Pablo Neruda (born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto, July 12, 1904 – September 23, 1973) was one of the most famous and acclaimed poets of the 20th century. And maybe of all time.
An ardent communist, he became drawn to it during the Spanish Civil War. He was also an admirer of Stalin, but became disillusioned when he learned all the horrors of his regime and his Cult of Personality. He didn’t abandon communism, though.
He also was a diplomatic and a political figure in his native Chile, visiting a lot of countries which inspired some of his poems. When communism was declared illegal in 1948 he fled to Argentina, coming home in 1952. He tried to run for president in 1970, but eventually gave his support to socialist Salvador Allende, who won but eventually got deposed and died in a coup d’etat in September 11th, 1973. A little more than a week later, he died. Originally the cause of death was said to be heart failure. In 2013, however, a Chilean judge opened an investigation due to accusations that he was killed by the military dictatorship using poison. His body was ordered exhumed and lab tests were opened, though as of yet with no result.
His poems tend to be very erotic, surrealistic, historical or even political (guess on which side of the political spectrum), and a lot of them are known worldwide. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature a couple of years before his death.
His pen name Neruda came from the Czech poet Jan Neruda. Who knows about Pablo (The Other Wiki says it could be from Paul Verlaine).
He also collected houses; the three of them are open for tourists in Chile, with all the weird things he collected on display.
Some works by this poet are:
- Book of Twilights.
- Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair.
- Residence on Earth.
- Spain in the Heart.
- General Song.
- And many more.
Tropes in Pablo Neruda's work:
- Author Tract: Many poems seem to contrive to touch his thoughts about workers, capitalism, oppression and similar stuff.
- Mesodiplosis: "Keeping Quiet" starts with instructions to "we all":Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.
