Introduction and translation by Margaret Sayers Peden (with the original Spanish on facing pages)

This bilingual edition makes available a substantial selection from the three volumes of Neruda’s Elemental odes, written in the mid 1950s when he was at the height of his powers. In his memoir, Plead guilty to life, Neruda wrote:

‘In Odas elementales I decided to deal with things from their beginnings, from their birth onward. I wanted to describe many things … My intention was to start like a child chewing on its pencil, setting to work on a project about the sun, the blackboard, the clock, or the family. Nothing was to be excluded: walking or flying, I had to touch everything, expressing myself as clearly and freshly as possible.’

Published by Libris in 1991