Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. As a teenager, he received encouragement from his teacher Gabriela Mistral, who would later win the Nobel Prize herself. This support helped Neruda find the confidence to legally change his name and pursue poetry. One of his most popular works was the 1924 collection Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, which includes the poem "Tonight I Can Write." While some reviewers found the explicit sexuality shocking, the collection became a bestseller and was translated into several languages. The poem charts a love affair through intimate language and economy of images.
Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. As a teenager, he received encouragement from his teacher Gabriela Mistral, who would later win the Nobel Prize herself. This support helped Neruda find the confidence to legally change his name and pursue poetry. One of his most popular works was the 1924 collection Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, which includes the poem "Tonight I Can Write." While some reviewers found the explicit sexuality shocking, the collection became a bestseller and was translated into several languages. The poem charts a love affair through intimate language and economy of images.
Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. As a teenager, he received encouragement from his teacher Gabriela Mistral, who would later win the Nobel Prize herself. This support helped Neruda find the confidence to legally change his name and pursue poetry. One of his most popular works was the 1924 collection Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, which includes the poem "Tonight I Can Write." While some reviewers found the explicit sexuality shocking, the collection became a bestseller and was translated into several languages. The poem charts a love affair through intimate language and economy of images.
Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. As a teenager, he received encouragement from his teacher Gabriela Mistral, who would later win the Nobel Prize herself. This support helped Neruda find the confidence to legally change his name and pursue poetry. One of his most popular works was the 1924 collection Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, which includes the poem "Tonight I Can Write." While some reviewers found the explicit sexuality shocking, the collection became a bestseller and was translated into several languages. The poem charts a love affair through intimate language and economy of images.
_.., ______ ____ .,. ~ - - Pablo Nl' ntd ., (Jul y 12, 1904- Srplt.'rnber 2:1, '1973), , orig ina l nan w Nd t~\I Ricardo Rey es Basoal_tn, ~•v as a Chi lean pnl. 'l, dip \om al, and po\iliriiln wh o w;is ,n,vnt1..ied the No bel Pn7.l' tor Liter.1ture in 197 1. I h~was ~wrhaps the mo sl imporl.111\ ~ti n An1erican poet of the 20th Cl'nlury. As a teenager he n:•ccivL'd enc our age me nt fron, one of his tea che rs, the poe t Gabriela Mistral, wh o wo uld later win a No bel Prize. Manuel Du ran and Margery Safir in Ear th Tones: The Poetry of Pab lo Neruda nolc, "It is a\rnosl inconceivable th~t two suc h gifted poets sho uld find each oth er in suc h an unlikely spot. Mistral recognized the young Nef tali's talent and encour .:-igc<l it by givin~ th~ "boy boo ks. and the sup por t he lacked at hon1c." This sup por t helped hun find the confidence to write poetry and at fourteen to change his name legally to Pablo Ne rud a. Du rin g high sch ool he published poems in local papers a~d ':o n lit~rary con:petitions. In the early 1920s he attended lns titu to Pedagog1co 1n Santiago, Chile, and in 1926, the University of Chile. His first collection of poetry, La cancion de la fiesta, wa s published in Chile in 1921. He followed tha t volun1e wit h two more: Crepuscul ario in 1923 and Veinte poemas de amory una cancion des esp era da in 1924. The latter collection, which includes his poem "Tonight I Ca n Write," became a pop ula r success in La~:n America and was tran sla ted in 1969 as Twenty Love Poe ms and a Song of Despair.
❖ An Introduction to Tonight I Can Write :
''Tonight I .Ca n Write" wa s pub lish ed in 192 4 in a collection of poe ms by Pablo Ne rud a titl ed Veinte poe ma s de am or y una cancion des esp era da. The collection wa s tra nsl ate d int o English in 1969 by W. S. Me rwi n as Twenty Love Poems and a Son g of Despair. Alt hou gh som e reviewers we re shocked by the explicit sex ual ity in the poe ms , the collection bec am e a bes t seller and wa s translated int o sev era l lan gua ges . Ma rjo rie Ag osi n wri tes in her arti cle on . Neruda, "O ne of the rea son s tha t Tw ent y Love Poe ms dra ws the rea der so powerfully is the sob rie ty of exp res sio n and the eco nom y of the images." Rene de Costa in his arti cle on Ne rud a not es tha t all the poe ms in this collection contain "a hig hly ch~ rge d confessional inti ma cy tha t cha llen ged and cha rm ed the sensibility of ·its rea der , cre atin g in the pro ces s a con tem por ary stil nuo vo which continues to res ona te in the lan gua ge of love." Th e poe ms cha rt a lov e
For the text of "Tonight I Can Write,, with footnotes
and the paraphrase of the Text, refer to "A Companion to Pot Colonial literature (Poetry)"