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Pablo
Neruda
The Essential Pablo Neruda
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A New Translation , November 3, 2007
"I became saturated with his poetry and began to translate
his poems. Although there were many beautiful existing
translations, many others did not flow as I felt they should and I
often had interpretive differences with them." ~ Mark Eisner,
translator
"The Essential Neruda Selected Poems" is the best
translation I've read so far. The words are alive with beauty in a
way that feels authentic to the heart. You can immerse yourself in
the poems and emerge with a sense of wonder.
"Leaning into the evenings I throw my sad nets
to your ocean eyes."
Mark Eisner has captured the soul of Pablo Neruda's art and
perhaps even enhanced the creative majesty of each poem. At times
the poems can make you feel a little breathless as if you have
happened upon a new discovery or secret revelation.
"And the air came in with orange-blossom fingers
over all those asleep:
a thousand years of air, months, weeks of air,
of blue wind, of iron cordillera,
that were like soft hurricanes of footsteps
polishing the lonely boundary of the stone."
The imagery is at times so vivid, as if you were transported to
each scene. Pictures flash across your mind and you can almost
catch the scent of the ocean or see the colors vivid and pure.
Angels and death dance through the poems with equal ease and at
times the words are heavenly or earthy and dark.
"Full woman, carnal apple, hot moon,
thick smell of seaweed, crushed mud and light,
what obscure clarity opens between your columns?
What ancient night does man touch with his senses?"
If you are new to the poems of Pablo Neruda then this would be an
excellent place to start. The poems present many facets of the
poet unlike other books that simply reveal his romantic nature.
While I seem to enjoy his love poems best, I can say that this
experience gives a more wide-ranging portrait of Pablo Neruda.
~The Rebecca Review
Twenty Love Poems
Seasons of Love, October 23, 2007
"Clasping my arms like a climbing plant
the leaves garnered your voice, that was slow and at peace.
Bonfire of awe in which my thirst was burning.
Sweet blue hyacinth twisted over my soul."
(from "I Remember You As You Were")
After watching "The Postman" I became interested in
purchasing my first book of Pablo Neruda's poems. Needless to say
I went into the experience with very high expectations.
The poems are awash with nature images and much less erotic than I
expected. Most seem more romantic and at times captivating. They
do demand your full attention as they present vivid images one
after the other and reading the poems more slowly has many
advantages. At times I was surprised by their complexity.
"The moon turns its clockwork dream.
The biggest stars look at me with your eyes.
And as I love you, the pines in the wind
want to sing your name with their leaves of wire."
(from "Here I Love You")
Throughout the book there are illustrations by Pablo Picasso. They
don't really seem to mirror the meanings in the poems and yet they
seem to express the language of the body.
I expected the poems to be less veiled in mystery and more infused
with images of erotic love. Still these poems can be enjoyed for
their passionate intimacy and natural sensuality.
~The Rebecca Review
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