Pablo Neruda Love Poetry is deeply emotional and Beautiful



Welcome to my page on Pablo Neruda Love Poetry where we shall focus exclusively on the great South American poet, Pablo Neruda.

Pablo Neruda was one of the greatest poets to come from South America, Chile, where he was born in 1904.

He was a great national poet whose radical poltical leanings manifested in his communist and socialist beliefs which he professed throughout his life.

And what an active life it was too! His passion for his country and ouevre found expression in an often turbulent private and professional life, which at different times saw him hounded by his political enemies and detractors, exiled from his homeland for long stretches, as well as distinguished diplomatic service, government ministerial appointments and even a candidacy for presidency of Chile, in his final years. After he died in 1973, it is symbolic that his beloved wife actually conducted his funeral amidst the ruins of his home in Santiago, which devastation was brought about by the political thuggery of his opponents.

Underpinning all this turbulence was his great literary output which confirmed his huge reputation as Latin America's foremost poet, rivalled by very few.

Pablo Neruda was renown for his vast literary output, and categorizing his work as Pablo Neruda love poetry only, does not do justice to his epic range which encompassed his humanity and passionate love for history and his country, not to mention his politics which many readers from Europe and North America found difficult to separate from his poetry. He himself once wrote "I have a pact of love with beauty: / I have a pact of blood with my people". He was extremely prolific and produced more than forty volumes of poetry, translations and verse. His place as one of the major poets of the 20th century was cemented by the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.

Pablo Neruda has been variously described as one of the modern classical poets, the greatest literary voice of Chile in its entire history, and in "The Poetry of Pablo Neruda" 1979, Rene de Costa tells us he was once referred to as the Picasso of poetry.

Against this intimidating background, let us now confine our focus solely on Pablo Neruda love poetry for which he is most renown.

Pablo Neruda Love Poetry

Born Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto, he employed the pen name Pablo Neruda in remembrance of the Czechoslovak poet Jan Neruda (1834-1891). His talent with the written word manifested early, and his first serious literary achievement was at the age of 13 in 1917. He gained international fame at 20, when in 1924 he published Viente Poemas de Amor y una Cancion Desesperada (Twenty love poems and a song of Despair)

A true poet in every sense of the word, let us start off with a poem he wrote early in his career which sets out admirably his poetic compulsions, his calling so to say.

In this poem, the Poet of Isla Negra's ability to come across powerfully and bring his reader directly into his experiences is clearly visible.

Poetry.

And it was at that age ... Poetry arrived

in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where

it came from, from winter or a river.

I don't know how or when,

no they were not voices, they were not

words, nor silence,

but from a street I was summoned,

from the branches of night,

abruptly from the others,

among violent fires

or returning alone,

there I was without a face

and it touched me.

I did not know what to say, my mouth

had no way

with names,

my eyes were blind,

and something started in my soul,

fever or forgotten wings,

and I made my own way,

deciphering

that fire,

and I wrote the first faint line,

faint, without substance, pure

nonsense,

pure wisdom

of someone who knows nothing,

and suddenly I saw

the heavens

unfastened

and open,

planets,

palpitating plantations,

shadow perforated,

riddled

with arrows, fire and flowers,

the winding night, the universe.

And I, infinitesimal being,

drunk with the great starry

void,

likeness, image of

mystery,

felt myself a pure part

of the abyss,

I wheeled with the stars,

my heart broke loose on the wind

Magnificent! So captivating, it makes the soul soar.

In keeping with his reputation as a prolific poet, Pablo Neruda love poetry is quite a large library of works.

I have four broad classifications under which we will examine Pablo Neruda love poetry:

1. The Love Poetry of his youth with poems from the famous work: "Twenty Love Poems.." and others

2. The Love Poetry inspired in his mature years by his muse and wife, typifyed by "One Hundred Love Sonnets" and "The Captain's Verses"

3. Four poems that are examples of his passionate love poetry.

4. A collection of his best melancholic love poetry, contrasted with joyous love poetry that give us another side of his art.

Click here for Pablo Neruda Twenty Love Poems

Click here for Pablo Neruda Love Sonnets

Click here for Pablo Neruda Passionate Love Poetry

Click here for Pablo Neruda Melancholic Love Poetry

Click here for Pablo Neruda Joyous Love Poetry

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