If you forget me Pablo Neruda

'If You Forget Me' Poem

Analysis of 'If You Forget Me' by Pablo Neruda

A heart, Pixabay

'If You Forget Me' begins with the speaker directly addressing a lover. The speaker begins by describing how if he looks at the moon or a branch and how if he touches various objects, he is transported to images of her. The speaker's tone changes however in the third and fourth stanzas where he warns his lover that if she were to forget him, he would stop loving her and would immediately forget her.

He continues to warn her in the fifth stanza that if she leaves him behind on the shore where he has his roots, he will simply pick up his roots and find another land. In the final stanza, the speaker returns to a more loving tone reminding her that if she feels destined for him and if she continues to love him, he will return the love passionately and eternally.

Pablo Neruda's 'If You Forget Me': Literary devices

Poem Structure

'If You Forget Me' by Pablo Neruda has six stanzas. The poem is considered a free verse poem, which means it does not contain meter, rhyme, or pattern and is more similar to speech.

Each stanza within the poem varies in length and pattern. The first stanza contains only two lines while the second stanza contains thirteen. This is done to mimic natural speech so that you feel the speaker is speaking directly to you.

Tone

Tone is the author's attitude towards the main topic of the written piece. The tone in this poem is warning and sincere. The speaker is clearly warning his lover:

The speaker may be warning the lover, but there is a tone of sincerity that shows the speaker passionately loves her and does not wish to ever be parted from her.

Figurative language

Figurative language can be found in the poem 'If You Forget Me' by Pablo Neruda in several ways. Metaphors, enjambment, imagery, and personification are all examples of figurative language found in the poem.

Metaphor

In the poem, Neruda compares objects such as light and metal to "little sailboats" that sail towards isles which are compared to his lover.

This is an example of an extended metaphor because the comparison between the objects and boats, and the isles to the lover extend over multiple lines. Extended metaphors are often used by poets to take a concept or idea that may be difficult to visualize and visualize it in a way readers may comprehend. Neruda wanted the reader to understand just how deep the speaker's love is for his lover, but visualized it in the form of boats going to isles. This not only shows the depth of the speaker's love but also creates an image that is memorable to the reader.

Enjambment

Multiple examples can be found in 'If You Forget Me' as each stanza is one sentence that flows over multiple lines of the poem. The sentence only ends when the stanza ends which allows the poem to flow smoothly and fluidly. Neruda's intentional line breaks help to create a rhythm within the lines which then allows the first of the line to be emphasized. This is most powerful when he breaks a line and begins the next one with the word "if".

Imagery

Imagery is used by Pablo Neruda in 'If You Forget Me' to create a setting for the poem that is beautiful, vivid, and memorable. Examples of imagery in the poem include:

Personification

Neruda uses personification throughout the poem 'If You Forget Me' to convey certain concepts in a way that is vivid and imaginative.

Here, Neruda gives a flower the human ability to climb and kiss. This allows Neruda to indirectly explain to his lover that even if they are unable to kiss, all she has to do is kiss the flower and he will know the kiss is meant for him.

'If You Forget Me' Theme and Meaning

Heart, Pixabay.

The central theme of the poem 'If You Forget Me' by Pablo Neruda is that of love and loss. Love inspires within the speaker an emotional response to his lover that is both loving yet slightly threatening. The speaker refers to the lover as "ah my love, ah my own" (line 42) and as his "beloved" (line 45). His love is so passionate that when he looks, touches, and senses the world around him everything brings him back to the image of his lover.

However, the threat of losing love also creates an emotional response within the speaker who threatens his lover that if she stops loving him, he will do the same. Most striking is the speaker's sentiment in stanza 4:

Declaring that the speaker has already forgotten the lover before the lover has even forgotten him shows the intensity of his meaning. The loss would be so great to the speaker, he'd rather it never existed at all. The overall meaning of the poem then becomes that within love there is always a sense of insecurity in the face of potential rejection, lack of reciprocation, and sacrifice and as humans who love we must learn to grapple with those feelings.

'If You Forget Me' Symbolism

Symbol of Fire, pixabay.

There are a few key symbols that appear throughout 'If You Forget Me' by Pablo Neruda. The symbol of fire appears many times in different forms and represents the passion of the speaker and how intense his love for his lover is.

When the speaker speaks of fire, it is either because he burns with love yet the fire can be extinguished if the lover does not reciprocate his love. It shows the delicacy and insecurity of intense love.

Another key symbol is isles, land, and shores all indicating areas near a body of water. When Neruda compares how everything reminds him of his lover to a boat going to an isle (Lines 14-15) and when Neruda describes the speaker as lifting his arms, disconnecting his roots from the shore, and seeking new land (Stanza 5), the reader can see how Neruda uses the symbols of isles, land, and shores as a way to show the fluidity in love. Waves lap at the shores of land and isles but they also recede, which shows how quickly love can be given and how quickly love can also be taken away.