Which Chilean poet wrote 'Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair'?

Pablo Neruda wrote the poetry collection Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair.

Published in Chile in June 1924, the Spanish-language collection was titled Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada. It helped make Neruda famous when he was only 19 and remains his best-known book. The volume contains twenty love poems followed by a final poem, “The Song of Despair”; most of the individual poems have no titles.

Although the poems draw on Neruda’s youthful romantic experiences, the beloved is not simply one identifiable woman. Neruda combines memories and images to create a poetic figure. The collection is often associated with passionate, direct language and youthful longing, while its structure also reflects the transition from modernist poetic conventions toward a more personal style. Chilean poets Gabriela Mistral, Vicente Huidobro, and Nicanor Parra were influential figures in their own right, but Neruda is the author of this particular volume.