Pablo Neruda

Nobel Prize in Literature laureate, the most beloved Latin American poet of the 20th century.

Life

Love poems

Neruda, born Neftalí Reyes, became famous overnight at the age of 20 with Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. He served as a diplomat and sided with the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War.

Canto General

In 1950 he completed the epic Canto General, celebrating the land, history and peoples of Latin America. He was a member of the Communist Party of Chile and visited China in 1951. In 1971 he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Nobel Prize

He died in Santiago twelve days after the 1973 coup; the cause of his death has long been disputed.

Legacy

Neruda is one of the most widely read poets of the 20th century, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez called him "the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language."

Major works & achievements

• Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair
• Canto General

Did you know? His pen name was taken from the Czech poet Jan Neruda.

Key dates

• 1924Publishes Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair
• 1950Publishes Canto General
• 1971Won the Nobel Prize in Literature
• 1973Died