Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto was born on 12 July 1904, in Parral, Chile,[12] a city in Linares Province, now part of the greater Maule Region, some 350 km south of Santiago.[13] His father, José del Carmen Reyes Morales, was a railway employee, and his mother Rosa Neftalí Basoalto Opazo was a school teacher who died two months after he was born on 14 September. On 26 September, he was baptized in the parish of San Jose de Parral.[14] Neruda grew up in Temuco with Rodolfo and a half-sister, Laura Herminia "Laurita," from one of his father's extramarital affairs (her mother was Aurelia Tolrà, a Catalan woman).[15] He composed his first poems in the winter of 1914.[16] Neruda was an atheist.[17]
Literary career
something started in my soul, fever or forgotten wings, and I made my own way, deciphering that fire and 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.
From "Poetry", Memorial de Isla Negra (1964). Trans. Alastair Reid.[18]
Neruda's father opposed his son's interest in writing and literature, but he received encouragement from others, including the future Nobel Prize winner Gabriela Mistral, who headed the local school. On July 18, 1917, at the age of 13, he published his first work, an essay titled "Entusiasmo y perseverancia" ("Enthusiasm and Perseverance") in the local daily newspaper La Mañana, and signed it Neftalí Reyes.[19] From 1918 to mid-1920, he published numerous poems, such as "Mis ojos" ("My eyes"), and essays in local magazines as Neftalí Reyes. In 1919, he participated in the literary contest Juegos Florales del Maule and won third place for his poem "Comunión ideal" or "Nocturno ideal." By mid-1920, when he adopted the pseudonym Pablo Neruda, he was a published author of poems, prose, and journalism. He is thought to have derived his pen name from the Czech poet Jan Neruda,[20][21][22] though other sources say the true inspiration was Moravian violinist Wilma Neruda, whose name appears in Arthur Conan Doyle's novel A Study in Scarlet.[23][24]
In 1921, at the age of 16, Neruda moved to Santiago[18] to study French at the Universidad de Chile with the intention of becoming a teacher. However, he soon devoted all his time to writing poems, and with the help of well-known writer Eduardo Barrios,[25] he managed to meet and impress Don Carlos George Nascimento, the most important publisher in Chile at the time. In 1923, his first volume of verse, Crepusculario (Book of Twilights), was published by Editorial Nascimento, followed the next year by Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada (Twenty Love Poems and A Desperate Song),[18] a collection of love poems that was controversial for its eroticism, especially considering its author's young age. Both works were critically acclaimed and have been translated into many languages. A second edition of Veinte poemas appeared in 1932. In the years since its publication, millions of copies have been sold, and it became Neruda's best-known work. Almost 100 years later, Veinte Poemas is still the best-selling poetry book in the Spanish language.[18] By the age of 20, Neruda had established an international reputation as a poet but faced poverty.[18]
In 1926, he published the collection tentativa del hombre infinito (venture of the infinite man) and the novel El habitante y su esperanza (The Inhabitant and His Hope).[26] In 1927, out of financial desperation, he took an honorary consulship in Rangoon, the capital of the British colony of Burma, then administered from New Delhi as a province of British India.[26] Later, mired in isolation and loneliness, he worked in Colombo (Ceylon), Batavia (Java), and Singapore.[27] In Batavia the following year, he met and married (December 6, 1930) his first wife, a Dutch bank employee named Marijke Antonieta Hagenaar Vogelzang (born as Marietje Antonia Hagenaar),[28] known as Maruca.[29] While he was in the diplomatic service, Neruda read large amounts of verse, experimented with many different poetic forms, and wrote the first two volumes of Residencia en la Tierra, which include many surrealist poems.
In 1950, Neruda wrote a famous poem, “United Fruit Company,” referencing The United Fruit Company, founded in 1899, that controlled many territories and transportation networks in Latin America. He was a communist who believed corporations such as this were exploiting Latin America and hurting them. The corporation was corrupt and had a quest for wealth, and throughout his poem, he speaks of how the innocent citizens of Latin America suffered when companies destroyed their land and lifestyles and brought cruelty and injustices to their land. He points out ways that companies manipulate governments and workers in attempts to be greedy towards impoverished countries.
As a political activist, his stance as a communist comes out in his poem as he calls the wealthy corporations “bloodthirsty flies” and resembles a “dictatorship.” He compares United Fruit Inc. to big-name companies such as Coca-Cola and Ford Motors to emphasize their strength and power over the little countries residing in Latin America.
In addition, his writing skills truly came out in this poem, solidifying his worthiness of being named the National Poet of Chile. In this poem, he used tons of imagery, metaphors, irony, symbolism, and an overall witty tone to get his point of dislike towards big corrupt corporations and promotion of communism.
