Pablo Neruda, who could bleed with every word

Nobel laureate poet and revolutionary Pablo Neruda was one of the greatest and most influential writers of the twentieth century. Today, 23 September, marks the 52nd death anniversary of this world-renowned figure. He took his name ‘Pablo Neruda’ from the celebrated artist Pablo Picasso and the eminent Czech writer Jan Neruda.

Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez once described Neruda as “the greatest poet of any language of the twentieth century.” According to Walt Whitman, “He is a great poet, one who can bleed with every word.” Pablo Neruda was precisely that kind of soldier-poet who throughout his life struggled against a dying society staring helplessly at power.

Poet Lorca said about Pablo Neruda, “After the death of Rubén Darío, Pablo Neruda is the most significant poet of the Americas.”

The entirety of Neruda’s literary work embraced the countless oppressed and persecuted people who sacrificed themselves in the struggle for freedom against fascism, or who still fight with their hearts for peace. He was a poet of love, of humanity, of revolution, of socialist consciousness. A fighting soldier, a political leader and a poet for a better world. In every sense he can be called gifted.

Yet ironically, Neruda’s father never wanted his son to become a poet and ruin his education and future scribbling nonsense. His father never lived to see that from that so-called nonsense arose a world poet.

Neruda was killed at the hands of assassins in his own country. Communism was his lifelong vow, and for that very ideal he lost his life. He had spent much of his youth in hiding and exile. He suffered, but his pen never tired. His poetry carried songs of new life; music of protest, hope and assurance. He wrote in green ink, a symbol of boundless hope, youth and conviction. He wrote historical epics, open political manifestos, prose autobiography and poems of love.

At only 13 years of age he first became known as a poet, and until his death poetry remained his companion. Neruda jokingly said that all the intimate dialogues of his life were with poetry itself. Though the Nobel Prize in 1971 brought him global recognition, his international fame had come much earlier.

Without ever taking complete leave from poetry, Neruda carried out many social and political duties during his lifetime. As a diplomat he represented Chile in several countries. He also served a full term as a senator of the Chilean Communist Party. His achievements were recognised with the International Peace Prize in 1950 and the Lenin Peace Prize in 1953.

After Chile’s then president Allende was murdered by Pinochet’s band of brigands, communists and socialists across the country were hunted, punished and exterminated. At that time Neruda, already suffering from cancer, lay in hospital. Five days after the incident, he was brought back home on orders of the new government. That very day a doctor under orders injected something into his stomach, and six hours later he died. He was 69. His crime was that he believed in the inevitable victory of socialism and was one of Allende’s closest and most trusted advisers. Returning to Chile from Stockholm with the Nobel Prize, he had been honoured as a national hero on Allende’s initiative. Before an eager audience of 70,000, he was invited by Allende and other leaders to read from his works.

The death of this living legend naturally created a global stir. President Pinochet did not permit Neruda’s funeral to be held publicly. Even so, thousands of mourning Chileans defied curfew to crowd the streets. The vast gathering spread all the way to the cemetery. Neruda’s funeral became the first mass protest against Chile’s military dictatorship.

Yet his journey did not seem to end. After Neruda’s death, fascist soldiers plundered his two houses. His priceless possessions, his collection of old books, documents, manuscripts, even paintings gifted by Pablo Picasso, were destroyed. Then they opened all the water taps to flood the house so that everything would be washed away. But that attempt failed. From the history of the world, Neruda could not be erased.

Shahadat Hossain Towhid: Young writer