Poem Analysis: If you forget Me

On this post I will be  analyzing the poem If you forget me (Pablo Neruda, 1952):

I want you to know

one thing.

You know how this is:

if I look

at the crystal moon, at the red branch

of the slow autumn at my window,

if I touch

near the fire

the impalpable ash

or the wrinkled body of the log,

everything carries me to you,

as if everything that exists,

aromas, light, metals,

were little boats

that sail

toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,

if little by little you stop loving me

I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly

you forget me

do not look for me,

for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,

the wind of banners

that passes through my life,

and you decide

to leave me at the shore

of the heart where I have roots,

remember

that on that day,

at that hour,

I shall lift my arms

and my roots will set off

to seek another land.

But

if each day,

each hour,

you feel that you are destined for me

with implacable sweetness,

if each day a flower

climbs up to your lips to seek me,

ah my love, ah my own,

in me all that fire is repeated,

in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,

my love feeds on your love, beloved,

and as long as you live it will be in your arms

without leaving mine.

Pablo Neruda, 1952

The Poem explores the complexities of love and loss. As Jenson (2016) explain after the fall of Communism in  Chile in 1948, Neruda was exiled from his native country and the poem is a warning to his lover of what will happen if she forget him while he is away. According to Manugeren (2020) the poem is based on the three elements that are essential when it comes to love: commitment, intimacy, and passion. The poem is written in a direct mode of address once is directly written for his loved one. the first two stanzas Neruda talks about the possible consequences of a break up and also reassure his love and commitment. On the third and forth stanzas the poem change direction completely once Neruda explore more in depth the possible consequences of being forgotten. Zaluku (2020) claims that unlikely the first half of the poem which is romantic and flattering the third and forth stanzas paint a complete different picture and serve as a warning to his mistress. In the fifth stanza Neruda is still explaining the consequences of what would happen if she forget him. However, the direction of the poem changes again on the sixth stanza. "The sixth stanza explains the opposite of the third stanza to the fifth stanza. In this stanza, Neruda explained that if his girlfriend still wants to be with him forever, he will not leave and will continue with his girlfriend forever". (Zaluku p49, 2020).

When it come to literary devices Neruda use metaphors and  personification to explain what will happen if he get forgotten that can be exemplified in the following lines :

"if each day a flower

climbs up to your lips to seek me"

Furthermore, Neruda use Enjambment throughout the poem and that can be observed in the following lines:

if I look

at the crystal moon, at the red branch

if little by little you stop loving me

I shall stop loving you little by little.

Reference List:

Jenson, J. (2016). Complete Analysis of If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda. [online] Poem Analysis. Available at: https://poemanalysis.com/pablo-neruda/if-you-forget-me/ [Accessed 3 Mar. 2024].

Zaluku, S.K. and Manugeren, M., 2020. LOVE PREREQUISITES IN PABLO NERUDA’S POEM IF YOU FORGET ME. Journal of Language, 2(1), pp.44-51.

Bibliography:

De Costa, R., 1979. The Poetry of Pablo Neruda. Harvard University Press.