Pablo Neruda Books

"I became saturated with his poetry and began to translate his poems. Although there were many beautiful existing translations, many others did not flow as I felt they should and I often had interpretive differences with them." ~ Mark Eisner, translator

"The Essential Neruda Selected Poems" is the best translation I've read so far. The words are alive with beauty in a way that feels authentic to the heart. You can immerse yourself in the poems and emerge with a sense of wonder.

"Leaning into the evenings I throw my sad nets
to your ocean eyes."

Mark Eisner has captured the soul of Pablo Neruda's art and perhaps even enhanced the creative majesty of each poem. At times the poems can make you feel a little breathless as if you have happened upon a new discovery or secret revelation.

"And the air came in with orange-blossom fingers
over all those asleep:
a thousand years of air, months, weeks of air,
of blue wind, of iron cordillera,
that were like soft hurricanes of footsteps
polishing the lonely boundary of the stone."

The imagery is at times so vivid, as if you were transported to each scene. Pictures flash across your mind and you can almost catch the scent of the ocean or see the colors vivid and pure. Angels and death dance through the poems with equal ease and at times the words are heavenly or earthy and dark.

"Full woman, carnal apple, hot moon,
thick smell of seaweed, crushed mud and light,
what obscure clarity opens between your columns?
What ancient night does man touch with his senses?"

If you are new to the poems of Pablo Neruda then this would be an excellent place to start. The poems present many facets of the poet unlike other books that simply reveal his romantic nature. While I seem to enjoy his love poems best, I can say that this experience gives a more wide-ranging portrait of Pablo Neruda.

~The Rebecca Review

I got The Essential Neruda when it came out in 2004. I already loved Neruda, and have the old Selected Poems edition (which unfortunately ends at 1968, and some of the translations are just plain flat) plus the 20 Love Poems, Residence on Earth, Canto General, and some of the odes. But the translators here (former US Poet Laureate Robert Hass just won the Pulitzer!) just bring Neruda so alive, and the selection of poems just captures his whole range of 'the many Pablos'. So when I came here today to buy one as a gift, I'm pleased by the reviews of how great an introduction to Neruda it is, but I want to stress how great it is as a book to keep going back to again and again. Actually, to quote the great writer Ariel Dorfman on the back cover of the book:

"What beter way to celebrate the hundred years of Neruda's glorious residence on our earth than this selection of crucial works - in both languages! A splendid way to being a love affair with out Pablo or, having already succumbed to his infinite charms, revisit him passionately again and again and yet again."

Gorgeous work. Neruda is my all time favorite. A beautiful book to give as a gift or to get some started with Neruda.

This would be my first introduction to Pablo Neruda, and I must say I'm a bit disappointed. Not that Neruda isn't a great poet, the Nobel Prize and critical acclaim prove the contrary, but perhaps the translation could use some more work.

I picked this copy up noticing the name of Robert Hass', the translator and author of the Essential Haiku, on which he did a great job. Unfortunately, Eisner is the editor of the majority of the poems. The analogy to Eisner's translation would be like what Zondervan did to the bible in their NIV. It's not a bad translation, but it's moderned up a bit. I would have appreciated a more King James-like translation of Neruda's poems as I could infer a lot of missed nuances that appear to be in the original Spanish on the opposite page. A lot of the translations lack the depth and texture of what a great poet should have, and sometimes it feels like I'm reading a different poet altogether.

For instance, a line "Hermano, hermano!" is translated as "Hermano, hermano!" in the English, though it could have plainly been have translated as "Brother, brother!" considering the second "hermano" is not capitalized. Perhaps this was Neruda's original intent, but there is no way to tell as there are no footnotes.

Poetry is about texture, a poet's voice, and brilliance in how the artist uses his words to paint; this translation doesn't do enough to convey the voice of Neruda, but merely makes it accessible to new readers of not only Neruda, but also poetry.

Neruda has given us some of the most incredibly poignant poetry of our time. Do yourself a favor; buy this collection.

