Spanish Love poems are literary works that reflect sentiments of romantic love, generally between two people. They are an excellent representation of how you feel for another person, and the dedication with which a person composes this written work is to be admired.
The structure with which they are written and declaimed is different, being divided into verses that can have assonant or consonant rhymes. Spanish is, along with English, the third most romantic language on the planet – only after Italian and French – and poetic compositions in the history of Hispanic culture have rich results and a large number of writers and poets of immense quality.
It is because of the above that there is a lot of information that we can obtain about love poems translated into the Spanish language, and at SpanishVIP we want to let you know a little more about them, showing you some native Spanish speakers’ examples and their translation into English, as well as teaching you more about their structure. and the vocabulary that makes them up.
Structure of the Poems in Spanish
To learn a little more about poems, we want to tell you that they handle different structures. There are poem structures that are fixed, such as
Terceto or Triplet
This fixed structure is made up of 3 verses per stanza, like the following example:
“Avaro miserable es el que encierra,
la fecunda semilla en el granero,
cuando larga escasez llora la Tierra”
– Ventura Ruiz
A miserable miser is the one who locks up,
the fertile seed in the barn,
when long scarcity cries the earth.
That triplet poem talks about an ungenerous person who, although he may contain a lot of wealth, unlike others, prefers to keep it for himself.
Another feature of the triplet is the A-B-A rhyme mode, which means that the first and last verses are the ones that manage to rhyme, unlike the second.
The quatrain (Cuarteto)
This fixed structure is made up of 4 verses per stanza, like the following example:
“Aunque por tonto e inexperto,
errores que odio he cometido,
prefiero contigo todo eso haber vivido,
antes que no haber soñado despierto.”
– Cantor Daniel
Although for being foolish and inexperienced,
mistakes I hate I’ve made
with you, I prefer all that to have lived,
before not having daydreamed.
The quatrain poem that you have read is about not having regretted a mistake made, thanks to the fact that it has allowed him to live what in other circumstances he would not have been able to.
As you can see, the specific feature of this Spanish poem is that it has an A-B-B-A rhyme structure, which means that the first verse rhymes with the last, and the third verse rhymes with the fourth.
There are also other rhyming logics, such as A-A-B-B (the first two verses rhyme with each other and the last two verses with each other), or A-B-A-B (the first verse rhymes with the third, and the second with the fourth).
More examples:
El amor
El amor es fabricado en partes
partes que unen al ser
Y le hacen prometer
Que siempre tengo que amarte
El amor lo puede todo
El amor todo lo puede
Lo que el amor no tolere
Lo soporta, sobretodo
Aunque el amor es un acto
Un acto de buena fortuna
No siempre es idea oportuna
Jugar al chance, insofacto
No trates de ahuyentar el amor
No busques su forma cruel
Porque no hay mejor color
Que el del alma, que es huel
love is made in parts
parts that unite being
And they make him promise
That I always have to love you
Love conquers all
The love conquers all
What love does not tolerate
Supports it, above all
Although love is an act
an act of good fortune
It is not always a good idea
Play at chance, ipso facto
Don’t try to scare love away
Don’t look for his cruel way
because there is no better color
That the one of the soul, that is smell
Tu cuerpo
Sobre el agua, la vida entera
Se muere de sed, pierde la vida
Te parte los huesos, sobremanera
Saber que ella, solo me olvida
Sea porque caíste de arriba
Tu cuerpo pierde temperatura
Sea de amor, o de locura
El mar apaga la llama viva
Sobre el viento, mis lentas piernas
Se enfrían poco, se enfrían tanto
Ya sabría yo, que poco aguanto
Que las olas calman heridas internas
Si supiera que estos días de suerte
entre la sombra y el menor tramo
pasé entre la vida y la muerte
Simplemente, porque así te amo.
Podrán detener la primavera
Tu cuerpo igual florecerá
Como si de un milagro fuera
Y lo harás así, a tu manera.
Así es
Ya lo sabes, cariñosa
Que lo hecho, hecho está
Pero tu amor, es mariposa
de cien años de soledad.
On the water, the whole life
It dies of thirst, loses its life
It breaks your bones, exceedingly
Knowing that she just forgets me
Whether she falls from above
your body loses temperature
Being of love, or of madness
The sea puts out the living flame
On the wind, my slow legs
They get cold a little, they get so cold
I would already know, how little I can stand
That the waves calm the internal wounds
If I knew that these lucky days
between the shadow and the shortest stretch
pass between life and death
Simply because that’s how I love you.
They can stop the spring
your body will match
As if it were a miracle
And you will do it like this, in your own way.
That’s how it is
You already know, darling
What’s done is done
But your love is a butterfly
of a hundred years of solitude.
The sonnet (Soneto)
This poetic composition has a structure of 14 verses, and they are organized into two quatrains and two triplets, like the following example:
“Paz no encuentro ni puedo hacer la guerra,
y ardo y soy hielo; y temo y todo aplazo;
y vuelo sobre el cielo y yazgo en tierra;
y nada aprieto y todo el mundo abrazo.
