Product Description

Pablo Neruda wrote the poems in "Los versos del capitan" as a celebration of his love for his third wife, Matilde Urrutia - a love affair that is itself celebrated in the acclaimed film "Il Postino". Originally published anonymously in 1952 to spare his second wife's feelings, this bilingual edition is the book's first publication in Britain. Brian Cole's translations display all the qualities of vivid imagery, sensuousness, simplicity and passion for which Neruda's poetry is famous.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #188353 in Books
• Published on: 1994-08-25
• Original language: Spanish
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Review
`These are love letters as much as poems' --Roger Garfitt, Poetry Review

From the Author
A classic poetry book in a masterful bilingual edition
Long before he received the 1971 Nobel Prize, Pablo Neruda has attained worldwide recognition as one of the most important figures in contemporary poetry. A fiery poet of leftist politics, he was also a fiery poet of love. This translation of "The Captain's Verses" is a major achievement in the genre of love poetry. Neruda originally published the book anonymously, some years before he married Matilde Urrutia, to whom he had address these poems of passionate devotion as well as love's quarrel's. The first "acknowledged" edition appeared in 1963. In this collection, the Chilean poet's brilliant images are expressed with remarkable directness and simplicity. Donald D. Walsh's translations are presented with the original Spanish verse en face.

About the Author
Pablo Neruda (1904-73) was born in Parral, Chile. He published his first book of poems in Santiago in 1921. From 1927 to 1945 he served as Chilean consul in Rangoon, Java and Barcelona. Much influenced by events in the Spanish Civil War, he joined the Communist Party after World War Two. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, while serving as Chilean ambassador to Paris. He died shortly after the coup in Chile which ousted Salvador Allende in 1973.

Brian Cole studied French and German at the Queen's College, Oxford in the 1950s. He has worked as an executive for multinational companies.

Customer Reviews

the heart of Neruda
This is a fabulous dual-language collection of some of the most sensual, passionate poems written in modern times. Whether he imagines himself as an insect making a journey "from your hips to your feet", traveling to distant places with his beloved by his side, or as a soldier who must leave but whose love will "go on singing until the end of life", Neruda writes with exquisite simplicity, and great beauty.

I find this to be the most accessible of Neruda's books that I have read, perhaps because its subject was a central part of his life. As explained in the introduction of the book, these poems are autobiographical, and written about his wife, Matilde Urrutia. First published anonymously in 1952, they were released in 1963 under his own name, but only after much thought, because of their "intimate birth".
The translations by Donald D. Walsh are superb. He has captured the fluid rhythm, the emotion, and the fire.

He was fortunate to have had this remarkable relationship, as well as the ability to express his feelings with such uncommon depth, but for those men who lack Neruda's poetic genius, and who would like to melt the heart of the woman they love, this might be the perfect gift to go along with that bunch of flowers.

Rapture and Pathos brought alive
I picked up this book, never having read Neruda before, and expecting quite good poetry. I had to stop reading, after several poems; Pablo Neruda's love poetry was so intensely powerful that it overwhelmed my senses. He wrote brilliantly and passionately of the feelings of his soul, at once enthralling yet brutally candid. You suffered along him, you loved the woman he loved. The verses he wrote express the ineffable and indescribable. And the earthly images he creates are potent, almost too potent. His poetry fills your senses and enwraps your soul.

Probably the most moving words I have had the joy to read.
From the first words to the last, I found this the most astonishing of works. Neruda captures the true essence of intense feeling. He brings your heart up to the heights and then pulls you down. Such power and passion. A true geneous. If you want a book that moves you, get his.