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Chris Foertch, senior accounting major reacts to an idea composed by the group for a poem during the Ode to Pablo Neruda in Kansas Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Students write poems to better understand the life of Pablo Neruda

By: Kristina Peters/staff reporter

Posted: 9/22/05

Pablo Neruda was a writer and poet who helped bring a face to the Latino community.

"He is one of the most famous writers in Latin literature," said Carlos Amaya, an assistant foreign language professor.

A literary and interactive presentation about Pablo Neruda was given at 3 p.m. Wednesday in honor of Latino Heritage Month. Approximately 20 people arrived to listen to Amaya and Kristin Routt, who is also from the foreign languages department, talk about the life and poetry of Neruda.

In 1971, Neruda won the Nobel Prize in Literature "for a poetry that, with the action of an elemental force, brings alive a continent's destiny and dreams." Neruda accomplished this just before he died.

After the audience learned a little about Neruda's life and the poems he wrote, they got into groups to write their own poems from a choice of many beverages.

Poems were written about lemonade, milk, beer and coffee.

"It helps us understand the artist and his poems better," said Perry Hunt, a junior art major.

Volunteers read their poems and received a free Latino Heritage cup or T-shirt for doing so.

"I was impressed with the nice images that were made," Routt said.

Neruda wrote many books of poetry throughout his life. However, he was not just a writer. At the age of 23, Neruda became consul to Chile. He was later sent into exile where he wrote in a dairy that was later published, Amaya said.

He wrote many odes about people and the simplest objects of everyday life. He took objects such as onions, bees, artichokes and wine and made them intricate and interesting, Amaya said.

"I think his odes are brilliant," Routt said. "He takes an onion and makes it beautiful."

Amaya read Neruda's odes in Spanish, but gave the audience an English translation.

"I enjoyed hearing it read in Spanish," said Shealyn Royse, a junior elementary education major. "It brought the poems to life."

Neruda was unlike any other writer in his time; most writers were from the higher class, but Neruda was not and he was proud of that, Amaya said.