Tonight I Can Write The Saddest Lines

Question 1

Who wrote “Tonight I Can Write The Saddest Lines”?

Answer 1

Pablo Neruda

Question 2

How many stanzas are there in the poem?

Answer 2

16

Each stanza contains two lines

Question 3

Which imagery recurs the most in the poem?

Answer 3

Night imagery

Question 4

What is the significance of the night imagery?

Answer 4

The persona and his lover spent many memories during the night setting

Question 5

Explain the shift of tenses from past to present or present to past.

Answer 5

The shift of tenses is a play on the current and past emotions of the persona.
It may also symbolize the persona’s own indecisiveness whether to accept the fact that his lover is gone.

Question 6

What effect does repeating the first line do for the poem?

Answer 6

Emphasis
By repeating “Tonight I can write the saddest lines” over and over, it comes to emphasize the speaker’s loss (i.e. 6th stanza)

Question 7

What does it mean when the speaker says “Love is so short, forgetting is so long”?

Answer 7

One enjoys love so much that the duration of that love feels so short, but forgetting about that love takes a long time.
The persona is having difficulty forgetting about his past love

Question 8

In the end, did the persona decide to finally end the relationship?

Answer 8

Yes

In the final stanza, the persona emphasizes the word “last” which symbolizes his desire to conclude everything