Tonight I can Write - Critical
Appreciation
Pablo Neruda, often called the "Picasso of poetry" for his ever-changing style, was a
Chilean poet and diplomat. Born as Neftali Ricardo Reyes in Parral on July 12, 1904, he
later adopted Pablo Neruda as his legal name. His poetry, spanning from the 1920s to the
1970s, connects surrealism with 20th-century Magic Realism. Considered the greatest
Spanish-language poet of his time, he won the Nobel Prize in 1971. His works have been
widely translated.
Love and despair may not seem similar at first. Some people think that when you are in
love, you do not feel sad, and when you are feel desperation, it is because you have lost the
one you love. However, for Pablo Neruda, love and despair go hand in hand. Love can make
a person feel crazy, and sadness can make love feel even stronger. Neruda’s famous book
Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair(1924) brings together these two powerful
emotions. This collection includes 20 love poems and one final poem of despair that
connects all the feelings from the earlier poems.
In the poem Tonight I Can Write, love and despair mix as the speaker struggles with his
emotions about his lost love. He remembers the deep love he once felt, but he also realises
she is gone. This poem gathers all the romantic feelings from the previous poems and makes
the speaker understand that he is now alone with only memories. The setting of the poem is
a cold, clear night, which adds to the feeling of loneliness.
The title of the poem is important as it hints at the poet’s sorrow. The ellipses make it seem
incomplete, reflecting the pain of separation, which also inspires the poet to write. The first
line, “Tonight I can write the saddest lines,” is repeated three times, acting as a refrain that
reinforces the melancholic mood. This repetition unites the poem thematically. After
introducing the theme, the poet uses nature imagery to symbolise his passion, emotional
turmoil, and grief. For example, “The night is shattered” mirrors his heartbreak, while “the
stars are blue and shiver in the distance” symbolise the coldness and distance between the
former lovers.
The poet personifies the night wind to express his emotional turmoil. He struggles with his
feelings, stating that he loved his beloved and that she “sometimes loved him” in return.
The night plays a crucial role in the poem, both as a setting and as a trigger for memories.
The line “Through nights like this one I held her in my arms” reminds him of the intimate
moments they shared. However, the same night now amplifies his loneliness. The word
“sometimes” suggests uncertainty, showing how memories can change over time, making
love and loss even more painful.
The poet repeatedly expresses his sense of loss, emphasising that he no longer has her and
deeply feels her absence. As the night deepens his sorrow, this loss becomes even more
profound. Despite his pain, he finds comfort in poetry, describing how verse nourishes the
soul the way dew refreshes the pasture. Through this simile, he conveys how writing
soothes his suffering. However, he contradicts himself, first asserting that love was not
enough to keep her, only to immediately mourn her absence.
As he hears “someone singing in the distance,” he feels too lost in sadness to appreciate it.
His longing for his beloved is so strong that “his sight searches for her” and “his heart
looks for her.” The night, once again, becomes a symbol of time passing. The line “The
same night whitening the same trees. / We, of that time, are no longer the same” reflects
how the world stays unchanged while people and relationships transform. Though the moon
isn’t mentioned, it is implied that moonlight makes the trees appear white, adding to the
poem’s quiet, reflective tone.
The speaker could go through a cycle of pain, love, and contradiction to survive the
loneliness he lived in. After he admitted that he misses her and nature has hurt his sorrows,
the only person he cares about is his beloved, and she will never know how much he misses
her:
"My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing."
The last two lines conclude all the pain Neruda has expressed from the first to the last line.
He states he would let her go to free himself of the pain, only to know that he would
continue suffering every lonely night.
He would leave behind his melancholy to free himself from a broken heart. His will was
that his lover heard his verses to feel his sadness, but instead, every reader felt how his love
drove him insane and how moments of despair reminded him how much he loved her.
‘Tonight I Can Write’ is a constant contradiction of letting go but fearing to forget the true
love he once had.