Quien me tiene en prisión, ni abre ni cierra,
ni me retiene ni me suelta el lazo;
y no me mata Amor ni me deshierra,
ni me quiere ni quita mi embarazo.
Veo sin ojos y sin lengua grito;
y pido ayuda y parecer anhelo;
a otros, amo y por mí me siento odiado.
Llorando grito y el dolor transito;
muerte y vida me dan igual desvelo;
por vos estoy, Señora, en este estado.”
– Francesco Petrarca
I can’t find peace and I can’t make war
and I burn and I am ice; and I fear and I postpone everything;
and I fly above the sky and lie on the ground;
and nothing I squeeze and everyone I hug.
Who has me in prison, neither opens nor closes,
neither holds me back nor loosens my bond;
and she does not kill me, Love, nor does she weed me,
She neither loves me nor takes away my pregnancy.
I see without eyes and without a tongue, I cry;
and I ask for help and seem I long;
I love others and I feel hated by myself.
Crying, I scream and the pain I transit;
death and life give me equal sleeplessness;
Because of you, I am, Madam, in this state.
This sonnet deals with heartbreak and what a man feels when, apparently, the woman he loves is no longer with him, alluding to a great sadness experienced at every moment of his life and in different ways.
You can see that the rhyming logic of the sonnet is A-B-A-B (First quatrain), A-B-A-B, (Second quatrain), A-B-C, and A-B-C (first and second quatrain).
Most used vocabulary in Spanish love poems
| English | Spanish |
| Posar | To pose |
| Verso | Verse |
| Destello | Flash |
| Abismo | Abyss |
| Fantasía | Fantasy |
| Agonía | Agony |
| Contorno | Outline |
| Expression | Expression |
| Reflejo | Reflection |
| Palacio | Palace |
| En vano | In vain |
| Ironía | Irony |
| Voluble | Fickle |
| Menosprecio | Disparagement |
| Sideral | Sidereal |
| Postrera | Last |
| Lumbrera | Port |
| Azucena | Lily |
| Lazo | Ribbon |
DID YOU KNOW…?
Among the greatest Spanish-speaking poets are Vicente Huidobro, Pablo Neruda, Jaime Torres Bodet, Jorge Luis Borges, and Manuel Bandeira.
Most Common Poetry Forms in Spanish
As you have already seen, poems can be of many types and characteristics, and can also be divided into verse poems and prose poems. The following four types of poetry forms are the most used in literature:
Oda (Oda)
This is a poem that sings praises or loas, and where admiration or love for something or someone is shown, like the following example:
- “Asomando a la noche
en la terraza
de un rascacielos altísimo y amargo
pude tocar la bóveda nocturna
y en un acto de amor extraordinario
me apoderé de una celeste estrella.”
- Pablo Neruda
Peeking into the night
on the terrace
of a tall and bitter skyscraper
I was able to touch the night vault
and in an act of extraordinary love
I seized a celestial star.
As you can read, this ode is dedicated to a star, which he speaks of in the third person, exalting its beauty and the path it took to reach it. This poem does not have a defined rhyming logic.
Elegy (Elegía)
Similar to the ode, but these romantic poems speaks more in a melancholic or nostalgic way, lamenting the physical or loving loss of a person, as in the following example:
- “La vaca del viejo mundo
pasaba su triste lengua
sobre un hocico de sangres
derramadas en la arena,
y los toros de Guisando,
casi muerte y casi piedra,
mugieron como dos siglos
hartos de pisar la tierra.
No.”
- Federico García Lorca
The old world cow
passed her sad tongue
on a muzzle of blood
spilled on the sand,
and the bulls of Guisando,
almost death, and almost stone,
they bellowed like two centuries
tired of treading the earth.
Not.
This is a small fraction of García’s poem, where he mourns the spilled blood (death) of Ignacio Sanchez Mejías.
Epigram (Epigrama)
This type of poem is short, written in the manner of satire or mockery, such as the following example:
-
¿Por qué no te envío, Pontiliano, mis libritos?
Para que tú, Pontiliano, no me envíes los tuyos.
– Marco Valerio Marcial
Why don’t I send you, Pontiliano, my little books?
So that you, Pontiliano, don’t send me yours.
This is a brief and concise sample that in an Epigram there is usually no courtesy in what is mentioned.
Madrigal (Madrigal)
It is the poem that speaks the most about love among these 4 types of poems, and it is generally spoken to the loved one, as in the following example:
-
“Amor, cuando yo pienso
en el mal que me das terrible y fuerte,
voy corriendo a la muerte,
pensando así acabar mi mal inmenso;
mas en llegando al paso
que es puerto en este mar de mi tormento,
tanta alegría siento,
que la vida se esfuerza, y no le paso.
Así el vivir me mata,
que la muerte me torna a dar la vida.
¡Oh condición no oída
la que conmigo muerte y vida trata!”
– Pietro Bembo
Love, when I think
in the evil that you give me terrible and strong,
I’m running to death
Thinking like this to end my immense evil;
but on reaching the pass
which is a port in this sea of my torment,
I feel so much joy
that life makes an effort, and I don’t bear it.
