Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines

Twenty Songs of Love and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda (1924)

This link provides readers with the entirety of Pablo Neruda’s third book, Twenty Songs of Love and a Song of Despair (1924). Readers can see the 19 poems that detail the speaker’s romantic feelings leading up to their breakup with the subject of “Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines.” “Every Day You Play” is another famous poem from this collection. The last poem is the “Song of Despair.”

“One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII (I don’t love you as if you were a rose)” by Pablo Neruda (1959)

This poem comes from Neruda’s later collection of love poems, One Hundred Love Sonnets. Readers will note clear similarities in style and theme between this poem and “Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines.” Both describe the mysterious aspects of love, make comparisons between women and nature, and use hyperbolic language. By contrast, this poem expresses an ongoing connection, rather than a disconnection from the beloved.

“I’m Explaining a Few Things” by Pablo Neruda (1970)

This is an example of Neruda’s political poetry or poetry of witness he wrote in response to his experience of the Spanish Civil War.