To See Him Again by Gabriela Mistral

To see him again

Not on nights filled with quivering stars,

or during dawn's maiden brightness

or afternoons of sacrifice?

Or at the edge of a pale path

that encircles the farmlands,                                                                           

or upon the rim of a trembling fountain,

whitened by a shimmering moon?

Or beneath the forest's

luxuriant, raveled tresses

where, calling his name,

I was overtaken by the night?

Not in the grotto that returns

the echo of my cry?

Oh no. To see him again --

it would not matter where --

in heaven's deadwater

or inside the boiling vortex,

under serene moons or in bloodless fright!

To be with him...

every springtime and winter,

united in one anguished knot

around his bloody neck!

Poem Analysis

• The poem tells the story of a woman who has been heart broken. The speaker is really just speaking to anyone that will listen to her story of heartbreak. The breakup of her and a previous was rather traumatic. She explains that the relationship was hard, and that she never never wishes to see them again. She does not care the circumstance or location, not even with a noose around their neck.
• The author uses a lot of imagery that appeals to your sense of sight.  She describes “nights filled with quivering stars” and “luxuriant, reveled trees” . The author also uses imagery that can appeal to your sense of sound. For example, she discusses the “echo of her cry”. The poem has very little figurative language.
• The poem has a very somber tone. She explains in very sad words how she would never like to see this person again. Despite the words, even the message has a somber tone she is traumatized by this experience.
• The overall theme of the poem is that breakups are hard and it is best to detach completely. While the poem is just stating that regardless of circumstance or location she wishes never to see this lover again, there is some reading between the lines that the reader can do. Personally, I think that she is saying that her personal heartache was just too awful, that she can not physically bear another encounter with this person. However, the title “To See Him Again” implies that she has put much thought into what an encounter with this person would be like. She comes to the grand conclusion that, even if it is their dead body; she simply can not bear it.
• In the poem, I noticed a pattern in the locations that she choose to mention. Several of these locations are nature themed, she mentions “pale paths” and “farmlands”. I also noticed that the subject of the poem is really up to the reader's interpretation . She never clarifies her relation to whoever “he” is.The poem progresses so that we can understand her negative feelings towards her ex lover. She begins with not want to see him under the moon, but then progresses to her not even wanting to see his dead body.

Gabriela Mistral

Biographical Information -Gabriela Mistral was  April 7, 1889 in  Vicuña, Chile. She died on  January 10, 1957 in Hempstead, New York. She became a school teacher at age 15, then later a college professor, cultural minister, and diplomat. In 1914, she won a Chilean prize for three "Sonetos de la muerte" ("Sonnets of Death"), works influenced by the suicide of her former lover. Then in 1945, she was the first Latin American to receive a Nobel prize in literature.

Sources-

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1945/mistral-facts.html http://www.biography.com/people/gabriela-mistral-9410123 http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-see-him-again/#content\
http://www.quotationof.com/gabriela-mistral.html