Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda, was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old, and wrote in a variety of styles, including surrealist poems, historical epics, overtly political manifestos, a prose autobiography, and passionate love poems such as the ones in his collection Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair (1924).
Neruda is often considered the national poet of Chile, and his works have been popular and influential worldwide. The Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez once called him “the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language,” and the critic Harold Bloom included Neruda as one of the writers central to the Western tradition in his book The Western Canon.
(Wikipedia)
Neruda’s Image of the Writer
A great writer not only writes great work, but also, more fundamentally and importantly, changes our sense of what great work is, and even charts a new role for the writer in society.
See also the conversation video with Brianne Orr-Alvarez.
- Neruda, Pablo. Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. Trans. W. S. Merwin. London: Penguin, 2004.
On Pablo Neruda
A conversation about Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, with Brianne Orr-Alvarez (UBC)
Neruda videos
Pablo Neruda – I Like For You To Be Still – Glenn Close reads:
If You Forget Me (Pablo Neruda read by Madonna):
Romance and revolution: The poetry of Pablo Neruda – Ilan Stavans:
Pablo Neruda documentary:
HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD | The Poetry Of Pablo Neruda And The Language Of Living:
Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines by Pablo Neruda:
There is drunkenness in these poems, but few actual drinks, unless we count turpentine: “Drunk with pines and long kisses,” says the translation to Poem 9 (21), but “trementina” is in fact the product of distilled pine resin, mostly used as a solvent, for instance to thin oil paints. Mariners used to drink it as a treatment for parasites, and in the eighteenth century it was added to gin, but it is basically a poison, and even its vapour can irritate skin and eyes, and damage lungs. We may assume that Neruda did not drink turpentine: a warning, if one is needed, not to take these poems (or any others) too literally. (Why should we assume, either, that he was ever drunk on “long kisses”?) And while there are drinks made from pines, notably Zirbenz, the so-called “agave of the Alps,” made in Austria, it is probably safer simply to add some Douglas Fir bitters to a regular gin and tonic (Schnitzler, “Bartender”). We get the piney odour without risking life or limb.
Neruda questions
The following questions are taken from your blog posts…
On Nature
Do you attach nature with any particular emotions? Do you think it adds or takes away from the emotion in Neruda’s writing?
Neruda relied heavily on nature in his poems, is there a reason he felt the need to do that? What was it in nature that made him describe and compare women to it?
Is there a particular use of nature in these poems that stands out to you? What does it make you feel?
On the Problem of Expression
Do you think Neruda experienced growth in perspective at the time of his writing these poems?
What is the significance of the names of the poems?
How do you think the translation impacts the quality and rhythm of the poetry?
Do you think Neruda was successful in capturing the genuine emotions associated with love and loss?
How does poerty differ from writing a story or a different creative piece? Do you find yourselves more focused on integrating hidden meaning into the piece, or do you just write what comes naturally?
Metaphors are often our way of making sense of things we don’t quite understand, and I wonder if Neruda plays into this in his writing. What do you think?
Did you find that questioning the intentions of Neruda’s work helped your analysis, or were you better off enjoying the poetry and not worrying about some of the implications of what he was ultimately saying?
Which art form, whether literary or otherwise, do you think best conveys the experience of this kind of love?
Did Neruda bring about any particular feelings about love for you? Maybe he even changed your perspective on it? Were you able to relate to what he wrote?
On Gender
Do you think that Neruda is referencing one woman in specific throughout his poems? Why or why not? If not, is he referring to numerous specific women in his life, or the feminine in general?
Given that women were subject to men during this time (socio-historical background) and that Neruda was only 19 years old, do you think he loved her? Was this the only way he could have loved and seen her given the time? (within nature and only seeing/describing her with non-human nature aspects)
What are your thoughts on how the woman is described by Pablo Neruda throughout his poems? Were there any quotes related to this that really stuck out to you? Why?
How do we account for the works of those which came before modern social movements: is it better to judge them as products of their time which might inform us of our present, or relics only useful for telling us something about an era?
Is he longing for the physical company of a woman without the actual ‘presence’ of a woman companion? (Is he looking for a dominant relationship dynamic or an ’empty vessel’ to be in his presence? Is that the same thing?)
Other
Are you generally a fan of poetry?
Did you enjoy reading this love poetry collection? Does his writing style attract you to him?
Was there a poem you didn’t like?
What is your most favourite line or phrase from the poems in the book? Which poem did you like the most?
Which poem out of the 20 was your favourite, or contained the most memorable quote for you, and why is it particularly significant to you?
Would you consider a song a poem? Why or why not?
What was your favourite visual throughout the series in this collection of poems?
Did your view of Neruda change after watching the lecture and conversation videos? Why or Why not?
Did you notice what the critiques noticed right away?
