If You Forget Me

“If You Forget Me” is a free-verse poem, meaning it does not have a formal structure or rhyme scheme. This is true for both the English translation by Donald D. Walsh and the original in Spanish. The length of the poem’s six stanzas varies. The first stanza is the shortest, with only two lines. It prefaces the if-then statements and the figurative language in other stanzas. The third and fourth stanzas have three and four lines, respectively. These stanzas include more straightforward, conversational language, and are structured by if-then statements. The longer stanzas—the second, fifth, and sixth stanzas—have 12 or 13 lines. They include more figurative language, like symbols and metaphors, as well as the if-then statements. Overall, the poem has 48 lines. The varying line lengths, which range from one word to many words, indicate that there is no consistent meter (in Spanish or English) throughout the poem.

Rather than a historical form, Neruda’s poem is structured around statements that indicate conditions. In other words, he uses a series of if-then statements to develop the theme of Love Is Reciprocity (Mutual Exchange). All of the stanzas, except for the first stanza, use conditional language, such as “if” (Line 18) and “shall” (Line 19).