I absolutely loved this collection. Pablo Neruda's poetry is truly timeless, and this paperback edition captures the essence of his work beautifully. His words are filled with deep emotion, vivid imagery, and profound insights into love, nature, and the human experience. Each poem feels like a journey into the heart and mind of one of the greatest poets of the 20th century.

What I appreciate most about this collection is its ability to evoke strong emotions and thoughts with such simplicity and elegance. The translations are superb, retaining the lyrical quality and depth of Neruda's original Spanish. Whether you're a longtime fan or new to his work, this book is a treasure trove of poetic brilliance. It definitely deserves the five-star rating for its ability to move and inspire readers.

Neruda era un poeta e un intellettuale eccezionale. Oltre alla bellezza delle sue poesie, mi ha molto appassionato leggere le note esplicative, che mi hanno aiutato a capire meglio Neruda, ma anche a conoscere qualcosa di più della letteratura ispano-americana.

An interesting collection of Neruda's poetry, both in the original Spanish and translated by several writers.

I was more partial to his pieces that ruminated on nature or addressed political strife, but overall the poems had strong imagery and rhythm. Definitely recommend reading them out loud.

I could read him for hours and never tire of it. I cannot get enough of his earthy, robust symbolism. The worn-out, battered copy perched on my bed-side table can attest to how often I read and swoon over this particular edition.

here i love you... my life grows tired, hungry to no purpose. i love what i do not have. You are so far... The biggest stars look at me with your eyes. And as i love you, the pines in the wind want to sing your name with their leaves of wire.

- xviii

I hate that I have to write that Neruda's poetry didn't move me as much as I thought it would. His poetry is very similar to that of Walt Whitman, who I also didn't particularly enjoy. I've read so many references to the beauty of Neruda's poetry, I just thought they would be painfully and beautifully romantic, but they were just regular poems. I did however enjoy a couple, but my favorite in this mammoth collection of poetry is one by the title of "Your Laughter".

After Anna and the French Kiss mentioned it, I thought I had to see what beautiful poems they were referring to.

4.5

The Poetry of Pablo Neruda is an exquisite collection that takes readers on a mesmerizing journey through the profound depths of human emotions. Neruda's words possess an enchanting power, weaving intricate tapestries of love, passion, and the beauty of nature.

Within these pages, readers will discover a kaleidoscope of emotions, expressed with remarkable clarity and elegance. Neruda's ability to evoke raw sentiment is unparalleled, as he effortlessly captures the essence of love's ecstasy and heartache in equal measure.https://manaapk.com/

Each poem is a masterstroke, painting vivid landscapes and breathing life into every verse. Whether he celebrates the beauty of a rose or delves into the complexities of the human condition, Neruda's words resonate deeply, leaving an indelible mark on the reader's soul.

The Poetry of Pablo Neruda is a testament to the timeless power of poetry. Its profound impact lingers, inviting contemplation and introspection. Neruda's words will stir your heart, ignite your imagination, and inspire a renewed appreciation for the art of expression.

In this beautifully translated collection, Neruda's voice transcends language barriers, effortlessly touching the hearts of readers around the world. The translator's meticulous work ensures that the essence and beauty of Neruda's poetry remain intact, allowing readers to fully immerse themselves in the magic of his words.

For poetry lovers and those seeking profound emotional connection, The Poetry of Pablo Neruda is an absolute treasure. It is a masterpiece that deserves a place on every bookshelf, to be savored and revisited time and again.

Step into the world of Pablo Neruda's poetry and prepare to be transported to a realm where emotions dance and words hold extraordinary power. This collection is a testament to the enduring legacy of one of the greatest poets of all time.

My initial interest in Neruda was rooted in his political background, & it quickly became apparent how thoroughly his socialist tendencies were intertwined with his unceasing humanism. This is the basis all of our politics should be rooted in, the recognition of individual liberty which demands and necessitates social justice to safeguard all individuals. Neruda is a wonderful poet, I’d easily give 5 stars to a shorter collection of my favorite works. He delves into the surreal and abstract as well as he does the real and material. Some favorites included his series of Whitman-esque Odes, “Bestiary,” “The Word,” “It Is Not Necessary,” and the Book of Questions. I would love to back through much of this work with a more critical & analytical eye, especially the first ~200 pages which include some overt political content and excerpts from his “20 Love Songs”. This is the largest collection of poetry I’ve undertaken at once, probably by about 400%, so I naturally oscillated in and out of reading the work like prose.

Four and a half stars. I’m not sure how I managed to get through life to this point with only having read a couple of Pablo Neruda’s poems, so it was with great delight at a recent Lifeline book fair I picked up this single volume of his works, around 600 poems. Since I don’t read Spanish, I am reading them translated. But some also have the Spanish originals alongside them, which is interesting.
As with any collection some poems appealed to me more than others. I’m not going to name them because I suspect that next time I pick up this book and dip into the poems those favourites, like the tide, may have changed. And this is one book of poems that I have no doubt I will return to again and again.
Over all, I found the lucid writing, imagery and passion (and not just sexual passion) but passion for the land and for justice among other things drew me in. I would highly recommend this collection to anyone who does not read poetry normally as Neruda is largely an accessible poet with an eye for detail. Those who do read poetry will appreciate the skill involved in creating these poems.

