Analysis of the Night Poem (1, 2 and 3) by Rubén Darío

Three poems are titled "Nocturno" in the work of Rubén Darío, the most influential poet of literary modernism in Latin America.

In these poems the issue of insomnia and existential anguish in the face of death is addressed, and interesting analogies are drawn between life and sleep.

They are melancholic poems, with a precious vocabulary and suggestive and dazzling images, with allusions to classic and exotic elements, typical of modernist aesthetics.

In them, the night becomes the propitious stage to express the deepest anxieties and torments that plague our existence.

The poems in question appear in two collections of poems: Songs of life and hope, from 1905, and The wandering song, 1907. Next, we will analyze them one by one in order of appearance.

Poem "Nocturno" (1)

-V-

I want to express my anguish in verses that abolished
they will tell my youth of roses and dreams,
and the bitter defloration of my life
for a vast pain and little cares.

And the journey to a vague East by seen ships,
and the grain of prayers that blossomed in blasphemy,

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and the bewilderment of the swan among the puddles
and the false night blue of inquisitive bohemia

Far harpsichord that in silence and oblivion
you never gave the dream the sublime sonata,
orphan skiff, famous tree, dark nest
that softened the night of silver sweetness ...

Hope smelling of fresh herbs, trill
of the spring and morning nightingale,
lily cut off by a fatal fate,
searching for happiness, persecution of evil ...

The fatal amphora of divine poison
what the inner torture has to do for life,
the hideous conscience of our human slime
and the horror of feeling fleeting, the horror

of groping, in intermittent fright,
towards the inevitable, unknown, and the
brutal nightmare of this crying sleep
From which there is only Her who will awaken us!

Songs of life and hope (1905).

Analysis of the poem "Nocturno" (1)

"Nocturno", poem V, is the first of the two found in the collection of poems Songs of life and hope. The poem is a bitter reflection on the anguish of existence.

The moment of the night and its melancholic stillness is used to summon regrets, embarrassments, disappointments, sadness and pain suffered in life.

Life, then, is seen as a transit, a passage in which one gropes towards the unknown, and It is associated with a nightmare, with a "crying sleep" of which only "She" (Death) will be able to wake up.

Verse type, rhyme and meter

The poem is composed in verses of major art, of fourteen syllables, also known as Alexandrines. The verses are organized into stanzas of four lines. Its rhyme is a crossed consonant of the ABAB type.

Literary figures

Epithets: "Vast pain", "vague East", "interviewed ships", "inquisitive bohemia", "distant harpsichord", "sublime sonata", "false night blue "," orphan skiff "," dark nest "," human slime "," fatal destiny "," divine poison "," flashing frightful ”.

Synesthesia: "Softened the night of silver sweetness", "Esperanza smelling of fresh herbs".

Oxymoron: "Divine poison."

Antithesis: "The grain of prayers that blossomed in blasphemy."

Encirclement: "I want to express my anguish in verses that abolish / will say my youth of roses and dreams." "... The horror / of groping, in intermittent frights, / towards the inevitable, unknown, and the / brutal nightmare of this crying sleep / from which there is only Her who will wake us up!"

Anaphora: "And the voyage to a vague East by interviewed ships, / and the grain of prayers that flourished in blasphemy, / and the embarrassment of the swan among the puddles / and the false night blue of inquerida Bohemia".

Alliteration: "Far harpsichord that in silence and forgetfulness / never gave the sublime sonata to sleep."

Hyperbaton: "I want to express my anguish in verses that abolish / will say my youth of roses and dreams ..."

See also the analysis of the Margarita poem by Rubén Darío.

Poem "Nocturno" (2)

-XXXII-

To Mariano de Cavia

Those who listened to the heart of the night,
those who by persistent insomnia have heard
the closing of a door, the clanging of a car
distant, a vague echo, a slight noise ...

In the moments of mysterious silence,
when the forgotten emerge from their prison,
in the hour of the dead, in the hour of rest,
You will know how to read these verses of bitterness impregnated ...

As in a glass I pour my pains into them
of distant memories and dire misfortunes,
and the sad nostalgia of my soul, drunk with flowers,
and the duel of my heart, sad of holidays.

And the regret of not being what I would have been,
and the loss of the kingdom that was for me,
to think that for an instant I could not have been born,
And the dream that has been my life since I was born!

All of this comes in the midst of deep silence
in which the night envelops the earthly illusion,
and I feel like an echo of the heart of the world
that penetrates and touches my own heart.

Songs of life and hope (1905)

Analysis of the poem "Nocturno" (2)

"Nocturno" is poem XXXII of the book Songs of life and hope, published in 1905. It is a poem in which the night scene again serves as a backdrop to summon the memories of the regrets, pains and nostalgia for what has been lived.

An insomniac poetic voice, which accesses the "heart of the night", reflects on life, sadness and adversity. He compares life with a dream, with an "earthly illusion", to close with an optimistic, moving tone, where he announces that he is listening to the "echo of the heart of the world."

Verse type, rhyme and meter

It is written in verses of major art of thirteen syllables or tridecasyllables. It has five stanzas of four verses each. Its rhyme is alternate consonant, that is ABAB.

Literary figures

Epithets: "Slight noise", "distant memories", "sad nostalgia for my soul".

Encirclement: "The ringing of a car / far away". "As in a glass I pour into them my pains / from distant memories and dire misfortunes."

Simile: "I feel like an echo of the heart of the world / that penetrates and moves my own heart." "As in a glass I pour into them my pains / from distant memories and dire misfortunes."

Prosopopoeia: "... my soul, drunk with flowers", "... my heart, sad about parties".

Hyperbaton: "As in a glass I pour into them my pains / from distant memories and dire misfortunes ..."

Metaphor: "... the dream that has been my life since I was born."

Pleonasm: "Dire misfortunes."

See also the analysis of the Poem Song of Autumn in Spring by Rubén Darius.

Poem "Nocturno" (3)

The wandering song (1907).

Analysis of the poem "Nocturno" (3)

The third "Nocturno" is found in the book The wandering song, published in 1907. In it, the night and its "painful silence" are once again the space of afflictions and torments, and they are taken up some recurring themes and ideas from previous poems, such as insomnia, pain and sadness. It is a poem that reflects great anguish.

The poetic voice is immersed in a kind of inner storm, of self-questioning, which we can infer from the mention of "being the spiritual self-piece / dissection, the self-Hamlet!"

His sadness and his anguish are expressed and become the noise of a door, the footsteps of a passerby, the sound of a clock striking three. Dawn is eagerly awaited. Is "she" again a metaphor for Death?

Verse type, rhyme and meter

It is a poem without metric regularity, with assonance verses and loose verses, and yet with a certain undulating rhythm.

Literary figures

Epithets: "Painful silence", "gentle storm", "wonderful crystal of darkness"

Metaphors: "Inside my skull passes a mild storm." "Dilute my sadness / in a wine at night / in the wonderful crystal of darkness ...".

Synesthesia: "Painful silence."

Encirclement: "Silence of the night, painful / nocturnal silence."

Paradox: "Not being able to sleep and yet / dream".

Rhetorical question: "What time will dawn come?"

About Rubén Darío

Félix Rubén García Sarmiento, better known as Rubén Darío, was born in Nicaragua in 1867. He was a poet, journalist, and diplomat. He is considered the greatest representative of literary modernism and one of the most influential poets in Spanish literature in the last century. In his literary work, the poetry books stand out Blue (1888), Profane prose and other poems (1896), Songs of life and hope (1905) and The wandering song (1907). He died in 1916.