Pablo Neruda Soneto 93 ( Autumn Russell)

Poetry Blog Project: Honors

http://www.ciudadseva.com/textos/poesia/ha/neruda/100sone/93.htm


Soneto XCIII

Si alguna vez tu pecho se detiene,
si algo deja de andar ardiendo por tus venas,
si tu voz en tu boca se va sin ser palabra,
si tus manos se olvidan de volar y se duermen,
Matilde, amor, deja tus labios entreabiertos
porque ese último beso debe durar conmigo,
debe quedar inmóvil para siempre en tu boca
para que así también me acompañe en mi muerte.
Me moriré besando tu loca boca fría,
abrazando el racimo perdido de tu cuerpo,
y buscando la luz de tus ojos cerrados.
Y así cuando la tierra reciba nuestro abrazo
iremos confundidos en una sola muerte
a vivir para siempre la eternidad de un beso.

 Biography;

“Pablo Neruda” or Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto, was a Chilean poet who was known for his extremely passionate love poems. He became actually known as a “poet” at age 10. Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. Pablo served term for the Chilean Communist Party, as their Senator, during his lifetime. He was put in the hospital but went back home because he believed who had injected him with at unknown substance was trying to kill him. He died approximately six and a half hours after the injection.

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

Summary of the poem:

This is an intense and passionate poem. Pablo wrote it about his third wife, Matilde Urrutia. Pablo is explaining that despite his intimate love for his wife, he would still be torn if she died. He also has seemed to have accepted the fact that death is a part of life and he wants his wife’s last kiss to “linger” with him. He is representing their love with a kiss, and wants their kiss (love) to last forever .


Imagery and figurative language;
“Si tus manos se olvidan de volar y se duermen” or “If your hands forget how to fly and they sleep” This , along with the other three quotes I chose from this poem, helps
to further explain the story the author is trying to tell about his passionate , “till death do us part” relationship with his wife .

“si tu voz en tu boca se va sin ser palabra” or “if the voice in your mouth escapes without becoming word” Pablo goes on to vividly describe the parts of her he would miss the most while slowly hinting the reader that he is talking about her dying , and how much he would fall apart without him .

“...porque ese último beso debe durar conmigo” or “because that final kiss should linger with me”Throughout this poem, there is a huge use of exaggerated statements known as hyperbole. Neruda takes common occurrences and gives them extremely dramatic elements which provide the poem with a personal connection . The reader almost gains an inside view on who Pablo was and how his relations with his wife were .

Tone :
This poem is very sentimental in many ways; it displays a very emotional front given by the author. Pablo includes an extremely somber tone that helps express to the reader how he would feel if his wife died. The romantic but yet poignant tone of this poem demonstrates Neruda’s love for his wife.

Theme:
Pablo is making a statement about him and his wife Matilde . He explains that they can never be separated because their love (in this case represented by a kiss) will hold them together for eternity. He explains how much it would kill him if she died and that he doesn’t want to live without her. He also wants her to know that when she dies that he will miss intimately. He continues until the end of the poem explaining how
there love will never die , which is significant considering she was his third wife.
Other:
An example of an assonance in this poem is “Me moriré besando tu loca boca fría”.
This line is catchy and leaves the reader repeated it over and over in there brain . “It would kill me to kiss your crazy cold lips” . Although this poem doesn't rhyme, it has a tempo to it that give it a sense of tone. Without the tempo Pablo write it with , the poem probably wouldn't flow the way it does. Every line is able to roll off the edge of your tongue and smoothly connect to the next one . It gives the poem a soft methodic sense that engulfs the reader in the words.



Sonnet 93
If some time your chest stops, if something stops
running, stops burning through your veins,
if the voice in your mouth escapes without becoming word,
If your hands forget to fly, and they sleep,
Matilde my love, leave your lips half-open:
because that final kiss should linger with me,
it should stay still, forever, in your mouth,
so that it goes with me, too, in my death.
I will die kissing your crazy cold mouth,
caressing the lost buds of your body,
looking for the light of your closed eyes.
And so when the earth received our embrace
we will go blended in a single death, forever
living the eternity of a kiss.