“I love things with a wild passion, extravagantly.”
--Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda declared love with an inebriated tongue of flaming gold. The poet came from the people, and for them he sang. The poet molded ingots of song from mud, ash, and leaf-- into which he then sprinkled crushed emerald and lapis lazuli for ornament and for color. The mortar he mixed with sweat, blood, and uric acid.

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973)-- the Chilean poet, exile, politician, and winner of the 1971 Nobel Prize-- loved with a reckless abandon, and it spilled over into words—hundreds of thousands of glittering and loamy words. Four themes dominate his thousands of poems: love; nature; politics; and Neruda himself. But love is the leitmotif that links all themes as one.

1) Love
Most people will be attracted to Neruda’s love poems and songs of despair. Neruda was a lover of women, three of whom especially inflame his poetry. Much of the love poetry is tangled, moist, rich and earthy. This sonnet is one of my favorites:

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, 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

than this: where I do not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

Some of his love poems are explicitly sexual, and you will find many metaphors related to the secret organs of the earth: raucous roots piercing pungent soil; ships (vaginas), and swords, and sea foam.

n   Body of woman, white hills, white thighs,
You look like the world in your posture of surrender.
My savage peasant body digs through you
And makes the son leap from the depth of the earth.n

But Neruda’s love poetry is tinged with sadness and despair:

To feel you in my veins like God in the rivers and adore you in the sorrowful bones of dust and lime.

Your breasts smell of honeysuckle while the sad wind goes slaughtering butterflies.

2) Nature
Let Neruda be your effusive tour guide into the heart of South American mountains, pampas, jungles, and tundra. He wrote odes celebrating all of his continent's biodiversity and terrain and some were very long, Whitmanesque catalogs of flora and fauna. The biophilist in me responded to his many individual odes celebrating the earth and its land features and forms; its rocks and minerals; flora and fauna. Neruda transports you to the bird nests in the rainforest or along the Chilean coast. Listen to the shrieks of birds and dodge droppings as you read scores of odes devoted to different species: albatross; toucan; kestrel; seagull; cormorant; parakeet; gull; woodpecker; lapwing; mockingbird, and dodo bird. Likewise, Neruda loved rocks. He starts with an ode to the atom and proceeds to describe, in separate poems, the dozens of rocks and minerals unique to South America.

There is something dense, united, seated in the depths,
Repeating its number, its identical sign.
How clear it is that the stones have touched time,
In their fine substance there is a smell of age
And the water that the sea brings from salt and sleep.”(32)

3) Politics
Neruda was a fearless political poet who endured years of exile because he would not shut up. Some readers expressly dislike his political poems, but he casts his lot with the oppressed and for him, silence was complicity with the oppressors. I encourage conservative readers to be patient and try to understand why Neruda was outraged at imperialism and colonialism-- at “the blood thirsty flies” who plundered Latin America's natural resources, exterminated indigenous culture, and supported kleptocratic capitalist dictators.

Admittedly, I cringe when I see his handful of naive odes celebrating Stalin, Mao, and Castro—each of whom he later renounced when he learned of their butchery. But on the whole, I think his political poems are another form of the love poetry-but, instead of erotic love for a woman, he proclaims love for the people and for social justice:

Let it be known that nobody crossed my path without sharing my being.
I plunged up to the neck in adversities that were not mine,
Into all the sufferings of others. (680)

Ah great love, small beloved!
I did not stop in the struggle.
I did not stop marching toward life,
Toward peace, toward bread for all.

For my life, give me
All lives,
Give me all the sorrow
Of all the world
And I will transform it
Into hope. (364)

He was a prophets of justice like Neruda-- artists who venture outside self-absorption to take on the burdens of others and who risk disdain by proclaiming affiliations that will immediately alienate many readers. THey are political love poems to the people whom he saw as oppressed.

4) Personal
Neruda’s father was a provincial rail worker, and his mother died a few months after his birth. I see him as the Hispanic Walt Whitman. “I begin by evoking Whitman,” Neruda declares :

Because I love my country
I claim you, essential brother,
old Walt Whitman with your old gray hands. (825)

I touched a hand that day,
and it was Walt Whitman’s hand.
Throughout my entire childhood,
my companion was that hand with dew on it.
And Walt did not disdain
All the gifts of the earth
but raised my eyes
to the treasure we find
Inside a kernel of wheat. (425)

Neruda’s poems, like Whitman’s, are often catalogs of the various places he lived, the people he met, the flora and fauna that intrigued him, and the martyrs and poets who made him weep.

This Collection
Presented here are 600 poems, approximately a quarter of what Neruda wrote and which are ordered chronologically and organized by collection. The editor sprinkled in some untranslated Spanish poems; and occasionally gives alternate English translations of the same poem, which may surprise you at the tremendous difference a translator makes. Sometimes a poem that meant little to me in one translation leapt to life in another. I can honestly say, I loved nearly every single poem in this collection. I highlighted something on almost every page, and I place this book on my altar bookcase, so that I may continually re-read Neruda with Whitman, Shakespeare and Montaigne for the rest of my life.

My Conclusion
This is my first review of poetry. A poet communicates experience in condensed and concentrated language. Neruda sings of multiplicity and of common things. In the words of the editor, Neruda “works from the bottom up.”

I kneel with Neruda in the search for epiphany. I stand with him in rebellion against abstract, abstruse, evasive poetry. Irony and experimentalism have their place in poetry, but I prefer my poets-- passionate, simple, understandable, and honest. In Neruda’s heart there were furies and sorrows that he unleashes. He speaks for us that we might better speak for ourselves.