Neruda’s 20 Love Poems: Themes of Passion and Despair
General Themes of the Collection
The general themes of these poems include an ode to women, anxiety, sadness, absence, and memory. These feelings are often described in a desperate and melancholic tone.
Interpretive Summary of the Poems
Poem I: Body, Beauty, and Melancholy
The poet extols the body and beauty, but without idealization. This poem conveys a touch of melancholy, nostalgia, and despair.
Poem II: Ode to the Moon
This poem is dedicated to the moon, which the poet praises and describes with a certain anxiety and sadness.
Poem III: Nature and Desperate Love
In this poem, Neruda plays with elements of nature (twilight, rivers, seashells, mist, transparent stone, etc.) and identifies them with a woman whom he loves desperately.
Poem IV: The Morning Storm
Neruda describes a morning storm (or the storm raging in his heart), witnessed by two lovers who listen to the wind, crashing waves, and clouds.
Poem V: A Plea for Love
This poem is a declaration to a woman he loves, filled with beautiful words, yet underscored by anguish and despair. He begs her to love him, to stay beside him, as he feels lonely.
Poem VI: Evoking Memory and Nostalgia
In this poem, the poet evokes the memory of a woman with nostalgia, reliving that memory with sadness.
Poem VII: Anxiety of Absence
Here, the poet is alone and anxious because she is far from him (referencing her “ocean eyes and absent” presence).
Poem VIII: The Beloved’s Beauty
This poem evokes the beauty of the beloved’s body and large eyes, recalling the sensation he feels when he is with her.
Poem IX: Desperate Feelings on a Damp Night
The poet defines the distraught and desperate feelings he experiences when he is with her on a damp coastal night.
Poem X: Remembering Unseen Love
The poet remembers a love he has not seen, recalling it with sadness and pain.
Poem XI: Fading Memory of Loss
The poet remembers with sadness, anger, and despair the one he loved, suggesting she may have died, and noting that her memory is fading.
Poem XII: The Beautiful, Understanding Woman
Neruda speaks of a beautiful woman whom he supposedly loves and believes he makes happy, a woman who knows what he needs very well.
Poem XIII: Love, Body, and Contradiction
This poem again evokes the female body, his love, and the feelings experienced when with his beloved—the contradiction of loving and ceasing to love.
Poem XIV: Beauty, Passion, and Despair
This poem evokes the beauty of the beloved and his passionate despair for her.
Poem XV: Silence and the Vanishing Anguish
The poet speaks of silence and his beloved. He likes her silence because he knows the anguish, sorrow, and despair associated with it will vanish when she smiles or speaks to him, confirming that these feelings are merely transient.
Poem XVI: The Center of Life and Soul
This poem evokes his passionate love for a woman who is the center of his life and soul.
Poem XVII: Loneliness and Questioning
With sadness and anxiety, the poet defines his loneliness without his love, and wonders why her absence produces the intense feeling that has seized him.
Poem XVIII: Fear of Oblivion
The poet speaks poorly of his love for a woman he may not truly know. He despairs, fearing loneliness and the possibility of not being remembered by anyone.
Poem XIX: Distant Youthful Beauty
This poem evokes the beauty of a young girl, whom the poet feels is distant because of her youth.
Poem XX: Hopeless Love Under the Stars
The poet recalls his sad and hopeless love on a starry night. He is unsure if she loves him, but her memory remains vivid and present.
The Desperate Song
In this final piece, the poet experiences all his feelings compressed by the memory of a love. Themes such as women, pain, sadness, desperation, and melancholy converge in this powerful song.