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The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems by Pablo Neruda. XVII (I do not love you...) I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz, or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off. I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul. I love you as the plant that never blooms but carries in itself the ...
- Darkness in The Poem
- Summary
- Analysis of I Do Not Love You
One of the most important images in ‘I do not love you’ is darkness. It comes in a variety of forms, from “Shadow” in the fourth line, to “light…hidden” and “obscure things.” There are continual references to something dark or obscure. This changes the toneof the text, making it more mysterious and even dangerous. It is not clear why Neruda made th...
The poem begins with the speaker stating that he doesn’t love his wife like one loves beautiful objects. These include flowers and topaz stones. He adds that his love is “obscure” it is not like an “arrow of carnations.” In the next quatrain, the speaker tells his wife why he does love her. His love is like a plant that hides its beauty within itse...
Lines 1-4
In the first lines of this piece the speaker directly addresses his lover. As stated above, this piece is most likely addresses Neruda’s wife, Matilde Urrutia. He tells her from the start that he doesn’t love her like she “were salt-rose, or topaz.” These are undoubtedly beautiful objects to own, and this is the point. One can find, take, and keep a rose that grows by the sea, or a topaz stone. He continues on to say that his love doesn’t resemble “arrow of carnations that the fire shoots off...
Lines 5-8
In the next lines, the speaker goes on to contrastthe first four lines with four more that tell the listener why he does love her. He is thinking of a plant that is more of a representative of all other plants than is strikingly beautiful in itself. It doesn’t carry bloom but it does have “the light of hidden flowers” contained or “hidden” inside itself. This could speak to his wife’s internal beauty, something that is hidden, and one has to look a little harder to find. In these lines, there...
Lines 9-14
The next lines are a little bit easier to understand. Neruda goes through three different statements, all of which begin with “I love you.” These layout the basic reasons. First, his love exists as something intangible. He couldn’t tell the listener “how, or when, or from where” his love comes. It just exists. There are no instances in which his “pride” gets in the way of his love. He is willing to see her straight on and admit that he loves her without reservation. These features of his love...
- Female
- October 9, 1995
- Poetry Analyst And Editor
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul. I love you as the plant that never blooms but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers; thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance, risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body. I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body. I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride; so I love you because I know no other way. than this: where I does not exist, nor you, so close that your hand on my chest is my hand, so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.
I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz, or arrow of carnations that propagate fire: I love you as one loves certain obscure things, secretly, between the shadow and the soul. I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself, and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose from the earth lives dimly in my body.
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Pablo Neruda's Best Love Poems. 1 If You Forget Me. 2 I Do Not Love You. 3 And Because Love Battles. 4 Tonight I Can Write. 5 Don’t Go Far Off. 6 Love Sonnet XI. 7 I Like for You to be Still. 8 Every Day You Play.
By Pablo Neruda. Translated by Mark Eisner. I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz, or arrow of carnations that propagate fire: I love you as one loves certain obscure things, secretly, between the shadow and the soul. I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries. the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,
