2. Discuss ‘Tonight I Can Write’ as a confessional poem.

Ans: Pablo Neruda is the great poet of Chile. He was a communist and a
revolutionary poet. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.
‘Tonight I can Write the Saddest Lines’ is one of the best love poems of
Neruda. It is a monologue written in a confessional mood, lamenting the loss of
love of a jilted lover. The lover thinks of the natural world, the night, the stars,
the wind, the sky and everything that reminds him of his lost love. The night
and the darkness match his sad mood. The lover confesses that tonight he is
writing the saddest lines and thereby he is ritually killing his lady love with his
pen which becomes his mighty sword!
The first line of the poem leaves the readers with a curiosity to know
the reason for the poet’s sadness. The images like shattered night and
shivering of the blue stars in the distance indicate his melancholic mood. He
decides to write a poem at night which brings a dark imagery and his sad
mood. The shattered night and the shivering stars project the turmoil the poet
experiences in his life. The night wind becomes his companion as it revolves in
the sky and sings. Moreover the night enables him to write which he could not
write till then. He confesses that he loved her and the unnamed woman also
loved him for some time. His memory takes him back to a similar night when
he held her in his arm. He admits that he was in love with her deeply and says
that her great still eyes will make anyone to fall in love with her.
The writer feels that he can write the saddest lines that night as he
knows that she is no longer with him. Without her the night seems to be
immensely lonely. But his writing replenishes his soul like dew drops to the
pasture. He feels upset that in spite of everything, his love could not have her
and without her his soul is lost. The night is traumatized as she is not with him.
He hears someone singing in the distance, which also indicates that he is alone
as he could hear it from the distance. Now he mentions his longing to get
reunited with his ladylove as; his sight searches for her, to go to her and his
heart too looks for her. Again he mentions that night is similar to the other
night when they were together. Suddenly he declares that he does not love her
but he loved her greatly earlier. He even tried to send the wind to touch her
hearing. But she is another’s now and to express his pain of losing her, the
poet states it that her voice, body and infinite eyes will be another’s. Again he
declares that he no longer loves her but contradicts himself by stating that he
may love her. His words, love is short but forgetting is long, reveals his love for
her. The night leaves him with the memory of his ladylove and her loss leaves
his soul disturbed. He concludes the poem with a determination that this is the
last pain she gives him and this is the last poem he writes for her. He hopes
that with this painful attempt of writing he wishes to get out of her memory.
The poet juxtaposes ‘tonight and the nights of the past when his
ladylove was with him. Tonight he is terribly alone.’ Now the night stands for
his shattered love and the twinkling stars became blue and shiver in the
distance. The narrator of the poem is a jilted lover whose girl friend has
become another man’s wife/ friend. This makes him very sad and is lamenting
on the loss of his love. He admits that their love for each other became a
failure on account of their mistakes. The fickleness of love is the major cause of
his loss of love. But he cannot run away from the past which haunts him day
and night like a nightmare. He says, ‘She loved me, sometimes and I loved her
too’. ‘I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too’. This frank opinion of the
narrator is the beauty of the love poem.
All human beings and their words and deeds are imperfect which leads
to failures and the poet admits this truth. When she was with him, they
enjoyed every night and all nature supported their love. The night, the sky, the
stars and the cool breeze welcomed the young couple. They thought their
meetings would last forever but the inevitable came and they were separated.
Still the narrator loves her and thankfully remembers the sweet joy that she
has given him.
He says, ‘Love is short, forgetting is so long'. Their love for each other
was so sweet that the time flew away in a lightning speed. But the past love
haunts him day and night like a nightmare. The narrator, like all human beings
thought that she would be forever his lover and only his. It is a foolish idea.
Nothing belongs to us. She has gone to another man. Now the narrator wants
to escape from his past which is still haunting him day and night. Therefore he
starts writing a poem which begins ‘The night is shattered and the blue stars
shiver in the distance.’
In the poem he expresses his love, anguish, helplessness and the terrible
loneliness. Thus he explains his love which is now dead and gone forever. His
past love is shattered and shiver in the distance. Night and stars are metaphors
of his past love. The lines of his poem falls on his heart like dews on the
meadows. He is certain that this poem is like a ritual killing of his love for her.
Thus he can set himself free from the thought of her.
 ‘Tonight I can Write the Saddest Lines’ reaches universal level. Pablo
Neruda gives us our love poem which we hug to our heart with great
satisfaction and whisper every line of it in our solitude. This is genuine love
poem meant for every human being who is born to love and be loved!