Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair
Pablo Neruda
Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair
Pablo Neruda's first book of love poems, published thirty-five years earlier, when he was nineteen.
Read our takeOne Hundred Love Sonnets
Pablo Neruda
One Hundred Love Sonnets
by Pablo Neruda
A hundred love poems Pablo Neruda wrote for Matilde Urrutia, arranged from morning to night.
- 1959
- Exuberant
- lyrical
- sensual
- intimate
About Pablo Neruda
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freeOne Hundred Love Sonnets is Pablo Neruda's book of love poems for Matilde Urrutia, the woman who became his third wife. He began writing the sonnets in 1957 and worked on them in Paris that autumn. A private edition of three hundred copies was printed in Santiago in November 1959, and Editorial Losada published the book in Buenos Aires in December 1960. The hundred poems are grouped into four parts named for the times of day: morning, midday, evening and night. The University of Texas Press, which publishes Stephen Tapscott's English translation, calls it one of the most popular books of poetry of all time.[1][2]
The story, in more detail
Neruda first met Matilde Urrutia at a concert in Santiago in 1946. They met again in Mexico City in 1949, when he was in exile, and she nursed him through an illness. The Fundación Pablo Neruda says that love produced two books, The Captain's Verses and One Hundred Love Sonnets.[1]
The University of Chile's chronology dates the start of the sonnets to 1957.[3] In September 1957 Neruda settled in Paris for a time, and the Fundación records that he worked there on two books at once: Estravagario and One Hundred Love Sonnets.[1]
The book first appeared in a private edition. In November 1959 the Editorial Universitaria in Santiago printed three hundred copies, sold by subscription. Editorial Losada's edition followed in Buenos Aires on 14 December 1960, in a hard binding with a jacket drawn by Silvio Baldessari.[1][4]
How the book is arranged
The book opens with a dedication to Matilde Urrutia. In Stephen Tapscott's translation Neruda tells her that the happiness he feels in offering her these poems is as vast as a savanna.[2]
The hundred sonnets follow in four parts: Morning, Midday, Evening and Night. The Spanish headings are Mañana, Mediodía, Tarde and Noche. The University of Texas Press edition prints the Spanish sonnets beside the English.[2]
The setting is Isla Negra, the stretch of Chilean coast where Neruda had his house. The publisher describes the wind and tides, the white sand with its small wildflowers, and the salt smell of the sea running through the poems.[2]
Themes and analysis
Sonnet XVII
Sonnet XVII is the sonnet from this book that the Academy of American Poets reprints in full. The speaker starts by saying what his love is not. He does not love her as if she were a rose of salt, a topaz, or an arrow of carnations.
Then he says what it is like. He loves her the way a plant that never flowers still carries the light of flowers hidden inside it. He loves her without knowing how, or when, or from where.
The last lines bring the two people as close as the poem can. Her hand on his chest is his, and her eyes close when he sleeps. The Academy of American Poets prints Mark Eisner's translation with the Spanish text, so a reader can compare them line by line.
Written between Paris, Chile and the road
Neruda wrote the sonnets while moving around the world. In 1957 he was briefly arrested in Buenos Aires, then travelled to Colombo, Rangoon and China. He settled in Paris in September and worked there on this book and on Estravagario.
He was back in Paris in 1960, the year the book reached the public. The Fundación places him there in April and again in August and September. He sailed from Marseille for Havana in November, a few weeks before Losada published the sonnets in Buenos Aires.
Neruda and Matilde Urrutia married in a private civil ceremony at Isla Negra on 28 October 1966, six years after the book was published.
Quotes from One Hundred Love Sonnets
The happiness I feel in offering these to you is vast as a savanna.
I love you as one loves certain obscure things, / secretly, between the shadow and the soul.te amo como se aman ciertas cosas oscuras, / secretamente, entre la sombra y el alma.
so close that your hand upon my chest is mine, / so close that your eyes close with my dreams.tan cerca que tu mano sobre mi pecho es mía, / tan cerca que se cierran tus ojos con mi sueño.
Why we recommend it
The happy love book
Twenty Love Poems was about longing and loss. These sonnets were written for a woman Neruda was living with, and they celebrate that.
A day's shape
The four parts, Morning, Midday, Evening and Night, give a hundred short poems an order that is easy to follow.
Sonnet XVII in its place
The sonnet the Academy of American Poets reprints on its own reads differently among the ninety-nine others.