Love on your mind? Read TWENTY LOVE POEMS: 15 --- "I like it when you're quiet."



"I like it when you're quiet. It's as if you weren't here now, and you heard me from a distance, and my voice couldn't reach you.

It's as if your eyes had flown away from you, as if your mouth were closed because I leaned to kiss you."

The title of the collection says it all "The Essential Neruda."

This is a wonderful collection of poems by Neruda in a bilingual edition. I'm planning to use it in a course I'm teaching in Fall '08.

Que bueno la traduccion y el original... Neruda es lo mejor de los mejores. Un libro exquisito.

I was a rookie when it comes to reading stylized writings like that of Pablo Neruda. I ordered the book as a friend suggested thinking it would be an impressive addition to my library not realizing that I would really enjoy his deep, thought-provoking and yet whimsical poems. My recommendation is to try it, you'll like it!!

Neruda was my companion during a 7 months journey and i remember clearly as water how many times i took this book with me to read it in front of the ocean. I am not very fond to poetry but with Neruda its impossible not in fall in love with the magic of words. You should have this book in your hands and heart.

I actually got this collection to study up on my Spanish, and I found myself emmersed in his tangible words. I found it interesting that some of the translations seem slightly weaker in English, but maybe that's just me.

What I like about Neruda is that his poetry can really talk to a general readership without sacrificing the aestheticism of poetic language. He seems to have an uncanny way of being brutally raw with his lanugaue, while letting the images, hard as they are, float softly, like flower petals.

Maybe I'm in love with the guy. Oh to be a poet.

This is a fabulous dual-language collection of some of the most sensual, passionate poems written in modern times. Whether he imagines himself as an insect making a journey "from your hips to your feet", traveling to distant places with his beloved by his side, or as a soldier who must leave but whose love will "go on singing until the end of life", Neruda writes with exquisite simplicity, and great beauty.

I find this to be the most accessible of Neruda's books that I have read, perhaps because its subject was a central part of his life. As explained in the introduction of the book, these poems are autobiographical, and written about his wife, Matilde Urrutia. First published anonymously in 1952, they were released in 1963 under his own name, but only after much thought, because of their "intimate birth".
The translations by Donald D. Walsh are superb. He has captured the fluid rhythm, the emotion, and the fire.

He was fortunate to have had this remarkable relationship, as well as the ability to express his feelings with such uncommon depth, but for those men who lack Neruda's poetic genius, and who would like to melt the heart of the woman they love, this might be the perfect gift to go along with that bunch of flowers.

This is quite possibly the most beautiful book of poetry that I have ever read.

An excellent gift to one that you love passionately.

The most amazing and sesitive book that I ever had read about Pablo Neruda.
Pablo es capaz de modelar como nadie las imagenes y meterte en un libro tan hermoso y poderoso. "La muerta" es un claro ejemplo de la belleza y la fuerza de su poesía.

I bought this book because for the long time I wanted to read something by Neruda, and this bilingual edition offered an opportunity to read the original Spanish alongside with the English translation. Since I know a bit of Spanish, this was an opportunity to practice it and improve it, as well as get exposed to some of the most sensual and inspiring poems in any language. Neruda's idiom is rich with metaphors, and he takes everyday objects and situations and imbues them with poetic and emotional undertones. This fascination with common objects is particularly useful for someone who is learning Spanish - it provides a great and enjoyable vocabulary-building opportunity. However, be warned - some phrases and words are a bit risque, and you shouldn't be too liberal at trying to impress your Spanish speaking friends at parties. It may lead to some interesting situations.

I had heard about Pablo Neruda a few years before and I wasn't too fond of his poetry. When I opened "The Captain's Verses" in a bookstore a few months ago, I knew that I had to have it. Since then this has become my most treasured book of poetry. I don't even know how to describe Pablo Neruda. When you read his poetry you just become entranced by the way he is so accurately able to convey such passion in his simple words and beautiful imagery. Even now after I have read each poem in this book at least a hundred times I am still amazed by the way he does it. I have not yet found another book of poetry that can evoke such feeling as "The Captain's Verses." I believe that this is essential to any poetry lover's collection of poetry and that those who are not big fans of poetry would enjoy the love poems of Pablo Neruda.

