each hour,

you feel that you are destined for me

with implacable sweetness,

if each day a flower

climbs up to your lips to seek me,

ah my love, ah my own,

in me all that fire is repeated,

in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,

my love feeds on your love, beloved,

and as long as you live it will be in your arms

without leaving mine.

He compares his love for his mistress to a fire: it feeds off of the love his mistress has for him, and therefore, it can only be extinguished if her love dies.

 

Theme

The poem is about a person who loves someone. He feels everything makes him closer to the girl and always back to her.

Language features

Metaphor:

and my roots will set off to seek another land.”

These 'roots' are what make him loyal to his homeland, despite the fact that he is regarded as an outlaw there. These roots are most likely a symbol or metaphor for his sacrifice or love, as they are what keep him from simply moving elsewhere and settling down.

Imagery

crystal moon

red branch

impalpable ash

wrinkled body of the log

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