The Song of Despair, written by Pablo Neruda, tells a story of how the speaker in the poem describes someone that they loved. During the poem, the speaker, which is unknown if they are a male or female, uses many different examples that they have been abandoned. In this essay, I will discuss how the author uses the theme of being abandoned as his main theme.
In the beginning of the poem, the author informs the readers that he remembers the person he once truly loved, and he is listening to a river run into the ocean. This shows that the author could be depressed and upset about his lost loved one. "Deserted like the wharves at dawn, It is the hour of departure, oh deserted one!" (593). In these lines, the author tells the readers that he was deserted in the morning at the wharves, which is another word for a dock at a harbor, and that he was abandoned. These lines make me think that he was with the one he loved and they went on with their lives without the author which made him depressed. The author uses a metaphor when he compares his heart to a pit, which makes sense that the author seems very sorrowful. .
The reason I chose the author demonstrating being abandoned as the theme of the poem is because he is very emotional with his lines and brings the feeling of the poem as being left behind. The author writes about how the person he loved became like the sea. The way he wrote the poem at this moment really shows how deep he felt because if he is lost in the sea, chances are you will never be found. He has lost the person he loved and knows that the odds are not in his favor to find them. In the next couple of lines, he shows a brighter side of the poem, when he reminisces to a happier time. "It was the happy hour of assault and the kiss. The hour of the spell that blazed like a lighthouse." (593). I feel like he was talking about how love can be portrayed as a battle and when he uses the word spell, how love can also be magical.
