Written in 2007
Pablo Neruda starts by dismissing traditional or conventional ways of loving:
The ‘rose of salt’ could mean a pure white rose symbolising the supposed purest, truest form of love. Topaz is a yellow precious stone, perhaps symbolising extravagance. These colourful, easy images give a somewhat easy to define idea of what love, according to the poet, is not.
Arrow of carnations could be the pointy ends of the petals of these flowers, or the poet could be using it as a pun on ‘a row’ of carnations. Propagating fire could refer to the shape or colour of the petals or the effect they have on him. Carnations are worn on special occasions to enhance a woman’s beauty, perhaps evoking a passion within him. A link can also be made between ‘arrow’ and ‘fire’. His love isn’t derived from Cupid, nor does it cause the burning pain of jealousy.
The use of bright images in these two lines suggests an open, normal, perhaps cliché type of ‘love’ which Neruda dismisses.
He affirms that he loves her quietly just as it would be to love things not supposed to be loved. He loves her secretly reinforcing a contrast between the bright colours of the first two lines and the darkness suggested in the second two. His love for her is beyond superficial plain colours.
‘Between the shadow and the soul’ bring in various hues between the shadow, which is dark, and the pure light of the soul. Though this seems like a contrast in itself, there is a difference between the bright light of the soul and the other colours; white and yellow. There is an infinite depth to the soul, an intangibility to a shadow and an undefinable element to both, a sense of formlessness.
In the next verse, he says he loves her as
It is to be noted here that Neruda doesn’t use similes. All imagery in this sonnet are direct.
The woman becomes a gentle plant. The fact that she doesn’t bloom suggests that the poet loves her inner beauty which isn’t expressed outwardly. The words ‘hidden within itself’ suggest an exclusiveness that they share – what’s within her only he knows. The ‘light’ of the flowers connects back to the light of the soul. The poet deliberately avoids the mention of colours are they are merely perceptions of reflections whereas light is direct, an energy.