Book Description
Chile, selected & tr Maria Jacketti ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Anthology of Odes
Translating poetry is one of the hardest things I've ever seen done but my Fiction teacher Dr. Jacketti does a fantastic job at translating whatever she comes across.When we read the odes together in class Dr. Jacketti's translations helped me through the odes so much more and it was so much easier to understand.When i read alone in my room it was harder to understand but the translations helped a lot.It's great to have Dr. Jacketti as a professor in my college fiction class.

A joy of odes
Translating poetry is the most altruistic work on earth. And it is mostly done by poets, whose egos are not very small. It demands a complete devotion from the translator/poet to the text of the poet translated. If the translator succeeds then no one will pay much attention to his work, if it fails then all the criticism will go to the translator and not to the poet.
And this book is not an easy task, Neruda is venerated by many as the best poet of the twentieth century. In Spanish speaking countries he is considered a hero, and is better known than even Whitman in the U.S.
Maria Jacketti has a very special approach to these odes, she makes the English language dance to the poems, rather than try and translate literally word by word the verses of Neruda. While, theoretically, I think that this is a problematic approach (I say this as a translator myself who mostly strives to translate the exact word) she succeeds in creating vivid English versions of the poems, rather than academic translations of them.
The odes are written to the simple things in life, and celebrate the tomato as well as the soup; the table and the moon stand as equally important parts of our existence. Besides the love poems, the odes are the best part of Neruda gigantic poetic work.
This book is a good start for anyone wishing to read Neruda for the first time, but I think that those who will get the most of it are those who speak Spanish too (at least at the basic level). Anyone dealing with the translation of poetry will also learn a lot from Jacketti's approach, even if they have read the text in Spanish or have read other translations.

BTW, a out of print book of translations made by Maria Jacketti sells these days for 100$ and more at auctions, so it may be a good investment too, if you are looking for alternatives to the Nasdaq J

Full of Typos!
This collection of poetry by Pablo Neruda is excellent. However, due to the many typos in both English and Spanish, I will give this 4 stars. Typosusually annoy me greatly, but this is such a good collection that I justmark corrections in my book and keep going. It would have been much betterif the content had been proofread more carefully, however. Perhaps itwasn't proofread at all... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

beautiful poems / sensative translations
If you aren't familiar with the Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda, this collection of his mature work would be a excellent way to get aquainted.

Mitchell's translations are, perhaps, the best english renderings of Neruda.As he did in his Rilke translations, Mitchell has put connotative value above denotative, i.e. the general feeling of a phrase is always preserved, sometimes at the expense of the word-for-word accuracy.This, to me, is the right approach, especially with a poet such as Neruda, who relies so heavily on creating a landscape across a whole work.Like impressionist art, one must view the whole canvas at once -focusing on details will dilute the work to nonsense.

The body of work here represents only a small period of Neruda's mature output.They are not his most important work.But I, like Mitchell, identify with these poems closely.They pay hommage to everyday tasks and objects, and therefore force me to examine my own pedestrian life.

A friend recenty suggested to me in a negative way that enjoying neruda is like going to an art museum and looking at only the nudes.In fact, this is perhaps a statement that Neruda would have loved.He relished the simple acts of natural human life.He has made me relish my own. ... Read more

Book Description

In the introduction to this bilingual volume, the translator reminds us: "Neruda spent the last forty years of his life making himself dangerous with his poetry... He came to see poetry as a moral act, with personal and communal responsibilities." But here, Neruda is at his playful and irreverent best. Whether writing a celebration, allegory, lament or self-parody, the poet declares the strong sense of an improvisational spirit. Highlighted as "Essential" by Library Journal.

Customer Reviews (2)

A decision to live
This short book includes 21 poems both in the original Spanish and their English translation. I can't speak of the quality of the translations but the poems are superb.Written after being diagnosed with cancer, these poems offer a certain decision to live ("Now and then, I am happy!"), and a certain freedom. There is a poem of the Ostrogodo family that "spoke so often of the dead ...that a strange thing happened"., of "a naked man who lived for many long years", "a poem of lightening and of disasters of raining ash", of "dismantled Cervantes", and a life in the suburbs. I'd probably recommend reading the poems first, then the introduction, since O'Daly perhaps offers too much interpretation on first reading.