_The Book of Questions_ defies easy description. Neruda composed over 70 poems in quatrains, two questions per quatrain - yet the depth of the questions and the variety of interpretations the reader can take from the questions is limitless. That the book contains English translations of the Spanish original is an added bonus.

The images are surreal, as if a Dali painting put to words. Further thought (and the poems ARE thought provoking) yields a different answer with each reading. There is a pervading sense of sadness to them, perhaps because Neruda was dying of cancer while he wrote them; but there is hope, here, too - and a wisdom that only a master poet can communicate. For example:

Where is the child I was,
still inside me or gone?

Why did we spend so much time
growing up only to seperate?

Neruda's _Book of Questions_ haunts and provokes, much like life itself. Highly recommended.

The BOOK OF QUESTIONS was written in 1973, a few months before Neruda's death to cancer. Troubled by the knowledge of his impending death, as well as by a U.S. backed coup threatening the Allende government in Chile (Leftist regime 1970-73), Neruda wrote several small books of brief poems, comprised simply of unanswerable questions, in the koan tradition (question/statement in the form of a paradox that disciples of Zen ponder). They are enigmatic, at times surreal, leaving you lost in labyrinths of deep thought, or in abstract bewilderment.

My favorite questions include:

Why do leaves commit suicide
When they feel yellow?

and

When the convict ponders the light
is it the same light that shines on you?

--ross saciuk

Pablo Neruda's BOOK OF QUESTIONS is one of those books that simply cannot be read just once. Though the poems are short, they are questions that make you ponder and think about through out the day. Neruda covers just about everything, such as politics, society, nature, and life in general.

The most enlightening thing about poetry, especially Neruda's style of writing poetry, is that it lends itself to much interpretation. Anyone that reads this book will have their own answer and interpretation of what they think Neruda was trying to convey. For example, Neruda has a knack for covering politics. He writes:

"How did the grapes come to know
the cluster's party line?

And do you know which is harder,
to let run to seed or to do the picking?

It is bad to live without a hell:
aren't we able to reconstruct it?

And to position sad Nixon
with his buttocks over the brazier?

Roasting him on low
with North American napalm?" (p.18)

For the most part, the book has a zen-like quality, which suggests a complexity to the poems -- the sense of not-knowing, and moving towards intuitive perceptions, beyond rehearsed patterns of thinking and feeling (viii). In a way, it appears complex, but at the same time liberating. Neruda's poetry is simple in its structure.

Beyond analysis, BOOK OF QUESTIONS is also helpful for anyone trying to refresh their memory to read and write in spanish. The translations are wonderful and practical. I recommend this book as well as other books by Neruda because of this added bonus.

Pablo Neruda is much missed as a poet and thinker. Since his death in 1973 there has been an even stronger growing of appreciation for his unique style of writing. During his last days he composed this strange little collection of some 300-odd questions and a number of poems all dealing with the life cycle as only one who sees his end at hand can write. The subjects are death, rebirth and nature in as complete a marriage of intention as any poet has created. They are beautifully translated by William O'Daly.

Intending his reader to be stimulated by his words to create a visual image that is personal, his questions from this volume so aptly titled 'The Book of Questions' open our eyes and our minds to some rapturously beautiful experiences. Examples:

'Why don't inanimate things
do something?

Where did a celestial body
leave something tonight?

Why don't they train helicopters
to suck honey from the sunlight?

Where did the full moon leave
its sack of flour tonight?'

