Pablo Neruda is probably the the most influential Latin American poet of our time. He was born in Chile on July 12, 1904 and died on September 23, 1973.
Neruda wrote in different styles including love poems like his famous collection Twenty Poems of Love and a Song of Despair, wrote it when we was nineteen. Twenty Poems was controversial for its eroticism, especially considering his very young age. Over the decades, Twenty Poems has become Neruda's best-known work, and has sold more than a million copies and translated into many languages.
In 1971 Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature. The Gabo called him "the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language."
Neruda used to wrote in green ink because he considered it the color of hope.
Here's one of his Twenty Poems of Love...
Tonight I can write the most sorrowful lines.
I can write, for example: "The night is star-filled
and the blue stars are shivering in the distance."
The night wind turns in the sky and sings.
Tonight I can write the most sorrowful lines.
I loved her then, and sometimes she loved me back.
Through nights like tonight I held her in my arms.
I kissed her and kissed her under endless skies.
She loved me then, and sometimes I loved her back.
How could I not love her giant, still eyes?
Tonight I can write the most sorrowful lines.
I can think I'm not holding her. I can regret that I lost her.
I can hear the vast night, still vaster without her.
And the words settle on my soul like dew on the pasture.
It doesn't matter that my love couldn't keep her.
The night is star-filled and she is not with me.
That's all that matters. Someone is singing far away. Far away.
My soul cannot be content, because I have lost her.
As if they could bring her near, my eyes try to find her.
My heart searches for her, and she is not with me.
The same nightfall whitening the same trees.
But we have both changed so much since that night.
Surely I no longer love her, but how I once loved her.
My voice sought the wind to touch her hearing.
Another's. She will be another's. As before I had kissed her.
Her voice, her pale body. Her endless eyes.
Surely I no longer love her, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short; memories last so long.
Because through nights like tonight I held her in my arms,
my soul cannot be content, because I have lost her.
Even if this is the last pain she makes me suffer,
and this is the last poem that I write for her.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Venezuela's Identity
I want to share what makes unique and distinguish my native country, my beloved Venezuela. I understand there are different perceptions among my peers about what we consider makes beautiful our country, however, in my opinion the following songs may make a consensus among us about the Venezuela's identity.
First, let me explain you the meaning of Venezuela. This name comes from “The Little Venice”. According to the history, during one of the trips of Alonso de Ojeda and Americo Vespucio in 1499 across the northern shores of South America, they landed in the Gulf of Venezuela and they founded some native towns in which they houses were built over wooden pilots projected from the water, the palafitos, from the Spanish word. To Vespucio, this kind of houses resembled to those found in Venice Italy, and therefore, Vespucio named that placed “The Little Venice” and later, this term was used all across the country. Probably, the popularity of this name in Europe was as a consequence of the Welsers business house, whom made several explorations to this country. The name “Klein Venice” appears in several documents and historical maps as a translation to the German of Venezuela. Ricardo Montaner, one of the most famous singer from Venezuela, composed a modern song titled “The Little Venice” a deep inspiring description of Venezuela. A video of this song can be found here:
Looking deeper in the Venezuelan culture, there is another song composed to Venezuela named “The Venezuelan Song”. This one represents the third emblematic song of my country and I could say that this song, or maybe this poem, make vibrates every Venezuelan whenever we listen to it. On it, it describes the beauty of Venezuela, its landscapes, its beaches, and its personality.
Venezuelan Song
English Translation
I carry your light and your aroma in my skin
and the cuatro in my heart,
I carry in my blood the foam of the sea
and your horizon in my eyes...
I envy not the flight nor the nest to the troupial,
I am like the wind in the grain
I feel the Caribbean like [it was] a woman
I am like this, what I am going to do
I am desert, jungle, snow, and volcano
and where I go I leave in my wake
the rumor of the plains in a song
that unravels me...
The woman that I want has to be
[of] heart, fire, and spur
with her skin tanned like a flower
of Venezuela...
With your landscape and my dreams I will go
through those worlds of God
and your memories in the twilight
will shorten my journey...
My childhood was left in your beaches
laid out in the wind and sun
and that nostalgia which rises up to my voice
without wanting to, became song...
From the mountains I want their immensity
and from the river its colors
and from you the children who will sow
new stars...
And if one day I must be shipwrecked
and the typhoon breaks my sails
bury my body near the sea
in Venezuela
"Alma Llanera" is the country's second national anthem, a song that pays homage to the wide open plains of the Llanos and the importance of "musica llanera" to Venezuela's cultural identity. Different singer such as Julio Iglesias and Placido Domingo had performed this song. In the following video, Simon Diaz, the most notorious folk singer and composer performs “Alma Llanera”
First, let me explain you the meaning of Venezuela. This name comes from “The Little Venice”. According to the history, during one of the trips of Alonso de Ojeda and Americo Vespucio in 1499 across the northern shores of South America, they landed in the Gulf of Venezuela and they founded some native towns in which they houses were built over wooden pilots projected from the water, the palafitos, from the Spanish word. To Vespucio, this kind of houses resembled to those found in Venice Italy, and therefore, Vespucio named that placed “The Little Venice” and later, this term was used all across the country. Probably, the popularity of this name in Europe was as a consequence of the Welsers business house, whom made several explorations to this country. The name “Klein Venice” appears in several documents and historical maps as a translation to the German of Venezuela. Ricardo Montaner, one of the most famous singer from Venezuela, composed a modern song titled “The Little Venice” a deep inspiring description of Venezuela. A video of this song can be found here:
Looking deeper in the Venezuelan culture, there is another song composed to Venezuela named “The Venezuelan Song”. This one represents the third emblematic song of my country and I could say that this song, or maybe this poem, make vibrates every Venezuelan whenever we listen to it. On it, it describes the beauty of Venezuela, its landscapes, its beaches, and its personality.
