19 pages • 38 minutes read
If You Forget Me
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Literary Devices
Form and Meter
“If You Forget Me” is a free-verse poem, meaning it does not have a formal structure or rhyme scheme. This is true for both the English translation by Donald D. Walsh and the original in Spanish. The length of the poem’s six stanzas varies. The first stanza is the shortest, with only two lines. It prefaces the if-then statements and the figurative language in other stanzas. The third and fourth stanzas have three and four lines, respectively. These stanzas include more straightforward, conversational language, and are structured by if-then statements. The longer stanzas—the second, fifth, and sixth stanzas—have 12 or 13 lines. They include more figurative language, like symbols and metaphors, as well as the if-then statements. Overall, the poem has 48 lines. The varying line lengths, which range from one word to many words, indicate that there is no consistent meter (in Spanish or English) throughout the poem.
Conditional (If-Then) Statements
Rather than a historical form, Neruda’s poem is structured around statements that indicate conditions. In other words, he uses a series of if-then statements to develop the theme of Love Is Reciprocity (Mutual Exchange). All of the stanzas, except for the first stanza, use conditional language, such as “if” (Line 18) and “shall” (Line 19). If-then statements are traditionally used in logic, including formal logic and computer programming. The use of these unemotional structures in a poem about romance is paradoxical and heightens the use of romantic imagery.
Metaphor and Simile
Neruda uses several comparisons in “If You Forget Me.” In the second stanza, there is a simile (direct comparison) between things and boats. The speaker says, “as if everything that exists, [...] were little boats / that sail” (Lines 12-15). These figurative boats sail to a metaphorical island. Without making a direct comparison, Neruda creates an association between “isles of yours that wait for me” (Line 16) and the heart, or location, of love. This reading not only uses the figurative language in the second stanza, but it also draws upon the figurative language in the fifth stanza. Here, the beloved decides to leave the speaker “at the shore / of the heart where I have roots” (Lines 28-29). The heart has a shore, which positions it as the previous “isles” (Line 16). The simile and metaphor develop the theme of The Heart’s Home.
Repetition
Neruda refers to his own use of repetition in the line “in me all that fire is repeated” (44). He repeats several temporal and symbolic terms. For instance, “day” is repeated three times, in Lines 31, 37, and 41. This emphasizes the Temporal (Time-Related) Nature of Love—love is an emotion that is renewed daily. The symbol and word “fire” (Lines 8, 44) appears in the second and sixth stanzas. Also, “little by little” is repeated in Lines 18 and 19. These examples of repetition develop the theme Love Is Reciprocity (Mutual Exchange). Fire is a symbol of reciprocated love. The speaker will reciprocate the beloved in gradually (little by little) losing love for each other. Reciprocity is a form of repetition in and of itself.
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By Pablo Neruda
