"One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII" is a sonnet by Pablo Neruda, the Chilean poet and politician, in 1959.
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Jetzt kostenlos anmelden"One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII" is a sonnet by Pablo Neruda, the Chilean poet and politician, in 1959.
A sonnet is a classical form of poetry that consists of fourteen lines and is written in iambic pentameter, which means an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable.
It is considered one of Neruda's most famous pieces and speaks of his love for his wife, Matilde. It was originally published in Cien sonetos de amor (100 Love Sonnets) (1959) as the seventeenth sonnet out of one hundred sonnets.
Although the sonnet is only fourteen lines long, the word "love" appears nine times, emphasizing Neruda's passionate love for his wife.
Below is a summary of the sonnet. Within its fourteen lines, it describes Neruda's deep and passionate love for the subject of the sonnet, which is his wife, Matilde.
In the first stanza of the sonnet, the speaker tells the subject what his love is not like—such as a rose of salt or topaz. He also says his love is not like a flaming carnation arrow, sparking fiery love images. The speaker's love is deeper than physical objects. The speaker's love moves into the realm of the "shadow and the soul" which indicates this love is internal, secretive, and perhaps beyond time limits.
Next, the speaker compares his love to an unbloomed flower. Even though the flower hasn't bloomed, its beauty remains within. Just as the beauty of the flower remains in all its strength within the bud, the speaker's love for the subject remains strong within his body. The subject's love for the speaker helps maintain the love within the speaker's body.
In the poem's final stanza, the speaker declares that they don't know how or why they love the speaker. They declare they don't know where the love even comes from. However, rather than worry about the answers, the speaker loves the subject directly and does so without judgment. Because of this, the speaker and the subject almost become one. The speaker loves the subject, and that's all that needs to be said.
Below you will find an in-depth analysis of "One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII" by Pablo Neruda.
"One Hundred Love Sonnets XVII" has the structure of a sonnet. It contains fourteen lines. There are three stanzas. The first two stanzas are quatrains, which means they contain 4 lines each. The last stanza is a sextet, which means it has 6 lines. The structure of two quatrains and a sextet is referred to as a Petrarchan sonnet. However, Neruda does not include rhyme as an element of his sonnet. Rhyme is typical in Petrarchan sonnets.
Neruda also uses stanzas as a way to create shifts in his poems. In this sonnet specifically, the first stanza describes how the speaker doesn't love the subject. In the second stanza, the speaker describes how the speaker loves the subject. In the last stanza, the speaker declares directly they love the subject. As one can see, the subject shifts between stanzas.
"One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII" is written from the first-person point of view, and the audience is the person the speaker is directly talking to you.
"I love you without knowing how" (Line 9)
Notice the speaker refers to himself as "I" and the subject as "you". Therefore, the "I" refers to the first-person point of view.
The tone of a poem refers to the author's attitude towards the subject of the poem. In "One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII," the subject of the poem is the speaker's love for his beloved. Neruda adopts a passionate and tender tone. The repetition of the phrase "I love you," as well as words such as "fire," "shadow and soul," and "tight aroma," signify passion and deep love.
By using non-specific pronouns like I and You, Neruda is making the sonnet more widely applicable. Neruda's poem could be for anyone telling their loved one just how much they love them.
Neruda uses many literary devices throughout "One Hundred Love Sonnets XVII." Most notably, Neruda uses imagery, repetition, and enjambment.
Neruda often used imagery as a literary device in his poems, including "One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII."
Imagery is a literary device in which vivid descriptions that appeal to a reader's senses help create an image in the reader's mind.
To describe the speaker's love for their beloved, Neruda uses imagery to help create vivid imagery for that love.
"arrow of carnations that propagate fire" (Line 2)
The image of a fiery arrow of flowers creates a bright and burning image of love in the reader's mind.
"thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose
Words such as "tight aroma that arose" and "dimly" help create a vivid image of a love that is ever-present and ever glowing.
Can you find any other example of imagery in the sonnet? What image of love do they conjure in the reader's mind?
Neruda often uses repetition in his poems to emphasize the main subject of the poem. In particular, in "One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII" Neruda uses a literary device known as anaphora.
Repetition is a literary device in which authors will reuse the same word, phrase, or imagery to emphasize a key point in a written text.
Anaphora is the repetition of a word or a phrase at the beginning of multiple consecutive lines to create emphasis.
The word love is repeated 9 times throughout the sonnet.
"rose of salt" (Line 1)
"arrow of carnations" (Line 2)
"the plant that doesn't bloom" (Line 5)
"the light of those flowers" (Line 6)
The symbol of flowers is also repeated multiple times throughout the sonnet, as flowers usually symbolize love or a growing love.
Anaphora can be found in stanza 3.
Notice how each of the first three lines of stanza 3 begins with the phrase "I love you". This reiterates and emphasizes the speaker's love for the subject.
Many of Neruda's poems contain enjambment.
Enjambment is when a sentence flows over multiple lines of poetry to create a sense of flow and continuity.
Notice how the sentence flows over two lines of poetry. This indicates that this is an example of enjambment. Notice how the first word of the line is "secretly", which finds itself in the middle of the sentence. By starting the line with "secretly", Neruda emphasizes the hidden aspect of such passionate love.
The key theme in "One Hundred Love Sonnets XVII" is the power, complexity, and undefinability of an emotion such as love. The love Neruda feels in this sonnet he wrote for his wife Matilde, goes way beyond the surface, into undefinable depths. It is a love that can only be found in the area "between the shadow and the soul" (Line 4). Language alone is not enough to describe the kind of love the speaker feels towards the subject, which is why in the third stanza the speaker cannot find the answers to why the speaker loves, how the speaker loves, or where the love comes from.
I love you directly without problems or pride..." (Line 10)
Ultimately, the speaker decides not to question the complexity, and simply accepts the love directly.
The meaning of "One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII" is that the love the speaker feels for the subject cannot be defined by words or simple surface-level things, such as appearance. It is a love that is deep, complex, and hidden which makes it that much more passionate, intense, and beautiful.
"One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII" adopts a passionate and tender tone.
It was published in 1959 by Pablo Neruda.
"One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII" is about a speaker's deep and undefinable love for a loved one.
The central idea of "One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII" is that the love the speaker feels for the subject cannot be defined by words or simple surface-level things, such as appearance. He has a love that is deep, complex, and hidden, which makes it that much more passionate, intense, and beautiful.
Neruda wrote the sonnet for his wife, Matilde.
When was "One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII" published?
1959
Who wrote "One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII"?
Pablo Neruda
What is a sonnet?
A sonnet is a classical form of poetry that consists of fourteen lines and is written in iambic pentameter, which means an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable.
How are the lines organized in "One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII"?
There are three stanzas and the first two stanzas are quatrains, which means they contain 4 lines each. The last stanza is a sestet, which means it contains 6 lines.
What point of view is the sonnet told from?
First-Person point of view
What is the tone of "One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII"?
It has a passionate and tender tone.
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