A shimmering work of loving translation.
This is a loving work of translation, as O'Daly does what is rare - transform Neruda's mastery of Spanish into a readable English lyricism.Fortunately for the reader, this is a feat O'Daly has accomplished in all his translations of Neruda's posthumous poetry.Compare this work to Ben Belitt's butcherous acts of translation in his"Five Decades" and you will know what a treasure O'Daly's work truly is.Anyone with any knowledge of the Spanish language will see what twisted mutations Belitt has given birth to in his translations.By comparison O'Daly preserves the tone and wonder of Neruda's incantations to life and love.For anyone seeking a start to Neruda, O'Daly's translations by Copper Canyon Press are indispensable gifts.For anyone seeking to understand the complexities of translation, buy Belitt's volume and compare it to O'Daly's transmutations of loving gold. Dan Vera (dvera@ups.edu) ... Read more

Book Description

Praise for Stephen Mitchell's translation of Rilke:

"Perhaps the most beautiful group of poetic translations this century has produced." 
-- Chicago Tribune

"This is, without any doubt, the best English rendering of Rilke. It is as faithful to the original as the translation of poetry can hope to be, faithful not only to its linguistic meaning but to its poetic expressiveness."

... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Mitchell Does It Best
I am a true lover of the work of Pablo Neruda and have perused many
translated works of the famous Chilean poet.
Stephen Mitchell's translations are by far the most eloquent I have found.I feel they best convey the many moods of Pablo Neruda.The writer is able to capture the most intense feelings in the poet's writing better than any I have read.Thank you Stephen Mitchell.

Can Neruda rate more than five
This is a lovely translation, but then I think of them all as good. There is no comparison for me to any other poet. Keep this or any of his books near your bed to understand the earth, sea, mountains, love, stones, earth, grace, redemption, cats, neighbors, friends, etc. The depth and breadth is expansive and this is a "sweet" book.

Pure spirit, pure soul.
Having been interested in Neruda since seeing the movie "Il Postino," I've glanced at several collections for over 3 years, butnever took a book home for my own.Looking for a collection that contained"Ode to Laziness" (one of my favorite subjects), I found andpurchased Full Woman, Fleshly Apple, Hot Moon.I sat down in a big chairon a Sunday afternoon and opened it to the first page and the love affairstarted there. Usually, I read a book of poems randomly, just flipping hereand there, looking for whatever surprizes me.For some unknown reason, Istarted this book from the beginning with Mitchell's introduction, thenread the first poem.I couldn't help myself as I read one poem and thenanother till I had carefully read almost every one.Pure spirit, puresoul.Each poem is a love poem to the most simple, everyday, ordinarythings of this world--his suit, his socks, his watch--engaging us to see asheer web of grace that runs through out our lives.Put another way,Neruda sees and shows us a world that shimmers and loves us as fully as welove it.

Many thanks to S. Mitchell for creating this collection.

Mitchell's translation lets Neruda's voice sing off the page
Stephen Mitchell translates an assortment of Neruda's lesser known poems that rank among his personal favorites.You can tell Mitchell truly loves these works as Neruda's voice almost literally sings off the page inEnglish.The book itself is beautifully constructed with a painting byGaugin adorning the cover.When you hold it in your hands, you will knowyou have discovered something truly special. You may also be interestedin Mitchell's lovely translations of Rilke. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Brilliance Abounds
Pablo Neruda did not live an ordinary life.Neither was his death ordinary (technically he died of internal hemmorhaging, however he was murdered after supporting the first democratically elected communistleader... chock full of scandal).The first thing his widow did afterhearing of his death was running to her study and taking from his desk allthe poems that lay atop it (since he was known to write at least five poemsa day, they were plents).These are the poems that appear in this book...you will want to write a letter to Neruda's widow praising her for savingsome of the most beautiful work that Neruda did.His lyric quality andgraphic diction make this a collection of poetry you want to dedicateyourself to memorizing.The poetry buries itself in your heart and yousuddenly see new beauty springing around you.A must-buy. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

