Analysis

Jose Martinez

AP Literature and Compisition

Professor Caridad McCormick

Period 5

I Crave Your Mouth, Your Hair, Your Voice

     The poem “I Crave Your Mouth, Your Hair, Your Voice” by Pablo Neruda can be portrayed and interpreted in basically only one way.  This flattering and emotional poem is about the author’s feelings toward his lover and his need for this woman.  The tone of the poem is set by feelings of anguish, misery, agony, and grief.  The title of the poem is clear and is not misleading in the fact that it gives you a good understanding of what the poem will be about.

     The poem’s true meaning is deep because of all the metaphors Neruda uses throughout the poem.  I personally assumed that the woman Neruda describes in the poem is someone he had completely fallen in love with.  The poem may have been written at a time when Neruda was most passionate toward his loved one, but might have been unsure whether she would leave him or stay with him.

          In the first stanza, the author uses repetition and caps on lines 1 and 2 in order to emphasize the pain he would go through if she were to ever leave him even for the smallest amount of time.  He then uses a simile to compare himself waiting for her to an empty train station.  In the simile, he personifies the trains by giving them human-like qualities such as sleeping.  The meaning of the simile is direct, in the fact that the comparison is clear and vivid.

     Throughout the second stanza, Pablo Neruda uses imagery to give a further feel for his agony if she leaves him. He is also using personification on the smoke who “chokes his lost heart.”  Neruda hints that without her his life is pointless and lost.  His use of imagery contributes to his distress because he uses a hyperbole toward the end of the stanza to try and enrich his feelings of pain to the reader.

     After reading the poem various times, I could assume that Pablo Neruda was a very loving person but was also very impatient and desperate.  Also, there are lines in the poem that lead me to believe that they might have been going through some struggles and he was doing all in his power to try and keep her by his side.  There are no signs or words in the poem that express the time during which the poem was written.

     The tone throughout the course of the poem is particularly consistent and remains desperate and exaggerative.  After reading the poem aloud, I felt the emotions and words of the poem a lot deeper.  It also requires complete concentration to find the meanings of the allusions which made the poem so much more amorous.  There is no shift in tone, if anything, the sense of desperation increases toward the end of the poem.

     Pablo Neruda uses a perfect choice of words to express his feelings from start to finish of the poem.  During his early years, Neruda had an unsupportive father who strongly opposed him writing and that’s possibly why his writing is so affectionate and full of meaning.  Neruda eventually became a very established and well known poet, and his poems were strongly respected throughout the world.

     In conclusion, I enjoyed the poem and found it substantial and highly meaningful.  At first I wasn’t so sure Neruda’s poem would be one that I’d enjoy, but he overwhelmed my mind with his choice of words, metaphors, imagery, etc.  “I Crave Your Mouth, Your Hair, Your Voice” is a well detailed, true love poem.  The poem mainly covered the poet’s feelings for this woman he’s in love with and was obviously unforgettable to him.