Warmly humorous, touching and eventually elevating, the questions remain on the backs of our eyes awaiting reentry into our brains for relish at needy times. Neruda is a poet for all seasons. Just read this book and discover. Grady Harp, December 06

With this book, Pablo Neruda takes the universe and turns it inside out; in doing so, he brings forth questions for which there are no answers, and which, at the same moment, lead us toward the questions and vibrations of our own souls. The questions may appear as nonsense, but in truth, they are of another language, that of the poet, and they are neither meant to be answered nor translated into the realms of the logical and linear. He embraces humor: "What will they think of my hat, the Polish, in a hundred years?" and "Is there anything sillier than to be called Pablo Neruda?" Yet he also delves into mystery of life and living: "Is 4 the same 4 for everybody? Are all sevens equal?" and "In the end, won't death be an endless kitchen?" While perhaps never having read C.S. Lewis' "A Grief Observed," Neruda picks up a thread from two lines of this short memoir of grief: "Is yellow square or round? How many hours are in a mile?" But while Lewis searches for answers in a prosaic realm, Neruda remains the poet of questions. His work also brings to mind a poem by American jani johe webster, "the color of august": "what is the sound of a shadow / how do you say a hope / can you see time in a dream". For a truly amazing experience, read William O'Daly's translation of "The Book of Questions" side by side with Ben Belitt's: it is an amazing study of words, meanings, translation, and most of all, questions.

I don't really feel it is necessary to add my humble opinion about Neruda, his poetry, or this particular collection of poems. If you are even considering purchasing this book, then you are on the right track. I would, however, like to add a few comments about this particular edition.

I was somewhat confused because one reviewer stated the book was only in English, although the book claims to be a bilingual edition. I purchased it anyway due to the difficutly in general of finding some Spanish language literature in this country, and even on this site, with the intention to return it if it was only in English. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find it was indeed a bilingual edition. The cover art is quite different on the copy I received - just an observation.

If you are buying this book for the original Spanish version, then I can highly recommend this book. However, I must agree with several other reviewers as to the quality of the English translation. Honestly, and I hate to say it, but it is terrible. I realize that translating great poetry is a formidable task, and that certain license may need to be taken, but I have many other bilingual poetry editions (in several other languages as well) where the English versions are faithful to the original and yet beautiful in their own right, and where I have even felt occasionally that a reading of the English version can actually enhance the overall experience of the poem. This is definitely not the case with this translation. After reading the Spanish, I would find myself peeking over at the English, and thinking to myself, "What on earth was Tarn thinking?" Some of the liberties Tarn has taken... At one point, I seriously felt like taking a Sharpie to the English versions to obliterate them entirely. Realizing that this was probably a little extreme, and would certainly destroy the Spanish poetry on the other side of the paper, I have settled on making copies of the Spanish versions and putting them in a notebook so as to avoid the English versions entirely. I realize this may sound extreme, but only if you have not read the translations. Even if your Spanish is intermediate, you would probably be better off with this book (or a Spanish only version if you can find one) and a good dictionary.

All of that having been said, the introduction is adequate. And, of course, Neruda is remarkable.

Every review here mentions the spectacular nature of Neruda's captivating poem. As he said himself, he follows the philosophy of Rimbaud and arms himself with a "burning patience" that allows him to "enter splendid cities." However, the translation falls short of the quality of Neruda's words. Tarn inserts his own interpretations/images in his word choice which result in the creation of a new poem--ocassionally distant or discordant with the original. (quick example: in Canto XII, Neruda twice uses the word "río" in one of many instances of repetition in the poem. Tarn replaces the first use with "torrent" and the second with "Amazon." He effectively removed Neruda's use of repetition and inserted a proper noun which carries with it connotations perhaps not intended by Neruda. This is merely one of many instances where Tarn's translation subtly, but importantly changes the poem's meaning). However, if you are a lover of Neruda poems and have a reasonable grasp of Spanish, this is an essential for your collection.

6 stars for the poem, 2 for the translation = overall score of 4 stars

Neruda is easily one of the 20th centuries greatest poets. The Heights of Macchu Picchu is an excellent poem (Tarn's translation is a good one). It weakens a bit towards the end, but the first 2/3 of the poems is wonderful stuff. And Robert Pring-Mill prefaces this edition with a great essay that really takes you into the meaning of Neruda's poem.