Buy the Spanish version...
The English translation is good, but it just doesn't work aswell; it is poetry, after all.If you can read English, you'reprobably a lot better at reading Spanish than you think.So, buy theSpanish version and you'll be happy.

podria escribir los comentarios mas hermosos....
decir que el libro es bello, que es increrible . se me quedan cortas las palabras al ver a alguien que las emplea tambien. ebrio de poesias y besos tu amor se me diluye en estos poemas. la sangre fluye y tu cuerpo de mujerse deja ver a traves de mis palabras. que libro tan hermoso para unenamorado.

Un regalo maravilloso para el ser querido!
Compré este libro a mi pareja, está encantada. Juntos fuimos al campo y hemos visto el paraiso leyendo este libro. Fuertemente recomendable y esencial en toda biblioteca.

Chile Rules
¿Qué puedo decir? Es Pablo Neruda, Naftalí Reyes do Basoalto. Uno de los grandes poetas de este siglo y una factor importante a la hora de determinar a Chile.

Premio Novel de Literatura en 1971, por Alturas deMacchu Picchu.

Veinte Poemas de Amor es el libro donde Pablo Nerudaalcanzó, al fin, una madurez como escritor. Un libro indispensable paratodos los seguidores de la poesía.

en una palabra , amoroso
este libro va a cantar a su corazon con fuerte ... Read more

Book Description
New Directions celebrates the Pablo Neruda Centennial.In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Pablo Neruda's birth, New Directions is pleased to announce the reissue of a classic work in a timeless translation by Donald D. Walsh and fully bilingual.

The Captain's Verses was first published anonymously in 1952, some years before Neruda married Matilde Urrutia - the one with "the fire / of an unchained meteor" - to whom he had addressed these poems of love, ecstasy, devotion, and fury. Our bilingual edition is seen by many as the most intimate and passionate volume of Neruda's love poetry, capturing all the erotic energy of a new love. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Sensual masterpieces
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 originalSpanish 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.

So Beautiful
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 heart of Neruda
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.

The most beloved book of poetry that I own
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.

Powerfull and sensitive
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. ... Read more

Book Description
Second Edition of George Schade's brilliant translation of 50 Odes by Pablo Neruda in a bilinigual edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Personal Best for Neruda's Odes
I wish to thank George Schade for translating these fifty odes by Pablo Neruda.I have seen most of them Englished in the past, but Prof. Schade has given them life that I thought would be beyond me as a non-Spanish speaker.The selection is large and bilingual so I can fight my way along with the originalThe warmth of the original glows in each and every word of this translation.I hope many more people discover them.

Personal Best for Neruda's Odes
I wish to thank George Schade for translating these fifty odes by Pablo Neruda.I have seen most of them Englished in the past, but Prof. Schade has given them life that I thought would be beyond me as a non-Spanish speaker.The selection is large and bilingual so I can fight my way along with the originalThe warmth of the original glows in each and every word of this translation.I hope many more people discover them. ... Read more

Book Description

This suite of thirty poems is Neruda's last love song to the Earth. When he wrote these poems he was dying of cancer, and as the title suggests he addresses not ordinary stones, but cosmic ones: stones that reconcile immobile permanence and the clarity of spiritual flight. When the poet meets his crystallized self, the encounter "takes on an eerie brilliance"-The Village Voice. Bilingual with introduction.

