Poetry is like bread; it should be shared by all, by scholars and by peasants, by all our vast, incredible, extraordinary family of humanity.
SO WROTE PABLO NERUDA. Millions have shared and enjoyed the poetry of Neruda (1904–1973), whose body of work includes sensual love sonnets, lyrical epics, political poems, and odes to the commonest objects: a lemon, a book, a pair of socks. Those odes, which are among his best-loved works, reflect what Neruda said in his 1971 Nobel Prize lecture: “the best poet is he who prepares our daily bread: the nearest baker who does not imagine himself to be a god.”* Have a slice or two of Neruda, then take this quick quiz.
1. What country was Neruda from?
2. In which book did Neruda chronicle five hundred years of Latin American history?
3. What everyday object did Neruda hail as a “constant constellation, / round rose of water”?
4. Which poet’s framed portrait did Neruda keep in his home?
5. In what popular film is Neruda a central character?
ANSWERS
1. Chile.
2. Canto General (1943). Of more than three hundred poems in the collection, the best known is “The Heights of Machu Picchu.”
3. An onion, in “Ode to the Onion.”
4. Walt Whitman. When a carpenter hanging Whitman’s portrait asked Neruda if the picture was of his grandfather, Neruda answered yes.*
5. Michael Radford’s Il Postino (The Postman, 1994).