What is the poem in Happiness for Beginners that Jake gives to Helen? Everything to know about Pablo Neruda's 17th Sonnet

Netflix’s romantic movie, Happiness for Beginners, has a Pablo Neruda poem in its ending. The movie, released on July 27, 2023, has a deep meaning, unlike simple love poems. The romantic comedy follows the story of Helen and Jake against the backdrop of the Appalachian mountain trails. The movie is placed at the top among the ten most-watched movies in the UK currently.

Happiness for Beginners deals with the philosophy of coping with adversity and heartbreak by looking at positive turns in life. It also explores the complicated equation of liking and misunderstandings in a relationship through the various characters in the movie: Helen, Jake, Hugh, and Mason. The poem in the movie has an important role in the plot.

The poem is taken from Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda’s creation, which adds an unusual twist to the storyline. While some viewers have found it challenging to interpret the poem's meaning, the Happiness for Beginners poem points to the right sentiment without giving a non-realistic ending to the movie.

Disclaimer: The article contains spoilers for the movie’s story.

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What does Pablo Neruda’s poem in Happiness for Beginners mean?

The lead duo unite through Pablo Neruda's poetry (Image via Netflix)

The poem by Pablo Neruda appears at the end of Ellie Kemper's Happiness for Beginners. The poem is titled XVII and is also known as I Don’t Love You. The poem in the movie starts with the line – I do not love you – and proceeds to iterate the reasons why the poet does not love like ordinary lovers. It further hints at loving “in secret.”

Neruda wrote the poem for his wife, expressing his love for simple things about her instead of comparing her to beautiful things. The poem broadly translates as:

“I do not love you as if you were rose of salt, or topaz/ or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off./ I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,/ in secret, between the shadow and the soul./ I love you as the plant that never blooms/ but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;/ thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,/ risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body./ I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where./ I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;/ so I love you because I know no other way/ except in this form in which I am not, nor are you,/ so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,/ so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.”

The poem is a fitting revelation for the feelings that Jake had for Helen, which also makes her realize how she misunderstood him. While the poem in Happiness for Beginners displays the romantic side of Jake, Helen and Jake must thank poet Neruda for bringing them together. Jake wrote the poem in a note for Helen in a bid to express the unexpressed, which he asked her not to read right away.

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What is Happiness for Beginners about?

Happiness for Beginners is a romantic comedy that also deals with coping with loss. It is based on Katherine Centre’s book of the same name and casts Ellie Kemper and Luke Grimes as Helen and Jake.

In the story, Helen tries to overcome her grief after her divorce by going on a hike to the Appalachian Mountains. While she gets uncomfortable seeing her brother’s friend, Jake, in the hiking group, Jake tries to hide his feelings for Helen.

Helen and Jake's equation faces many challenges (Image via Netflix)

The relationship keeps facing challenges throughout the hike. While Helen impresses her group by helping an injured Hugh, she gets jealous about Jake pursuing another girl. Moreover, Mason informs her that Jake is involved with another girl at home, and a huge misunderstanding is created.

In the end, Helen, played by Ellie Kemper, feels liberated after finishing the hike but is also crestfallen by Jake’s apparent disinterest in her. That is when she discovers the note from Jake, which has Pablo Neruda’s poem handwritten by him. The unusual confession of feelings and the realization that she was his romantic interest all along bring Happiness for Beginners to a dreamy end.

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Who was Pablo Neruda?

Pablo Neruda was a Chilean diplomat, poet, and politician who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. While known for popular love poems, he also wrote political poems and his autobiography. Neruda's 1924 poetry collection, Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, launched him to fame.

While a warrant was issued for him when communism was made illegal in Chile, he escaped to Argentina. When he was diagnosed with cancer, he preferred to stay at home due to his mistrust of the doctor. He passed away in 1973 at the age of 69.

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Happiness for Beginners is streaming on Netflix.