I printed this book in 1986 in Bandon, Oregon using a Vandercook Universal #3 Press, Lutetia type from Harold Berliner's Typefoundry on Arches laid paper.

There are several inaccurate assumptions in the reviews here. Most importantly, this is not a Tarn translation. It is by the poet David Young, editor of Field Magazine at Oberlin College. His translations of Rilke are equally stunning.

This is an English only edition: Farrar, Straus & Giroux owns ALL English versions of Neruda published in English (or did so at that time) and the Neruda Estate owned the Spanish. It took 18 months to receive permission for 155 editions of the English and the Spanish permissions were far more daunting.

The binding was done by Greg Campbell at Campbell-Logan Bindery in St. Paul, Minn. I used green Roma paper over boards with red cloth 1/4 bound spine.

The full page line drawing of the condor was done by Jack Schroeder, a well known artist from the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I asked him to draw the condor as if embracing the sense of "sloping height", and "Incan priest." I think he accomplished it well.

I hope this helps and falls within Amazon's guidelines

Pablo Neruda, born in Chile 1904, is one of the greatest Latin American Poets to have livedwas one of Latin Americaýs greatest poets.

The Heights of Macchu Picchu (considered by some to be his finest poem) was inspired by his journey to this famed ruined Peruvian Inca city. These poems take on a progressive journey within both the past of Latin America and the roots of the poet himself.

Lovers and devoted students of poetry will be caught up in Neruda's poetic power, hopefully capturing the quintessence of this great poets mind. Others, like myself, who are occasional readers of poetry, may need to reread his words, but, through the rereading, Neruda's own spirit will descend into you mind.

Pablo Neruda speaks to the heart and struggle of us all, as he writes, "How many times in wintry streets, or in a bus, a boat a dusk,.... in the very lair of human pleasure, have I wanted to pause and look for the eternal, unfathomable truth's filament I'd fingered once in stone, or in the flash of a kiss released." Highly Recommended.

Mr Neruda captures the feeling and emotion of love in these written works. They are from the movie IL POSTINO and have incredible impact.

after watching il postino the italian film the poetry in the movie had me craving more. excellent what a talent how lucky his wife was to have so much love directed toward her.

POETRY by Pablo Neruda

And it was at that age...Poetry arrived
in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don't know how or when,
no, they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others,
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me.

I did not know what to say, my mouth
had no way
with names
my eyes were blind,
and something started in my soul,
fever or forgotten wings,
and I made my own way,
deciphering
that fire
and I wrote the first faint line,
faint, without substance, pure
nonsense,
pure wisdom
of someone who knows nothing,
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open,
planets,
palpitating plantations,
shadow perforated,
riddled
with arrows, fire and flowers,
the winding night, the universe.

And I, infinitesimal being,
drunk with the great starry
void,
likeness, image of
mystery,
I felt myself a pure part
of the abyss,
I wheeled with the stars,
my heart broke loose on the wind.

When I first read this poem, something within me blossomed. It was as if Neruda had found a way to pry open my soul and let the True Light, the True Love, and the True Life of my life to finally come forth; naked, unashamed, and gloriously beautiful.

Even though this book only contains ten little poems, you will get so much enjoyment out of each and every one of them. I even gave a copy of this book to someone whose primary reading interests were that of Mad Magazine and the classifieds and he said he never imagined that reading could be so sensual and yet so soulful.

May your heart and soul break wide open and may the radiant jewels that are within come forth for all to see.

Peace and blessings...

A great, tiny smattering of love poems by the great Chilean poet and activist, mainly featuring the work of his used in the Italian film, "Il Postino" (if you're a poet and you haven't seen it, you're not actually a poet. You're a person with a journal filled likely with meandering words and diary ruminations and you will give birth to children with monocled vision due to their cyclopian disformities). A must-have for anyone deigning to create poetry of the love stripe, and totally affordable. A perfect launhcing pad for anyone not yet aware of Neruda's incredible amount of excellent, excellent work.

