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Pablo Neruda, Poetry and PoemsLatin America's Greatest Poet, Nobel Prize for Literature, 1971
Brief biography of Pablo Neruda, considered the best South American poet known for "Veinte poemas de amor y una cancion desesperada."
Pablo Neruda (real name, Neftali Reyes) was one of the greatest South American poets. His poems have been translated into many languages. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1971, and famous for his collection of poems "Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair." Early Life: Training and EducationThe son of a poor railway worker, Neruda, whose real name was Neftali Reyes, was born in southern Chile on July 12, 1904. He began writing poetry when he was 10 years old, and changed his name to 'Pablo Neruda' when as a teenager. He began by publishing his first poems in student magazines. Neruda went to study at a teachers' training college in Santiago, the capital city, where he got acquainted with Gabriela Mistral. Almost immediately he established himself powerful in Chilean poetry. At the age of 20, he published Veinte poemas de amor y una cancion desesperada (Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair), the collection that first brought him international fame. Government Post and Later PoetryAt 23, he held diplomatic posts when appointed by the Chilean government as a consul in Burma (now Myanmar). This was the start of a diplomatic career that brought him all over Asia and South America, Mexico, and to Spain during the Civil War, where he became close friends with the poet Federico García Lorca. When García Lorca was executed soon after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Neruda's poetry grew increasingly political, and he became a committed communist. It was on his way back home from Mexico to Chile when he visited the Inca city of Macchu Picchu that he found much inspiration to write his best poems. Neruda's Later LifeSoon after World War II, Neruda's politics almost cost him his life when the Chilean government was taken over by right-wing extremists. He escaped by crossing the Andes Mountains on horseback. He left and travelled to Russia and China, and returned to Chile in 1952, where he lived for the rest of his life, writing and campaigning. He was ill from cancer, but died of a heart attack at the age of 69, on September 23, 1973. Awards
Books by Pablo Neruda
LinkSource:Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring (1994)
The copyright of the article Pablo Neruda, Poetry and Poems in Great Writers is owned by Tel Asiado. Permission to republish Pablo Neruda, Poetry and Poems in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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