"An excellent bilingual editon."-Choice

Book Description

"This is pure Neruda at his prime, which is to say incomparable."-Choice

Customer Reviews (3)

Neruda's Final Pilgrimage
Neruda's early poem, RAPA NUI, (part of CANTO GENERAL) was topographically inaccurate (he had the Moai facing outwards rather than overlooking the settlements) and his Whitmanic expansiveness was pumped-up some.However, late in life, he visited the island and in LA ROSA SEPARADA, he grounds his feelings in the specificity of the place itself, and an authenticity emerges so that the empathic passion is earned.Having visited Rapa Nui myself and published a chapbook, THE MANA OF THE MOAI (Spanner, UK, 2004), Neruda's poem sequence/collage brought back powerful memories of that extraordinary island and its people.Unlike Robert Frost's nasty jingle (first published in TLS in 1947) about a place he had no true knowledge of, and unlike Paul Theroux's even nastier and compassionless chapter about his touristic experience there in his condescending and even racist book HAPPY ISLES OF OCEANIA, Neruda is moved by the strangeness of the place."Let the great sea protect you" he writes,"from our barren brutality" and, upon leaving, he felt he was abandoning "the limpid clarity of mythology" and returning to his "indecisions, of winter and summer" yet desiring that his "roots adhere" to the mystery, space, and solitude of Te Pitou ou Te Henua, "the navel of the world" - Rapa Nui, "Big Oar" in the Polynesian language, truly a rose apart.Great poetry.

A Pinnacle Work of Art
Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) remains one of the most respected and unique of the Latin American poets.His poetry is celebrated even more today than when he was publishing it and winning the Nobel Prize.The gentle man from Chile, beset with scandal regarding his political stance during his life, remains one of the world's favorite voices.

In 1971, two years before his death from cancer, Neruda traveled to Easter Island, that mysterious jetty of earth rising from the ocean keeping its secrets of past civilizations sealed away from contemporary knowledge of the origin of the massive stone figurative sculptures, and there he wrote this long poem as a conversation between Man and Nature.The result is a profound respect for time and the ancients and a disdain for the corrupting man who tries to uncover secrets best remaining occult.

'The transient, the smug traveler, returns/ to his wheels ready to roll, to his jet planes,/ and the deep silence ends, he must leave/ behind the transparent solitude/ of thin air, of water, of pastureland rugged and pure,/ to escape, to escape, to flee the salt and peril,/ that lonely circle in the water/ where the hollow eyes of the sea,/ the vertebrae, the eyelids of the black statues/ chewed at the frightened bourgeois from the cities'...

But a small excerpt from this meaningful poem can only hint at the beauty of Neruda's accomplishment.This is a book that should be in the minds of millions, if we are somehow to survive the ravages of destructing time. Highly recommended.Grady Harp, November 06

A powerful vision of Rapanui
"The Separate Rose" is Pablo Neruda's poetic tribute to Rapanui (also known as Easter Island), one of the most remote islands of the Pacific. Although many of the poems in this volume could stand on their own, this book is a truly unified work which should be read in its entirety.

William O'Daly has translated Neruda's Spanish into a simple but sensuous English free verse. In this bilingual edition, Neruda's poems stand side-by-side with O'Daly's excellent tranlations, making the book especially useful to English-speaking students of Spanish (or Spanish-speaking students of English). O'Daly's excellent introduction discusses the history and culture of Rapanui, and also discusses the background of Neruda's poetic interpretation of the island.

Neruda's poetry in "The Separate Rose" skillfully captures the complexity of the world of Rapanui. The poet's generous vision takes in both the motley tourists and the monumental stone sculptures that have made the island famous. In some of the book's most powerful poems, Neruda reflects on Lord Wind, the ancient deity said to have reigned over Rapanui.

And as always, Neruda demonstrates his command of poetic language. Whether describing airplanes as "enormous aluminum geese" (p. 15), reflecting on his own heritage as "apprentice to volcanoes" (p. 19), or addressing Rapanui as "cry / of the mourning petrel, tooth of the sea" (p. 51), Neruda always uses the tools of language in thought-provoking ways.

"The Separate Rose" is more than just an important part of a great poet's canon of writings; it is a moving reflection on a unique and timeless land. ... Read more

Book Description

The sound of ships' bells, sea waves, and migratory birds fuel Neruda's longing to retreat from life's noisy busyness. Stripped to essentials, these poems are some of the last Neruda ever wrote, as he pulled "one dream out of another." Includes the final lovesong to his wife, written in the past tense: "It was beautiful to live / When you lived!" Bilingual with introduction.

