“Love is so short, forgetting is so long”. Pablo Neruda. Nobel Prize for Literature, 1971
Pablo Neruda, acclaimed as the greatest poet in the 20th century, expressed passion and sorrow in hauntingly beautiful lines that drive us to search his life-story for answers.
Exploring Neruda’s World: Loneliness
Loneliness appears to have played a role in his life. Born in Paral, Chile, (July 12, 1904), his mother died when Pablo was two years old. As a young schoolboy in Temuco, his calling: There is no insurmountable solitude. All paths lead to the same goal: to convey to others what we are, described in Neruda and Vallejo, was disdained by his father. His mentor was Gabriela Mistral, headmistress of the local school, herself a poet and Nobel Prize winner in 1945.
University and Subsequent Years.
At university in Santiago, Pablo experienced loneliness and failed love affairs. He found consolation in poetry, and by nineteen, his first books of poems were published, Twilight, and Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. The latter remains the best selling poetry book ever written in Spanish, and translated into many languages.
