Analysis Of Pablo Neruda

While Chilean poet Pablo Neruda has been critically acclaimed for his political poetry, it was his love poetry that first established his reputation as a poet. Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada (Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair) is a collection of romantic poems written by Neruda, first published in 1924. He also wrote Cien Sonetos de Amor (100 Love Sonnets) which is a collection of sonnets and was first published in 1959. These two collections were written and published at the beginning and near the end of his poetic career, respectively, signifying the importance of the women in his life and his admiration of them as Neruda’s poetry often reflected his real life experiences and affairs with multiple women. Despite the reverence towards certain aspects of women in his love poetry, Neruda is unable to recognize women as anything more than objects with sensual and erotic qualities, which he demonstrates through literary devices, such as imagery and personification, and his other poetry.

Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada has become some of Neruda's best known work especially since it has led to his first recognition as a poet. While this collection is known for its erotic imagery and idolization of women, it is also known for the objectification of women. From this collection, the poem "Leaning into the evenings" provides an example of the objectification of women not only through the usage of imagery and personification, but also through the structure of the poem. The series of couplets work to underscore the relationship between the speaker and women in the poem. "Sonnet XXVII: Naked, you are as simple as one of your hands" from Cien Sonetos de Amor similarly demonstrates the objectification of ...

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...usion Neruda makes to the Goddess Diana in “Sonnet XXVII”. However, there is a distinct portrayal of the same women as merely objects to be desired or representatives of traditional roles for women. In addition, most readers assumed that a majority of the women in his poems were assumed to be real women that Neruda adored and loved throughout his life specifically “Sonnet XXVII” is said to be addressing his wife, Matilda, which only serves to intensify their objectification. The defense that perhaps the world Neruda lived in served as an explanation for his sexist attitude towards women also only works to an extent as duality is a constant presence in his love poetry, continually contrasting his reverence with objectification. A celebration of Neruda's enlightened political attitudes towards the poor and voiceless ignores his lack of enlightenment concerning women.