In today’s world of social media and access to easy reads, poetry is often overlooked. With the popularity of Rupi Kaur’s, “Milk and Honey”, many individuals are beginning to rediscover the beauty that can be found in poetic verses; however, there are still many poets both old and new that continue to be left out of the mainstream spotlight. As the semester starts up again, I began to receive the usual reading assignments and I’ll be honest, I was not sure I would even take a glance at them but now I’m glad I did. My first reading assignment was to read “Book of Questions” by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and upon finishing it I was upset I hadn’t read any of his works sooner.
The Book of Questions is a book of poems that are all formatted as questions. An example of his brilliance can be seen in quotes such as, “And what importance do I have in the courtroom of infinity?” and “What did the tree learn from the Earth to be able to talk with the sky?”. While many of the verses in the Book of Questions are often thought provoking and emotional, there are just as many that leave the reader feeling either awe or confusion. The beauty of poetry and something that is clearly seen in Pablo Neruda’s work is the fact that many of the line are open for interpretation. Poetry does not follow the rules of other forms of writing in that is can turn nonsense into clarity.
Poetry can create universes within the mind or readers or it can have its audience questioning the foundations of reality. It can open doors or it can criticize those in power. No matter the subject there is something for everyone in the realm of poetry. Now, more on the man that was Pablo Neruda. Ricardo Eliezer Neftali Reyes y Basoalto, or better known by his pseudonym, Pablo Neruda, was born and grew up in the backwoods of Southern Chile where he began his poetic journey at a young age. Neruda is best known for his work, “Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada—published in English translation as Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair,” it was these cycle of love poems that put Neruda on the map as a critically acclaimed Chilean poet. It was in 1927 that Neruda set sail on a journey that ultimately led to him becoming an honorary Chilean consul in Rangoon despite his lack of qualifications. From there Neruda journeyed far east continuing to write poetry. 1929 was the year Chile entered a great depression and this drastic change, especially in political climate, offers an explanation for Neruda’s turn to communism and his later works that express and expand on his political views. Many critics argue that Neruda’s devotion to communism were often extreme in nature; however, there are others that argue his works held an important impact on politics. It is impossible to truly tell the full story of Neruda’s life as it is a life of adventure and exile that produced moving works of poetry.
Ultimately, the life of Pablo Neruda was a complex tale in which his works have woven themselves into the fabric of time ultimately sealing his legacy as a maestro of poetry conducting a symphony of prose that will continue to last a lifetime. I implore everyone and anyone with an interest in poetry to visit the poetry foundation. The Poetry Foundation website contains information on the life of many great poets, collections and poems of many well-known and some unknown poets. It is an excellent resource for everything poetry and it is the amazing website that aided my research on the life of Pablo Neruda. Check it out! You never know what great things you may discover!