Love, Ten Poems by Pablo Neruda is a romantic short collection by one of the most sensual and romantic poets I have ever read. Neruda draws all of your senses into his world and you want to stay there, never to leave. One wants to find the beauty as he paints it for you, the reader. His wife is the muse of most of his love sonnets. As Neruda says, "Love is so short, forgetting is so long."

I recommend this incredible poet to all who love to read poetry and to those who long to find their love and especially to those who have that love in their life. Neruda's romance will stir your heart and have you soaring.

Read it with your significant other and the emotions will carry you both up and away. Neruda's poems are powerful and their beauty sears into your heart with his words echoing long after. These poems were featured in the movie, The Postman. You cannot help feeing affected by the power of Neruda. He has to be one of THE most powerful masters of the written word.

I first read "Memoirs" several years ago and picked it up again a month or so ago before traveling to Chile. I was just as enthralled by Neruda's life and exquisite writing as I was on the first reading.

One of the highlights of my recent trip was a visit to La Chascona, Neruda's home in Santiago. The home (a series of buildings on the side of a hill) reflects Neruda's sense of whimsy and humor. It was a thrill to sit in the hillside cafe realizing I had walked in the footsteps of Neruda and his guests.

Yes, I am a fan of Pablo Neruda's poetry but even more so of his memior. He captures life, its details, his surroundings, nature and indepth feelings like no other.

It reads like music.

Pablo Neruda's "Memoirs" is not a comprehensive autobiographical document. It is a personal memoir, recounted as if the author was sitting around a table, with good friends and a bottle of excellent Chilean wine, telling tales of the people, anecdotes and incidents that were so important in his life. "Confieso Que He Vivido," means I confess that I have lived. And Sr. Neruda certainly did that...with zest, zeal and so much talent. The translation by Hardie St. Martin is a good one, but it does not do justice to Neruda's beautiful skill with the Spanish language. He romances the language, like no other, even with his prose.

Neruda was born, the son of a railroad worker, in the then frontier wilderness of Southern Chile in 1904. He led a bohemian lifestyle, dressing in black "like the true poets of the last century," during his university years in Santiago. His shyness, the "kink in the soul,"...especially of women, took him a while to overcome. He describes the people and places of that period with great 'carino' (love). His political ideology began to form at that time also, and politics became an integral part of his writing. The Student Federation, student demonstrations and the subsequent repression, had a great impact on the young intellectual.

Neruda led a rich and fascinating life. World traveled throughout his life, he served as Chilean consul in Burma, Ceylon, and Java. He was the consul in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, and during this time "Nine Love Poems" from "Veinte Poemas de Amor y Una Cancion Desesperada" was published. It was at this time also, that his friend Federico Garcia Lorca was killed. Neruda was present in Paris to organize a worldwide anti-Facist congress of writers that would be held in Madrid. His writing about Spain during the war is heartbreaking. Returning to Chile in 1938, he found a burgeoning Fascist movement in his own beloved land.

I particularly enjoyed his account of the time he spent in Mexico, as consul. He tells of his encounters with the great Mexican painters there.

After returning home, Neruda ran for political office and was elected to Chile's Senate in 1945. He was later removed from his Senate seat after joining the Communist Party.

His friends included: Garcia Lorca, Ehrenburg, Picasso, Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, Octavio Paz, Miguel Angel Asturias, Gandhi, Nehru, Mao, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and most sadly, Salvador Allende.

Pablo Neruda's death, just weeks after the brutal murder of Chile's President Allende, is something I will never forget. I was living in Colombia at that time, and remember where I was and what I was doing when I learned of Allende's death, and later heard of Neruda's passing. It called to mind, then and now, my recollections, as a young girl, when President Kennedy's assassination was announced. I always thought Neruda died of a broken heart.

This is an exceptionally good memoir, told with great charm, in a series of vignettes. I highly recommend it, especially to anyone who has read and enjoyed Pablo Neruda's poetry - to my mind some of the most beautiful in the world. It also gives us a glimpse of the politics of the left from the point of view of a Latin American - not the usual perspective, and well worth while.

