PIB LA
Mr.Lewis
April 25th 2018
Finding Love at the End of a Tunnel
Pablo Neruda was a prize winning poet famous for his series of love poems that gave
readers a look into the authors uncomplicated yet overwhelming perspective on love. Neruda’s
work was under the muse of his third wife in which he wrote many love poems to. In his poem,
“100 Love Sonnets : XVII” Neruda uses similes, imagery and metaphors to illustrate a picture of
the simplistic beauty and darkness of love.
Neruda oddly enough begins his poem with the use of imagery to describe all the ways he
doesn't love her. He states, “I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz, / or arrow of
carnations that propagate fire” (1-2). This line represents the beauty and brightness of each item
in comparison to the author’s love and how many might admire these things. But rather he is
saying that he does not care for the outside appearance of his love. His love for her is significant
in her inner beauty. The tone then shifts as Neruda begins to describe all the ways he does love
this person. When he says “ I love you as one loves certain obscure things, / secretly, between
the shadow and the soul.” (3-4), he is describing the secrecy of his love with his third wife whom
he was having an affair with during his second marriage. This line displays the conflict within
himself in trying to keep his love concealed but wanting to show it in so many ways.
Neruda continues this notion of lov...