"Deeply personal, expansive, and universal... majestic and understated beauty."-Publishers Weekly

Customer Reviews (3)

The Best Poetry Collection I've Ever Read
The Sea and The Bells is the best poetry collection I've ever read. Uncompleted at the time of Neruda's death, only 1/3 of the poems in this collection were titled. However, the wisdom and eloquence with which Neruda worked in the last year of his life is without peer in the canon of 20th century poetry. His "Finale" written on his deathbed to his wife, Matilde, is devastating.

Neruda's balance of humor, power, spirituality, compassion and love is so clear in a few of these poems, you may find these poems like little prayers on which you can meditate. For example:

If each day falls
inside each night,
there exists a well
where clarity is imprisoned.

We need to sit on the rim
of the well of darkness
and fish for fallen light
with patience.

Maybe it's just me, but this kind of poetry reads like the wise words of a Buddhist monk high in the mountains of Nepal, man. This collection is the deaf, dope jam.

The only criticism I have is with the translation. William O'Daly makes several unusually bland decisions in translating from the original Spanish. For example, Neruda literally writes in We Are Waiting "o para asesinarnos de inmediato" where the verb "assassinate" is pretty darn clear. The phrase literally translates "or to immediately assassinate us." Given the political tension Neruda was writing under having won the Nobel Prize and having returned to Chile, it is reasonably clear why he used the word "assassinate." O'Daly's translation reads: "or to instantly murder us" opting for the bland general word "murder" rather than the clear, stronger word "assassinate." O'Daly makes similarly odd decisions throughout the text. Fortunately, the original Spanish appears alongside O'Daly's translation so you can read what Neruda actually wrote.

Beyond the translation, this is the best poetry collection I have ever read. I highly recommend it to anyone who appreciates language being used at its absolute finest. The Sea and The Bells raises the bar for all of us. Read it, and enjoy!

Stacey

"One returns to the self as to an old house..."
I have to disagree entirely with the reviewer below. If he is pining forthe wild exuberances characteristics of earlier stages in Neruda'swritings, he should not look for it here: for all their wordplay, theselast books of Neruda's (the handful he worked on simultaneously during thelast year of his life) are about preparing for death. I've noticed here andthere some nuance which seemed not to have caught the translator's eye, butotherwise he has made a remarkably rewarding transation of the ruminative,supple-then-lurching tone of PN's Spanish. "The Sea and theBells" is a crockpot of mystery, a book to read and learn slowly overyears.

Translator lacks emotion
Pablo Neruda is one of my favorite poets of all time, however, William O' Daly does not do Neruda justice. His translation is flat and unevocative, and unable to invoke those true emotions that Neruda is famous for. I wouldrecommend checking out translations by W.S. Merwin if you want the fullecstatic experience that Neruda usually so eloquently conveys. ... Read more

Book Description

Facing death from cancer, Neruda wrote no book more direct and passionate in its language, and this translation-the first time these poems appeared in English-was cited by Bloomsbury Review as a Book of the Year and called one of the "most valuable Neruda books we have today." In this lyrical suite, the poet meditates on his imminent death, embraces solitude, and returns to nature as a source of regeneration. Bilingual with introduction.

Customer Reviews (3)

Even approaching death...
Pablo Neruda is by far, my favorite poet. I must admit that I have not read his more political poetry, I'm more a fan of the love stuff. But, this book includes a little bit of both. Mostly, however, it is a book about life and how he has lived it, what has touched him, aside from Matilde. Wonderful.

Final Things
The poems in this volume were found in manuscript after the poet's death in 1973.For Neruda, whose poetry so often explodes with life through images of nature and man-made objects bathed in equatorial sunlight pouring from the page in a torrent of language, this volume feels more somber.The images of nature remain abundant, especially those of the sea surrounding his final home on Isla Negra. But the usual tone of a restless celebrant has been muted, replaced by a voice at once valedictory and resigned.Best of all the poet displays a humility that makes these poems moving and accessible.