From very first pages, I was swept away into another world. You do not need to be familiar with Neruda or Chile to enjoy this book, but it helps. Neruda, while well known for his immense contribution to poetry, is a stunning writer of prose.

Memoirs by Pablo Neruda was simply the most beautifully written autobiography i have ever laid eyes on... Not only does he talk about his exceptional journey through life, from his childhood in the forest to his worldwide travels as a chilean diplomat (and encounters with famous personalities along the way), but his abundant observations and insights on life are an inspiration to anyone who has cruised through life while wondering where they are headed. Beautiful language and keen observations. Reading it made me wish I knew Spanish...

Here's my favorite quote from the book: "It lies not in our power to love or hate, for will in us is overruled by fate"

That's only what I may say

Poeta mas famoso en el mundo nos trajo una obra fantastica, cuando leia, me siento el amor perdido a el. Una obra de Pablo increible, y si no te gusta este, no sabes de poecia! Las poemas te dares un conocimiento que tu no olividaras, y lo regresara lo unico a tu vida

Con versos fáciles de recordar, Neruda escribe en su juventud, este fundamental libro de poesía que cambiaría los ritmos y la forma de enamorar a generaciones de jóvenes, que aún copian sus versos para expresar sus sentimientos. Es una lectura indispensable que recomiendo a los que deseen acercarse a la mejor poesía de amor en español.

magnifica poesia romantica llevada a los limites sin parecer melosa ni trilada. neruda le da una nueva cara al romanticismo, al amor, a los deseos, sus poemas son breves y concisos, libres del influjo de largos y reconditos poemas casi inentedibles escritos por algunos poetas y que estan escritos para analisis eruditos. estos en cambio estan en lenguaje llano y conciso y logran sacarle a este el maximo. me encantaron todos sus poemas.... LUIS MENDEZ

PABLO NERUDA POEM IS A MASTERPIECE, THIS POEM SPEAKS OUT THE FEELINGS THAT YOUNG OR OLD LOVERS WISH THEY COULD SAY. THE POEM IS A WORK OF ART BY THE WAY MR. NERUDA DEALS WITH THE LOSS OF SOMEONE SPECIAL.MY FAVORITE LINE IS "ES TAN CORTO EL AMOR,Y ES TAN LARGO EL OLVIDO." WOW! THAT SAYS IT ALL FOR ME. IT IS VERY EASY TO FEEL THE PASSION OF HIS WRITING STYLE. I AM A COLLEGE STUDENT AT Tarleton State UNIVERSITY AND I AM GOING TO READ THIS POEM TO MY UPPER LEVEL SPANISH CLASS THURSDAY FEB.5,1998 THANK YOU.

Neruda, a gifted poet, nobel prize recipiant times two, shares his thoughts and feelings by the sea in this peaceful and sensual collection. What a captivating, romantic collection of poems. Usually I dislike "greatist hit" style books, but this collection of poems easily provides a well rounded, description of Neruda's talents. The artistry illustrated is beautiful and more than adequetly translates the feel of the book. The book is printed in spanish and english translation provided by Alastair Reid, his favorite and preferred translator. I encourage all, whether poetic novice or expert to pick this book up, especially if you are a romantic at heart.

I love Pablo's poetry. I didn't think it was possible for the art to be as beautiful as the poetry. But it is.

The coast of California, where Mary Heebner lives, is so parallel in its geography, blueness, and diverse forms of the shores from rocks to cliffs to wide sand to Neruda's mar at Isla Negra where he'd look out at that same Pacific ocean to form his poems. Mary is able to capture that intrinsic beauty of his sea and his poetry in this wonderful book of art. And you could ask for no better translator than Alastair Reid. Neruda loved how he'd walk barefoot all around his house and the beach at Isla Negra barefoot. And he loved his translations, as do I. Neruda said that "to me, the ocean is an element like air." This book of his poems about his sea, combined with the sublime blues of Mary Heebner's art, makes for such a great book for your coffee table, or as a gift, as I have given it now to six different people.