Venezuelan Song
English Translation
I carry your light and your aroma in my skin
and the cuatro in my heart,
I carry in my blood the foam of the sea
and your horizon in my eyes...
I envy not the flight nor the nest to the troupial,
I am like the wind in the grain
I feel the Caribbean like [it was] a woman
I am like this, what I am going to do
I am desert, jungle, snow, and volcano
and where I go I leave in my wake
the rumor of the plains in a song
that unravels me...
The woman that I want has to be
[of] heart, fire, and spur
with her skin tanned like a flower
of Venezuela...
With your landscape and my dreams I will go
through those worlds of God
and your memories in the twilight
will shorten my journey...
My childhood was left in your beaches
laid out in the wind and sun
and that nostalgia which rises up to my voice
without wanting to, became song...
From the mountains I want their immensity
and from the river its colors
and from you the children who will sow
new stars...
And if one day I must be shipwrecked
and the typhoon breaks my sails
bury my body near the sea
in Venezuela
"Alma Llanera" is the country's second national anthem, a song that pays homage to the wide open plains of the Llanos and the importance of "musica llanera" to Venezuela's cultural identity. Different singer such as Julio Iglesias and Placido Domingo had performed this song. In the following video, Simon Diaz, the most notorious folk singer and composer performs “Alma Llanera”
Monday, September 13, 2010
El Gabo
This letter was written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982. I am very proud of this Colombian writer. He has inspired generations!!!
I believe we shouldn't wait until certain age to appreciate any moment
in our lives.
If for a moment God would forget that I am a rag doll, and give me a piece of life, may not say everything I think, but ultimately think everything I say. I would value things not for their worth, but what they mean. I would sleep little, dream more, understanding that for each minute we close our eyes,lose sixty seconds of light.I would walk when others hold back, awake when others sleep, listen when others talk, and How to enjoy a good chocolate ice cream ...! If God give me a piece of life, dress simply, throw me face first into the sun, exposing not only my body but my soul.My God, if I had a heart .... write my hate on ice, and wait for sunrise. Paint with a Van Gogh dream of the stars on a poem by Benedetti, and a Serrat song would be the serenade I'd offer to the moon.With my tears I would water roses, to feel the pain of their thorn sand the incarnated kiss of their petals ...My God, if I had a piece of life ... would not let a day pass without telling the people I love, I love her. Convince each woman that she is my favorite and I would live in love with love. A would show men how wrong they are to think that they cease to love they age, not knowing that they grow old when they cease to love. To a child I would give wings, but let him learn to fly. In the old, my parents, teach them that death does not come with old age but with forgetting. I have learned so much from you men .....I've learned that everyone wants to live at the top of the mountain,without knowing that true happiness lies in the way up the slope. I learned that when a newborn child squeezes his tiny fist for the first time the finger of his father, he has him trapped forever. I learned that a man is only entitled to look to another man down when he has to help him up. So many things I have learned from you, but ultimately will not serve much because when I keep them within this suitcase,unfortunately I will be dying ...."
I believe we shouldn't wait until certain age to appreciate any moment
in our lives.
If for a moment God would forget that I am a rag doll, and give me a piece of life, may not say everything I think, but ultimately think everything I say. I would value things not for their worth, but what they mean. I would sleep little, dream more, understanding that for each minute we close our eyes,lose sixty seconds of light.I would walk when others hold back, awake when others sleep, listen when others talk, and How to enjoy a good chocolate ice cream ...! If God give me a piece of life, dress simply, throw me face first into the sun, exposing not only my body but my soul.My God, if I had a heart .... write my hate on ice, and wait for sunrise. Paint with a Van Gogh dream of the stars on a poem by Benedetti, and a Serrat song would be the serenade I'd offer to the moon.With my tears I would water roses, to feel the pain of their thorn sand the incarnated kiss of their petals ...My God, if I had a piece of life ... would not let a day pass without telling the people I love, I love her. Convince each woman that she is my favorite and I would live in love with love. A would show men how wrong they are to think that they cease to love they age, not knowing that they grow old when they cease to love. To a child I would give wings, but let him learn to fly. In the old, my parents, teach them that death does not come with old age but with forgetting. I have learned so much from you men .....I've learned that everyone wants to live at the top of the mountain,without knowing that true happiness lies in the way up the slope. I learned that when a newborn child squeezes his tiny fist for the first time the finger of his father, he has him trapped forever. I learned that a man is only entitled to look to another man down when he has to help him up. So many things I have learned from you, but ultimately will not serve much because when I keep them within this suitcase,unfortunately I will be dying ...."
Starting
Hello peers,
Regardless my creative skills, I think it is an outstanding suggestion from Sarah to begin our own blog!!!
Let's share together our deep perception of this culture!
Andry
Regardless my creative skills, I think it is an outstanding suggestion from Sarah to begin our own blog!!!
Let's share together our deep perception of this culture!
Andry
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