Review of 'Twenty love poems and a song of despair' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Pablo Neruda wrote lovely phrases, for sure.
He loves nature, which is universally lovable. ...apparently he loves nature so much he wants to fuck it. He wants nature to be a woman, make love to him & keep him company. When I was 20, I was also lonely and horny. I get it. Sadly he can't stop literally objectifying women like every other line, which pisses me off. I think he's a product of his time, his age, traditional sexism, and the extra sexism of a native language heavy with grammatical gender. I'll have to read his later works some day, to see if his growing up meant increasing respect for women, or just a decreased libido.
(To be fair, he also imagines himself as forces of nature. Sometimes his language reminds me of HP Lovecraft describing his "horrors")
"Tonight I Can Write" is pretty great. I think it's the …
Pablo Neruda wrote lovely phrases, for sure.
He loves nature, which is universally lovable. ...apparently he loves nature so much he wants to fuck it. He wants nature to be a woman, make love to him & keep him company. When I was 20, I was also lonely and horny. I get it. Sadly he can't stop literally objectifying women like every other line, which pisses me off. I think he's a product of his time, his age, traditional sexism, and the extra sexism of a native language heavy with grammatical gender. I'll have to read his later works some day, to see if his growing up meant increasing respect for women, or just a decreased libido.
(To be fair, he also imagines himself as forces of nature. Sometimes his language reminds me of HP Lovecraft describing his "horrors")
"Tonight I Can Write" is pretty great. I think it's the one with the most humanized lover. And it's a breakup poem. "The Song of Despair" is so overwrought that it's hilarious.