--Mark Eisner, editor of The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems

Of all the Neruda anthologies that I have read, this is by far the most eloquent tribute to his love of the sea and his home on Isla Negra in Chile.

The English translations are done by Alastair Reid, Mr. Neruda's favored translator and it flows as naturally as does the Spanish original. I speak both languages and it is always such a pleasure to see a translation so elegantly done.

The artwork by Mary Heebner is as sumptuous as Pablo Neruda's poetry and truly reflects the feel of the ocean. Her paintings capture the mood of each poem perfectly and add to the emotion of his words.

It is I believe the only anthology that has focused solely on his poems of the sea.

The book is bilingual with the text in Spanish on one page and English on the other. It contains my favorite of Neruda's poems, The Soliloquy of the Waves.

Even the typeset and Neruda's name on the dust jacket painted in a blurry sea blue reflect the ocean that the poems are about.

Pablo Neruda has been a favorite poet of mine for many, many years and this stunning book is a wonderful addition to my collection of his anthologies. It is a beautiful piece to celebrate his centenary.

The poetry in this book is exquisite. The presentation is excellant. I own a copy of it, myself, and bought three more to give as gifts.

Luis Poirot is one of my favorites photographers. This book about Pablo Neruda is great, not only for the quality of the beatiful images, but also for the investigation with the people who knew Neruda well.
Absolutamente recomendable!!!!

I saw it first in my college library, subsequently I bought it. Neruda's zest for life is enviable. The book makes me want to know more and more about him and his writings. It has been a year now, and I go back time to time, to read something or the other from the book, again and again. The photographs of Neruda's homes set the context for the poetry contained side by side. Translation is comforting for me.

I understand very little about literature but poetry is now my one of the serious love interest thanks to his poem titled 'Poetry': "It was the age when it arrived in search of me.......I was there without a face and it touched me".

Bravo! Why ? This is what I found his book, and a new word "wakefulness" :))

" It is very appropriate, at certain times of the day or night, to look deeply into objects at rest: wheels which have traversed vast dusty spaces, bearing great cargoes of vegetables or minerals, sacks from the coal yards, barrels, baskets, the handles and grips of the carpenter tools. They exude the touch of man and the earth as a lesson to the tormented poet. Worn surfaces, the mark hands have left on things, the aura, sometimes tragic and always wistful, of these objects, lend to reality a fascination not to be taken lightly.

The flawed confusion of human beings shows in them, the proliferation, materials used and discarded, the prints of feet and fingers, the permanent mark of humanity on the inside and outside of all objects.

That is the kind of poetry we should be after, poetry worn away as if by acid by the labor of hands, impregnated with sweat and smoke, smelling of lilies and of urine, splashed by the variety of what we do, legally or illegally.

A poetry as impure as old clothes, as a body, with its food stains and its shame; with wrinkles, observations, dreams, wakefulness, prophecies, declarations of love and hate, stupidities, shocks, idylls, political beliefs, negations, doubts affirmations, taxes."

This collection sets a wonderful selection of Neruda's poetry and anecdotes into a the photographic setting of his life. It is a beautiful book.

I love looking at the pictures and reading his poetry. I also love knowing the little tidbits of information. I have been to his three houses in Chile that are pictured in this book. When I look through it I have this rush of emotions and a pleasant rememberance of being there.

Neruda is a poetry god. And interest in the Chilean writer's work is growing again thanks to Il Postino (The Postman), the Oscar-nominated film in which he's a character.

This coffee table compendium presents some of his most exquisite verse coupled with warm, full-page photographs of, among others, his ocean front home, Ilsa Negra, with its nautical knick-knacks. The man's presence pervades the volume and includes personal accounts from those who knew him. Translator Alastair Reid has chosen works that suit the pictures and work well as whole. It's a delightful introduction to one of the centuries greatest wordsmiths.