Ogden Nash - Salem Press

Critical Survey of Poetry Neruda, Pablo
only with poets’ own feelings and experiences; those of
other men and women hardly ever find expression in poetry.
The personality of objects, of the material world,
never finds a singer, except among writers such as Neruda,
who are also workers. Neruda’s new purpose is to maintain
his anonymity, because now “there are no mysterious
shadows/ everyone speaks to me about their families,
their work, and what wonderful things they do!”
In the elemental odes, Neruda learns to accept and
celebrate the common gift of happiness, “as necessary
as the earth, as sustaining as hearth fires, as pure as
bread, as musical as water.” He urges men to recognize
the gifts they already possess. He sings of such humble
things as eel stew, in which the flavors of the Chilean
land and sea mix to make a paradise for the palate.
Against those who envy his work and its unpretentious
message of common humanity, Neruda responds that a
simple poetry open to common people will live after
him because it is as unafraid and healthy as a milkmaid
in whose laughter there are enough teeth to ruin the
hopes of the envious.
Indeed, the language of the elemental odes is very
simple and direct, but, because Neruda writes these poems
in such brief, internally rhyming lines, he draws
attention to the natural beauty of his Spanish, the
measured rhythm of clauses, the symmetry of sentence
structure, and the solid virtues of an everyday vocabulary.
In the tradition of classical Spanish realism, the elemental
odes require neither the magic of verbal pyrotechnics
nor incursions into the subconscious to achieve
a fullness of poetic vision.
Extravagaria and later work
After the collection Extravagaria—in which Neruda
redirected his attention inward again, resolving questions
of his own mortality and the prospect of never
again seeing places and people dear to him—the poet’s
production doubled to the rate of two lengthy books of
poems every year. In response partly to the demand for
his work, partly to his increased passion for writing,
Neruda’s books during the last decade of his life were
often carefully planned and systematic. Navegaciones y
regresos (navigations and returns) alternates a recounting
of his travels with odes inspired by remarkable people,
places, and events. Cien sonetos de amor collects
one hundred rough-hewn sonnets of love to Matilde
Urrutia. Isla Negra is an autobiography in verse. Arte de
pájaros is a poetic ornithological guide to Chile. Las
piedras de Chile, Cantos ceremoniales (ceremonial
songs), Fully Empowered, and Una casa en la arena (a
house in the sand) are all-inclusive, totally unsystematic
collections unified by Neruda’s bold style, a style that
wanders aimlessly and confidently like a powerful river
cutting designs in stone. Las manos del día (the hands of
the day) and La espada encendida (the sword ignited),
written between 1968 and 1970, attest Neruda’s responsiveness
to new threats against freedom. Geografía
infructuosa (unfruitful geography) signals Neruda’s return
again to contemplate the rugged coast of Chile. As
Neruda remarks in his Memoirs concerning his last decade
of work, he gradually developed into a poet with
the primitive style characteristic of the monolithic sculptures
of Oceania: “I began with the refinements of
Praxiteles and end with the massive ruggedness of the
statues of Easter Island.”
Other major works
long fiction: El habitante y su esperanza, 1926.
plays: Romeo y Juliet, pb. 1964 (translation of
William Shakespeare); Fulgor y muerte de Joaquín
Murieta, pb. 1967 (Splendor and Death of Joaquin
Murieta, 1972).
nonfiction: Anillos, 1926 (with Tomás Lago);
Viajes, 1955; Comiendo en Hungría, 1968; Confieso
que he vivido: Memorias, 1974 (Memoirs, 1977);
Cartas de amor, 1974 (letters); Lo mejor de Anatole
France, 1976; Para nacer he nacido, 1978 (Passions
and Impressions, 1983); Cartas a Laura, 1978 (letters);
Correspondencia durante “Residencia en la
tierra,” 1980 (letters; with Héctor Eandi).
Bibliography
Méndez-Ramírez, Hugo. Neruda Ekphrastic Experience:
Mural Art and “Canto general.” Lewisburg:
Bucknell University Press, 1999. This research focuses
on the interplay between verbal and visual elements
in Neruda’s masterpiece Canto general. It
demonstrates how mural art, especially that practiced
in Mexico, became the source for Neruda’s
ekphrastic desire, in which his verbal art paints visual
elements.
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