Partly written in Paris
Neruda worked on the sonnets in Paris in the autumn of 1957, alongside Estravagario.
What this book explores
Bring it to book club
- The book moves from morning to night. Do the poems change as the day goes on?
- Sonnet XVII defines love by saying first what it is not. Why do you think Neruda starts there?
- How does the coast at Isla Negra show up in the poems you read?
- Compare one of these sonnets with a poem from Twenty Love Poems. What has changed in how Neruda writes about love?
- If you can read the Spanish, where does the English translation have to make a choice?
Timeline
1946
Pablo Neruda meets Matilde Urrutia at a concert in Santiago.
1949
They meet again in Mexico City during Neruda's exile.
1957
Neruda begins the sonnets. In September he settles in Paris and works there on this book and on Estravagario.
1959
In November the Editorial Universitaria in Santiago prints a private edition of three hundred copies.
1960
Editorial Losada publishes the book in Buenos Aires on 14 December, with a jacket by Silvio Baldessari.
1966
Neruda and Matilde Urrutia marry at Isla Negra on 28 October.
1986
The University of Texas Press publishes Stephen Tapscott's English translation.
2014
The University of Texas Press issues a redesigned bilingual edition.
Book editions
- Hardcover
- University of Texas Press
- 1986
- 9780292760295
- Stephen Tapscott
- Paperback
- University of Texas Press
- 2014
- 9780292756519
- Stephen Tapscott
- Hardcover
- University of Texas Press
- 2014
- 9780292757608
- Stephen Tapscott
Reader reviews
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Read our takeOne Hundred Love Sonnets: frequently asked questions
Who are One Hundred Love Sonnets written for?
Matilde Urrutia, who became Pablo Neruda's third wife in 1966. The book is dedicated to her, and the Fundación Pablo Neruda says it celebrates their love.
When was One Hundred Love Sonnets published?
A private edition of three hundred copies was printed in Santiago in November 1959. Editorial Losada published the book in Buenos Aires on 14 December 1960.
How is the book divided?
Into four parts named for the times of day: Morning, Midday, Evening and Night. In Spanish they are Mañana, Mediodía, Tarde and Noche.
What does Sonnet XVII say?
Sonnet XVII begins by saying the speaker does not love her as if she were a rose of salt or a topaz. The Academy of American Poets prints it in Spanish and in Mark Eisner's English.
Who translated One Hundred Love Sonnets into English?
Stephen Tapscott's translation, published by the University of Texas Press in 1986, is the best-known complete version. Gustavo Escobedo's translation appeared from Exile Editions in 2004. Single sonnets have been translated by others, including Mark Eisner.
Did Neruda write the sonnets in Paris?
Partly. He began them in 1957, and that September he settled in Paris, where he worked on this book and on Estravagario.
Is this the same book as The Captain's Verses?
No. The Captain's Verses is an earlier book of love poems for Matilde Urrutia, first printed anonymously in Naples in 1952. One Hundred Love Sonnets came seven years later, under Neruda's own name.
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References
References
The sources below include the primary text, editions, scholarship, archival materials, and other records that informed this page. They document One Hundred Love Sonnets, its publication, and its place in literary history.
3↑Pablo Neruda: Cronología
WebsiteUniversidad de ChileUsed forThe University of Chile's chronology, dating the start of the sonnets to 1957 and the two editions.
4↑Pablo Neruda — Bibliography (works in Spanish and in English)
Official recordNobel Prize Outreach, compiled by the Swedish AcademyUsed forThe Swedish Academy's bibliography: the 1959 Editorial Universitaria edition and Tapscott's 1986 translation.
5One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII, by Pablo Neruda, translated by Mark Eisner, with the Spanish text
PoetryAcademy of American Poets (Poets.org), reprinted from The Essential Neruda (City Lights Books, 2004)Used forAuthorized text of Sonnet XVII in Spanish and in Mark Eisner's English, the source of the quotations.
6Pablo Neruda — Open Library author and edition records, used to confirm that every ISBN listed resolves to the book named
ArchiveOpen LibraryUsed forOpen Library edition records, used to confirm each ISBN listed.
7One Hundred Love Sonnets
PoetryPablo Neruda, 1959Used forThe primary text represented by this page, used for descriptions of the work’s contents and for any quoted passages shown here.
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Why these sources are here
The primary text is the baseline reference for every book page. Additional references document publication history, interpretation, and historical context where that evidence is available.
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