The subjects of the poems range from meditations on the natural world during winter, the deaths of two activist friends, and the poet's responsiblities, to reflections on the loss of a beloved dog and the poet's own impending death.Neruda's tendencies to create lists and use surrealist techniques have been tempered and integrated into the poetry, keeping them from the wearisome quality of some earlier volumes. This may be a darker book than many volumes of Nedura's verse; but, in no way depressing, Neruda's vision of final things offers comfort.In fact, though it may seem cliched to write it, these poems are truly beautiful.

The edition offered here is bilingual, allowing you the chance to read Neruda directly if you know Spanish.Having no knowledge of Spanish I can only comment that O'Daly's translations are fluid and clear:an hour's steady reading, or meditations to be pondered more slowly over several days.The book itself is designed tastefully making the reading experience all the more enjoyable.

A work of introspective beauty
"Winter Garden" is one of several posthumously published volumes of poetry by Pablo Neruda, who died in 1973. This volume is a thoughtful, and frequently melancholy, collection by the great Chilean poet. William O'Daly has translated the poems into a smooth, graceful English. Although I don't believe that "Winter Garden" is quite in the same league as Neruda's greatest works, it is still a deeply moving work that is graced by passages of transcendent beauty.

In this collection of short poems Neruda writes about love, death, nature, and other topics. The natural world is a particularly rich presence: fields, apple trees, Andean snow, "the coasts of Chile," birds in flight, and more appear throughout the book.

Neruda is particularly moving when reflecting upon his lifelong quest to fulfil the poet's duty. It is heartbreaking when he laments, "I didn't have enough time or ink for everyone" and asks forgiveness "from anyone not here" (in the poem "For All to Know"). If you have been moved by the other great works of Neruda, or if you simply appreciate beautiful and emotionally rich poetry, you will want to read "Winter Garden." ... Read more

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"Neruda's lyricism wakes us up, even in the face of death, to the connections we have with our land, inner and outer."-Los Angeles Times Book Review

Customer Reviews (1)

reading poetry
Neruda's poems are wishes.This particular work, "Still Another Day" is the last of his writings.It gives us the courage to live in finding words to express one's will to live.Neruda's mastery of the beauty of language is impressive in its English translation and, for certain, it is extraordinary in his native Spanish. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Another poetic triumph by Neruda
"Fully Empowered" is an outstanding volume of poetry by Pablo Neruda of Chile. The book has been translated into English by Alastair Reid, and is presented in a bilingual format, with the Spanish originals and English versions on facing pages.

Overall, I found Neruda's voice in this book to echo that of United States poet Walt Whitman (who could be seen as one of Neruda's 19th century poetic "ancestors"). Neruda's attentive poetic eye looks at both humanity and nature with reverence and compassion. His voice is often very tender. Like Whitman did in his work, Neruda often writes in the first person in this book.

Some of the most memorable selections in this book include "To Don Asterio Alarcon, Clocksmith of Valparaiso," in which Neruda finds dignity and transcendence in the work of the title figure; "Thistle," in which he celebrates "the blue thistle of Chile"; and "The People," a passionate tribute to all the working people of the world.

In "Summary," Neruda writes, ". . . my life was always / singing its way between joy and obligation." "Fully Empowered" marvelously embodies both Neruda's sense of moral duty and the joy that proceeds from his life's work.

El Capitan de la poesie latina
This bilingual collection of Nerudas poetry is an outstanding selection.Neruda is the great one of Latin American poetry.New Directions has for years provided us with quality bilingual collections of great world poets.Plenos Poderes (Fully Empowered) is another classic.Neruda continuouslymade impassioned pleas for his people.He was a great lover of his landand his people.He was a true revolutionary poet in the vein of Lorca. This collection was published in 1962 (nine years before he was justlyawarded the Nobel Prize.)Here Neruda states his mission in a poem likeThe Poets Obligation: He will give voice to those who have no voice.Hewill speak for the downtrodden. The imagery of the sea is scintillating.The poem Fully Empowered also backs this stand.But amid the politicalstuff there are some beautiful lyric poems as well.To Sorrow is agorgeous poem.Short pieces like It is Born reflect a deeply sensitivepoet.This is classic Neruda.Viva Pablo Neruda! ... Read more