Twenty love poems and a song of despair

Pablo Neruda was probably the greatest and certainly the most prolific of twentieth-century Latin American poets. This, his third collection, Veinte Poemas de Amor y una Cancion Desesperada, or, Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, was first published in 1924 and attracted international acclaim. Still adored the world over, the collection is ambitiously metaphorical and sensuous.

Inspired by Neruda's own personal relationships and injected with an expressive eroticism, Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair is evidence of a genius poet at work.