Pablo: Poems, Politics, and People

1. Pablo: Poems, Politics, and People Pablo Neruda By: ChristaniaFraenkel, Leah Hoogerhyde and Candice Walker

2. Early Life • Born- July 12, 1904 in Parral Chile • Father- railway worker. • Mother- died shortly after his birth. • Began to write articles at age 13

3. Early Life (Continued) • Was encouraged to purse writing by school teacher, Gabriela Mistral • 1921- moved to Santiago, Chile to study French literature at the University of Chile , but left after three years • First book of poems, Crepusculario, was published in 1923

4. Poetry Commonalities • Topics/Themes- love, loss, dependence, desire, worship, beauty, politics, isolation, nature • Structure- varies, many commas and single words alone, also many individual sentences • Tone/Mood- smooth, light, whimsical, lighthearted, sincere, passionate, fierce, powerful • Literary Devices- metaphors, symbolism, imagery, repetition, unique similes

5. Example of Many Commonalities “Lovely One” Lovely one,just as on the cool stoneof the spring, the wateropens a wide flash of foam,so is the smile of your face,lovely one.Lovely one,with delicate hands and slender feetlike a silver pony,walking, flower of the world,thus I see you,lovely one.Lovely one,with a nest of copper entangledon your head, a nestthe color of dark honeywhere my heart burns and rests,lovely one. Lovely one,your eyes are too big for your face,your eyes are too big for the earth.There are countries, there are rivers,in your eyes,my country is your eyes,I walk through them,they light the worldthrough which I walk,lovely one.Lovely one,your breasts are like two loaves madeof grainy earth and golden moon,lovely one.

6. Continued Lovely one,your waist,my arm shaped it like a river whenit flowed a thousand years through your sweet body,lovely one.Lovely one,there is nothing like your hips,perhaps earth hasin some hidden placethe curve and the fragrance of your body,perhaps in some place,lovely one. Lovely one, my lovely one,your voice, your skin, your nails,lovely one, my lovely one,your being, your light, your shadow,lovely one,all that is mine, lovely one,all that is mine, my dear,when you walk or rest,when you sing or sleep,when you suffer or dream,always,when you are near or far,always,you are mine, my lovely one,always.

7. Relationships and Their Affects on His Poetry • Married three times and divorced twice • In 1930, he was appointed consul to Jakarta, and met his first wife, Maria AntonietaHagenaar • In 1933, he went to Argentina and met  Federico García Lorca, who at that time was traveling in Argentina. Federico became a close friend and an enthusiastic defender of Neruda’s poetry. • Married his second wife, in 1936 • Third Wife- Matilde Urrutia • Was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971

8. “Love” Because of you, in gardens of blossoming Flowers I ache from the perfumes of spring. I have forgotten your face, I no longer Remember your hands; how did your lips Feel on mine?Because of you, I love the white statues Drowsing in the parks, the white statues that Have neither voice nor sight. I have forgotten your voice, your happy voice; I have forgotten your eyes. Like a flower to its perfume, I am bound to My vague memory of you. I live with pain That is like a wound; if you touch me, you will Make to me an irreparable harm. Your caresses enfold me, like climbing Vines on melancholy walls. I have forgotten your love, yet I seem to Glimpse you in every window. Because of you, the heady perfumes of Summer pain me; because of you, I again Seek out the signs that precipitate desires: Shooting stars, falling objects.

9. 1927- Was appointed as the Chilean consul in Rangoon(the capital of Burma) • Began to take a active part in supporting the Communist Party • 1945- was elected a Communist party senator • Opposition to the Chilean government in power of GonzálezVidela forced him to go into hiding Political Life

10. 1949- left Chile and began a time of exile • Was eventually pardoned by the Chilean government and was allowed to return to Chile • Remained active in politics and was an avid supporter of the government ran by Salvador Allende • Was affected by the Spanish Civil War. He considered the war horrendous, and the war caused him to lose one of his best friends. Political life An odor has remained among the sugarcane:a mixture of blood and body, a penetratingpetal that brings nausea.Between the coconut palms the graves are fullof ruined bones, of speechless death-rattles.The delicate dictator is talkingwith top hats, gold braid, and collars.The tiny palace gleams like a watchand the rapid laughs with gloves oncross the corridors at timesand join the dead voicesand the blue mouths freshly buried.The weeping cannot be seen, like a plantwhose seeds fall endlessly on the earth,whose large blind leaves grow even without light.Hatred has grown scale on scale,blow on blow, in the ghastly water of the swamp,with a snout full of ooze and silence • “The Dictators”

11. Interview • Interview- “Neruda, poète des Amériques,” broadcast by Radio-Canada in the fall of 1971 • Neruda- “I insist on telling you that I am not a political poet”. • Neruda- “My ambition as a writer, if there is an ambition, is to write about all the things that I see, that I touch, that I know, that I love, or that I hate”. • Neruda- “I am only the echo in a certain part of my poetry of the anxieties of the contemporary world, of the anxieties of the Latin American world.” • Neruda- “I became aware of the social order of Latin America and of the world as I became aware of the ocean, or of flowers, or of life”. • Neruda- “Indeed, the Spanish war gave a new perspective to literature and enormously moved the writers of Latin America. “

12. Criticism- We Disagree With… • Neruda is “excessive and expressionistic, overtly rhetorical”(Bloom) • “Neruda’s approach to love poetry is visceral and original”(Beasley) • “A strong sense of the natural in human love”(Beasley)

13. Criticism- We Agree With… • He “found comfort in nature and the simplicity of objects,” especially in the poem “Here I Love You”(Beasley) • “His emotions are vibrant and his sorrows poignant”(Beasly) • “The women of his poems bridge the void between an ascetic male speaker and the delights of the natural universe”(Beasley) • “Neruda embraced contradictions”(Beasley)

14. “Here I love You” Here I love you. In the dark pines the wind disentangles itself. The moon glows like phosphorous on the vagrant waters. Days, all one kind, go chasing each other. The snow unfurls in dancing figures. A silver gull slips down from the west. Sometimes a sail. High, high stars. Oh the black cross of a ship. Alone. Sometimes I get up early and even my soul is wet. Far away the sea sounds and resounds. This is a port. Here I love you. Here I love you and the horizon hides you in vain. I love you still among these cold things. Sometimes my kisses go on those heavy vessels that cross the sea towards no arrival. I see myself forgotten like those old anchors. The piers sadden when the afternoon moors there. My life grows tired, hungry to no purpose. I love what I do not have. You are so far. My loathing wrestles with the slow twilights. But night comes and starts to sing to me. The moon turns its clockwork dream. 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.

15. In Conclusion… • Pablo Neruda is often spoken of as one of the greatest poets of the 20th century and his work will without a doubt continue to be read for years to come.