Pablo Neruda — Song of Love to Stalingrad (1942)

Pablo Neruda, the emblematic communist Chilean poet and diplomat — one of the 20th century's most influential Latin American cultural figures — was significantly inspired by the heroism of the Soviet people in the Second World War. He was particularly impressed by the brave struggle of the defenders of Stalingrad in a battle that played a decisive role in the outcome of the war. 

In 1942, Pablo Neruda wrote the "Song of Love to Stalingrad" (Canto de Amor a Stalingrado), praising the bravery of the Red Army and the Soviet people. What follows is a English translation of this extroardinary poem:

Who killed Pablo Neruda?

On April 2013, the remains of Chile's Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda had been exhumed in a bid to determine the cause of his death after his assistant alleged he was murdered by Gen Augusto Pinochet's military regime.

Pablo Neruda's bones were interred in the garden of Isla Negra, his beloved beach house on Chile's Pacific coast. He is buried next to his wife and muse, Matilde Urrutia.

Four years later,the investigation into Pablo Neruda's probable cause of death, has found that Chile's most famous poet did not die of prostate cancer. The panel of experts focused on identifying pathogenic bacteria that might have caused his death. Forensic experts told a news conference in the capital Santiago, they were certain Neruda had not been killed by the disease.

Pablo Neruda- Poem for Fidel Castro (Song of Protest)

Poem by Pablo Neruda- Song of Protest.

Pablo Neruda and Mikis Theodorakis "CANTO GENERAL"- Concert in Chile 1993

   

CANTO GENERAL.

Poetry: Pablo Neruda / Music & Conducting: Mikis Theodorakis.

Singers: Arja Saijonmaa, Petros Pandis, Choir.

Teatro Monumental, Santiago de Chile, 23.4.1993.

Pablo Neruda- Ode to Lenin

I

Lenin, to sing to you

I must say farewell to words:

I must write with trees, with wheels,

with plows, with cereals.

You’re concrete

as facts and earth.

There never was

a more earthly man

than V. Ulyanov.