If you've ever felt a little emo about lost love, then this is the poem for you! Pablo Neruda became rock-star famous (which is pretty hard for a poet) when, in 1924, he published his book Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. And if that sounds familiar, that's because this is the "A Song of Despair."

The poem itself—and the other ones in this book—was famous because it stirred up controversy with its erotic images. It's basically a guy (at least, we're assuming that the speaker is a guy) talking about how sad he is for having lost his woman, and comparing her to the sea. Our sad speaker stands on the shore, feeling lonely because all the ships have set sail, and remembers his long-lost love. He also describes how hot and heavy their relationship was and compares her to the sea because everything sank into her.

The poem is, as you can see by the title, tacked on to the end of Neruda's love collection, and it's a real downer of a finale. A true bummer. But! It is one of the most beautiful despair poems ever written, even if it could be counted as a love poem itself.

The author was only 19 at the time, so you can imagine the scandal these racy poems must have caused. The book was published into several languages, which didn't hurt Neruda's newfound fame. Almost 50 years later, he'd win the Nobel Prize for Literature, and it all started with some cheesy love poems—plus one super-sad one.

Ever been dumped? We hate to break it to you, Shmoopers, but even if you said no to that question, someday your answer will be a big, sad yes. It's something that everyone goes through at some point, and it's an experience that nobody enjoys. But have no fear! "A Song of Despair" is here! Really, it explores the experience of heartbreak in a way that will either comfort you, inspire you, or both.

Now, complaining about losing a lover is nothing new… try any country radio station, or Dido, or James Blunt, or Adele, or… well, you get the picture. The list goes on and on. So, even if you ignore the really masterful rhyme and meter that Pablo Neruda uses to get his point across, you will still find solace in its artistic exploration of a regrettable fact of human experience: abandonment. Maybe that's why it's one of the most-read poems ever written in the Spanish language. Even in translation, you'll see what all the fuss is about.