“I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You”
Analyzing “I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You”
Pablo Neruda’s poem, “I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You”, the theme illustrates the confusion and pain of falling in love. This poem shows how hard it is to love someone and how love sometimes can hurt. This poem combines two general poetry types: it is a narrative poem because it tells a story and it is a lyric poem because it includes the writer’s feelings and passion. In this poem, it shows how fast time goes by. The writer includes a specific time frame. “Maybe the January light will consume my heart” (Neruda 9). Furthermore, the author describes how he feels about his love. “I will die of love because I love you” (Neruda 13). He uses powerful words that incisively capture the natural aspects of how to feel or perceive love. The author does not show if he is talking about himself. However, he writes in first person so the readers can think that he does. Obviously, the poem is addressed to his love. The speaker of the poem is passionate with his thoughts of love but also feels manipulated by whom he loves. He finds himself in a dilemma between love and hate. Neruda captures the intensity and conflict that love inflicts on man when he is fascinated by a fire of romantic passion. The story behind this poem is still a secret. Nobody knows the reason why this poet wrote this poem this way. That’s why poets use figurative language so the poem can be interpreted in many different ways. This poem shows three different types of figurative language; personification, metaphor, and symbolism. “My heart moves from the cold into the fire” (Neruda 4). This one explains how his mind, soul, and passion changed when he fell in love. “I do not see you but love you blindly” (Neruda 8), which means the unconditional love that he has for her. Even if he could not see, he would still love her. In summary, Pablo Neruda’s poem shows the war between the passion of the heart and the logic of
Pablo Neruda’s poem, “I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You”, the theme illustrates the confusion and pain of falling in love. This poem shows how hard it is to love someone and how love sometimes can hurt. This poem combines two general poetry types: it is a narrative poem because it tells a story and it is a lyric poem because it includes the writer’s feelings and passion. In this poem, it shows how fast time goes by. The writer includes a specific time frame. “Maybe the January light will consume my heart” (Neruda 9). Furthermore, the author describes how he feels about his love. “I will die of love because I love you” (Neruda 13). He uses powerful words that incisively capture the natural aspects of how to feel or perceive love. The author does not show if he is talking about himself. However, he writes in first person so the readers can think that he does. Obviously, the poem is addressed to his love. The speaker of the poem is passionate with his thoughts of love but also feels manipulated by whom he loves. He finds himself in a dilemma between love and hate. Neruda captures the intensity and conflict that love inflicts on man when he is fascinated by a fire of romantic passion. The story behind this poem is still a secret. Nobody knows the reason why this poet wrote this poem this way. That’s why poets use figurative language so the poem can be interpreted in many different ways. This poem shows three different types of figurative language; personification, metaphor, and symbolism. “My heart moves from the cold into the fire” (Neruda 4). This one explains how his mind, soul, and passion changed when he fell in love. “I do not see you but love you blindly” (Neruda 8), which means the unconditional love that he has for her. Even if he could not see, he would still love her. In summary, Pablo Neruda’s poem shows the war between the passion of the heart and the logic of
Cited: Neruda, Pablo. “I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You.” Literature Fiction: Craft & Voice. Eds. Nicholas Delbanco and Alan Cheuse. NY: McGraw-Hill, 2010, 41-42. Print. This essay earns 90 as an essay grade and 45 of 50 possible points as an exam essay. Thank you for choosing this poem!