Stones and Birds

DESPITE the continual change of perspective, or attitude, in the enormous volume of poetry written by Pablo Neruda, there is a consistency in the imagery which is linked closely to an underlying philosophical base. Pablo Neruda's poetry is always dialectical. Never still, it is witness to the constant flux of humanity and matter. Whether sympathetic to Marxism or not, the reader of Neruda's poetry must come to grips with the poet's philosophy. Neruda's dialectical materialism, in which he sees humanity's constant interchange with matter, constitutes the philosophical basis of all of his poetry. In the 1960's Pablo Neruda wrote two books which have received little comment but are crucial works to point out this concept of consistency within change in relation to Neruda's focus on matter and the relation between humanity and matter. These books are Las piedras de Chile (1961) and Arte de pdjaros (1966). The present study will concentrate on imagery in these two collections. Even in his love poetry, from the very beginning in Crepusculario (1923) and Veinte poemas de amor y una cancidn desesperada (1924), Neruda uses language that is very material, concerned with things. These poems, full of nostalgia and desperate melancholy, burst upon us with revived sensualism. Forever a romantic, the poet feels himself sink into despair, searching for a meaningful relationship between the poetic self and matter. Yet, in the early love poems we see a narcissistic love, not a love for society or even a satisfying mutual love. A solitary romantic poet, the young Neruda seems unable to relate to another. In this early sensual and erotic poetry, the poet ultimately finds the world external to himself abrasive, and this poetic expression is finally one of desperation. A romantic, he loses love in order to experience it as poetry. Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero tal vez la quiero. Es tan corto el amor, y es tan largo el olvido. Porque en noches como esta la tuve entre mis brazos, mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido. Aunque Cste sea el 6iltimo dolor que ella me causa

Art · Consistency (knowledge bases) · Literature · Poetry · Cultural and Social Studies in Latin America · Mathematics