Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda was the pseudonym of Chilean poet Ricardo Neftali Reyes Basualto. He was born in Parral, a little town in central Chile, but his family moved to Temuco City when he was just a few months old. It was there he showed interest in poetry and made his early works, and where he picked "Pablo Neruda" as a pseudonym because his father did not approve of his writing. Neruda He is considered one of the greatest Spanish-language poets of the 20th century. He is called "The Poet of Love" because his poetry is sensual and sometimes very erotic. He was the honorary Chilean consul in Burma, Ceylon, Java, Singapore, Buenos Aires, Barcelona and Madrid. In 1943 he returned to Chile but left in 1949 because Chilean President Gabriel Gonzalez Videla was after him for political reasons. From 1949-52 he lived in exile in different European countries. He was also known as an outspoken Communist. he died in Santiago, Chile, a few days after the military coup in which his friend Salvador Allende, the first socialist to have been democratically elected in Latin America, was toppled and later murdered.