So, living kills me
that death makes me give my life
Oh, unheard condition
the one that deals with death and life!
This madrigal talks about the torture felt by a person who loves someone who does not do good to his life, but harm. Both the ode and the elegy can be classified or divided into other types. Look at the table and get to know them in English and Spanish.
QUICK NOTE…
** The word Elegía in Spanish is also used as the imperfect tense conjugation of the verb Elegir “to choose”, in an everyday regular context.
For example:
Cuando mi hermana y yo jugábamos fútbol, yo elegía ser la pateadora y ella elegía ser la portera – When my sister and I played soccer, I chose to be the kicker and she chose to be the goalkeeper.
Examples of love poems in Spanish
- “Quien dice que la ausencia causa olvido
merece ser de todos olvidado.
El verdadero y firme enamorado
está, cuando está ausente, más perdido.
Aviva la memoria su sentido;
la soledad levanta su cuidado;
hallarse de su bien tan apartado
hace su desear más encendido.
No sanan las heridas en él dadas,
aunque cese el mirar que las causó,
si quedan en el alma confirmadas,
que si uno está con muchas cuchilladas,
porque huya de quien lo acuchilló
no por eso serán mejor curadas.”
- Juán Boscán
Who says that absence causes oblivion
deserves to be forgotten by all.
The true and firm lover
he is when he is absent, more lost.
Revive memory its sense;
loneliness raises the care of him;
to be so separated from his good
makes him want more on.
The wounds given to him do not heal,
even if the looking that caused them ceases
if they remain confirmed in the soul,
that if one is with many stab wounds,
because of running away from whoever stabbed him
not for that reason they will be better cured.
This poem can talk about an implicit danger that is acquired by being in love because whoever has this feeling can get lost in himself or get hurt.
If you want to write a love poem in Spanish, take into account the intonation and stress of the words that rhyme. Not always ending in the same letter or vowel means that they sound the same.
An example that rhymes are:
La noche envejeció
Y mi alma se estremeció
(The night grew old
And my soul trembled)
Both final words of each verse ending in “ió”, with a marked accentuation, which is why they rhyme.
An example that does not rhyme is
El día se oscureció
En un diferente horario
(The day darkened
At a different time)
As you can see, although both ends in “io”, the last word of the first verse has the marked stress on the “o”, while the last word of the second verse does not, and its implicit stress is on the syllable “ra”. For this reason, it is not a rhyme unless you add another verse that rhymes with either of the first two.
Spanish Poems to dedicate your lover
It is true that many of the previously seen poems speak, not of love, but of heartbreak, that is why we want to bring you love poems, which are dedicated to a person you love, to your partner, or to someone you want to conquer.
- Amar, amar, amar, amar siempre, con todo
el ser y con la tierra y con el cielo,
con lo claro del sol y lo obscuro del lodo:
amar por toda ciencia y amar por todo anhelo.
Y cuando la montaña de la vida
nos sea dura y larga y alta y llena de abismos,
amar la intensidad que es de amor encendida
¡y arder en la fusión de nuestros pechos mismos!
(Love, love, love, love always, with everything
being and with the earth and with the sky,
with the light of the sun and the dark of the mud:
love for all knowledge and love for all longing.
And when the mountain of life
May it be hard and long and high and full of abysses,
to love the intensity that is of love on fire
and burn in the fusion of our very breasts!)
– Juan Boscán
- “Bella,
como en la piedra fresca
del manantial, el agua
abre un ancho relámpago de espuma,
así es la sonrisa en tu rostro,
bella.
Bella,
de finas manos y delgados pies
como un caballito de plata,
andando, flor del mundo,
así te veo,
bella.
Bella,
con un nido de cobre enmarañado
en tu cabeza, un nido
color de miel sombría
donde mi corazón arde y reposa,
bella.”
Pretty,
like a fresh stone
from the spring, the water
opens a wide flash of foam,
That’s the smile on your face
pretty.
Pretty,
with fine hands and slender feet
like a silver horse
walk, the flower of the world,
that’s how I see you
pretty.
Pretty,
with a nest of tangled copper
in your head, a nest
of somber honey color
where my heart burns and rests,
pretty.
– Pablo Neruda
Most Influential Spanish-speaking poets
These love writers and poets are famous for writing love poems in this language. Look what they are and where they were from:
| Poet | Nationality |
| Pablo Neruda | Chile |
| Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer | Spain |
| Octavio Paz | Mexico |
| Rosalía de Castro | Spain |
| Pedro Salinas | Spain |
| Gioconda Belli | Nicaragua |
| Rubén Darío | Nicaragua |
| Mario Benedetti | Uruguay |
| Gabriel García Marquez | Colombia |
DID YOU KNOW…?
Gonzalo de Berceo was the first poet in the history of the Spanish language of which there is information. He was born in Berceo, a municipality that is located in La Rioja, Spain, approximately in the year 1190 CE.
Wrapping up
these was just a glimpse of the beauty of the romantic Spanish poems. They consist of different forms of writing and there are multiple Hispanic poets throughout history who speak of love (basically all of them) whose work you can read to expand your Spanish vocabulary.
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