McKenna Colgan - Sonnet 17 Pablo Neruda

Link to Poem:

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/121705-sonnet-xvii-i-do-not-love-you-as-if-you


Image:

McCormack, Maggie. What Is Love? Digital image. Maggie McCormack Wordpress. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. <https://maggiemcc77.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/seeing-old-people-in-love.jpg>.

Biography:

Pablo Neruda was born  in Parral, Chile, on July 12, 1904. At age 13, he began his writing career as a contributor to the daily, La Mañana, where he published his first poems. He contributed to the literary journal Selva Austral under the pen name Pablo Neruda, which he assumed in honor of Czech poet Jan Neruda. Pablo Neruda continued to write and over time recieved numerous awards such as the International Peace Prize in 1950, the Lenin Peace Prize and the Stalin Peace Prize in 1953, and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. Pablo Neruda caused controversy due to his affiliation with the Communist Party. Most of his poems are found placed together in book format, such as Crepusculario (Book of Twilight), published in 1923, and one of his most renowned works,Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada (Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair). 

All facts found from source: 
"Pablo Neruda Biography." The Biography.com Website. Ed. Biography.com. A&E Television Networks. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. <http://www.biography.com/people/pablo-neruda-9421737>.

Story:
The poem, Sonnet 17, by Pablo Neruda has what seems like one speaker. The speaker is madly in love with someone and is telling this receiver how he feels, but the person they are in love with has many flaws.  The speaker even says: " I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself, " . This quote is explaining how the flower (his love)  is not gorgeous on the outside, she - he isn't perfect but they have an amazing personality. The speaker also has no care has to what his lover's past was. "I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where". The speaker is clearly kind and compassionate and not trying to dig into his lover's past, there is a definite level of trust between the speaker and the receiver.

Imagery and Figurative Language:

• "I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom". This quote includes imagery and figurative language. The imagery is of a flower that doesn't bloom. A dead, ugly, useless plant that is most definitely not beautiful. The speaker is also using figurative language with a smile, comparing the receiver to a(n) ugly plant by using "as". The impact is that the readers now know that his lover isn't beautiful on the outside but instead on the inside.
• "thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose

  from the earth lives dimly in my body.". This quote is using the 5 senses as it's imagery. The "tight aroma" from "your love" grabs the reader's attention and allows them to use their imagination as to what it smells like. This quote also has figurative language in the form of a hyperbole. The love did not actually bring out a tight aroma but it makes the speaker feel this way.
• "I love you as one loves certain obscure things,   

  secretly, between the shadow and the soul."  This quote includes the imagery of  seeing obscure things, and the area between the shadow and the soul. To imagine actual secrets inside someone and where they are, the reader would be able to see the black and white secrecy between two people. The figurative language is a simile as the speaker is comparing his love  to someone who loves obscure, secret things.

Tone:

The tone of this poem is very sweet, honest and thoughtful about how the speaker feels. The speaker even says that he/she doesn't think their lover is very beautiful on the outside but instead they have a beautiful inside. The poem would be used to tell a crush or partner how you truly feel about them when you think of them or are with them.

Theme: 

The poem itself is about a lover telling their partner how they truly feel. The poem's meaning is not only love but instead how the speaker loves. The topic of the poem is the speaker's true feelings even if they might sting. Telling your partner how you truly feel about them can result in an easy relationship. Neruda truly gets at loving everything about someone even if it is ugly and letting people have privacy.

Analysis:

Sonnet 17, includes a lot of simile's and metaphors. The speaker of the poem uses like, and as and different forms of metaphors to describe his honest love. "I love you as one loves certain obscure things"  is one quote including a simile, comparing his love to someone who enjoys the little things in life. "I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom". This is another quote describing his love as a dead flower, the speaker is being honest about how he feels which relates this quote to the theme. I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where," This quote includes consonance by saying "when" and "where" which both are question words and both begin with the letter W. This provides a sense of rhythm to the poem when reading it.