A Study Guide for Pablo Neruda's "Heights of Macchu Picchu, The (or just Canto XII of this cycle if there's enough critical material to warrant this)"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Pablo Neruda's "Heights of Macchu Picchu, The (or just Canto XII of this cycle if there's enough critical material to warrant this)," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Sep 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535837262

Book preview

08

The Heights of Macchu Picchu

Pablo Neruda

1946

Introduction

The Heights of Macchu Picchu was written by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda in 1945, following an inspirational trip to the ancient Incan mountaintop fortress of Macchu Picchu in October 1943. This period in time was one of great upheaval for Neruda and for the world. Neruda's first marriage had fallen apart; his daughter, father, and stepmother died within a few years of each other, after Neruda lost a number of friends in the Spanish Civil War. Concerned about Chile, Neruda became involved in politics. He was elected to the Chilean Senate and joined the Communist Party in 1945. That same year, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, devastating many people around the world with this brutal, controversial attack, Neruda included. Neruda first published his long twelve-part poem in Spanish in Revista Nacional de Cultura in 1946. The Heights of Macchu Picchu later became a key section in his book-length work, Canto General (1950). Additionally, a bilingual edition of The Heights of Macchu Picchu, translated by Nathaniel Tarn, and first published in 1967, is available from publisher Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

In The Heights of Macchu Picchu, Neruda addresses mythology, memory, hardship, and community. His communist beliefs color a world of majestic indigenous architecture and the anguish of an enslaved people. Through The Heights of Macchu Picchu, Neruda seeks to give voice to the voiceless and deliver the glory of their work back into their own hands. He reaches back in time for truths about today, making this more than just a poem about ancient history.

Author Biography

Pablo Neruda was born Ricardo Eliecer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto on July 12, 1904, in Parral, Chile, to José del Carmen Reyes Morales, a railway worker, and Rosa Basoalto, a schoolteacher. Neruda's mother died when he was two months old. He instead grew