"Neruda's odes, coming as they did after the lyric intensity of" Residencia en la tierra" and the epic sweep of "Canto general," carved out a new field for him and for Latin American poetry. . . . The "Odas elementales" have found a sensitive, sensible translator. "--John Felstiner, Stanford University
The atom, a tuna, laziness, love--the everyday elements and essences of human experience glow in the translucent language of Neruda's odes. Chilean poet Pablo Neruda wrote three books of odes during his lifetime. "Odas elementales" was published in 1954, followed in subsequent years by "Nuevas odas elementales" and "Tercer libro de las odas." Margaret Sayers Peden's selection of odes from all three volumes, printed with the Spanish originals on facing pages, is by far the most extensive yet to appear in English. She vividly conveys the poet's vision of the realities of day-to-day life in her trans-lations, while her brief introduction describes the genesis of the poems.
