Review: All the Odes (Bilingual Edition), Pablo Neruda edited by Ilan Stavans

All the Odes (Bilingual Edition), Pablo Neruda edited by Ilan Stavans
First line: Pablo Neruda wrote 225 odes.

Since today is Pablo Neruda's birthday, I thought I'd recommend this beautiful book.

If you love Pablo Neruda or his odes (or both), you need this giant book on your bookshelf.

What I love about it? The English translation is on the SAME PAGE as the original Spanish ode. It's perfect.

n his late 40's, Pablo Neruda began writing an ode a week. Every ode is now included in this collection.  If you haven't read his odes, they are short-lined, and deal with so many topics from seagulls to couples to sun to a train in China to the atom to typography to... (you get the idea).

I think this book is a great resource for poets in that it includes so many diverse topics.

All the poems are in alphabetical order, so it's easy to find an ode as needed. And if you haven't read his odes, they are accessible, so this is a lovely book to give as a gift to anyone who is a reader.

I also love how it allows you into these years of Pablo's life, where he is writing and appreciating and not appreciating and yes, bringing the romance into some of these (as in Ode to Her Scent).

But gems throughout. This book will be thoroughly underlined.



~ Kells
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