Pablo Neruda 1904-1973 (7/31)
As I contemplate my exposure to Pablo Neruda, I really can't say that I know him well. But the more I experience, the more I understand why he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda's later life seems to be full of eccentric fancies, very evident in the house museums that we have visited here in Chile. He very profoundly said, "El niño que no juega no es niño, pero el hombre que no juega perdió para siempre al niño que vivía en él u que le hará mucha falta." Neruda (translated) knew that children who don't play aren't being children, and adults who don't play lost the child that lived in them and are missing much. Neruda certainly was connected to his inner-child. Many of his peoms reflect a child's fun-loving, simplistic view of life, as in his poem "Oda A La Abeja" (Ode to the Bee).
...Perfecta /Pefect
desde la cintura, /from the waist
el abdomen rayado /the striped abdomen
por barrotes oscuros, /the dark stripes
la cabecita siempre /the little head always
preocupada y las /preoccupied and the
alas recién hechas /wings recently made
de agua... /of water...
Yet, as a consul for Chile and while in exile for his political beliefs, Neruda lived a less playful life than what we witness here in Chile. He lived in Spain during the 1930's and the Spanish Civil War. He was profoundly effected by this war and the murder of a friend poet at this time. I quote Gustave Andrian, "The poet's cry of anger and horror at the destruction and murder committed by the nationalist forces is heard in the intensely moving and personal poem 'Explico Algunas Cosas' ('I Explain Some Things')."
Preguntaréis: Y donde están las lilas?...
/You ask: Where are [your poems with] lilies?...
Os voy a contar todo lo que me pasa...
/I am going to tell all that happened to me...
Mi casa era llamada /My house was called
la casa de las flores, porque por todas partes
/the house of flowers because it had all around
estallaban gerenios: era /bursting gereniums: it was
una bella casa /a beautiful house
con perros y chiquillos... /with dogs and little chldren...
Y una manana todo estaba ardiendo...
/And one morning all was burning...
Bandidos... venían por el cielo a matar niños...
/Bandits... came from heaven to kill children...
Frente de vosotros he visto la sangre /In front of you I saw the blood
de España leventarse /of Spain raise itself up
para ahogaros en una sola ola /to drown in one single wave
de orgullo y de cuchillos! /of pride and of knives!
Venid a ver la sangre /Come see the blood
por las calles! /in the streets!
It was peoms like this one that helped to wake up the world to the terrible violence of war and to feel the pain that makes war the crime it is. This contributed to Neruda's "outstanding work of an idealistic tendency" earning him the Nobel Prize in 1971. So, with the ability to be deep and the determination to hold on to the fun and simple, Neruda is one of the most famous Chileans in history. He's got some crazy collections, but I have to respect the man!