Pablo Neruda

Chilean poet and politician (1904-1973)

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Writers rank#84
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Lived 1904–1973, aged 69

WritersWriter / Author

Wikipedia
129 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1904–1973
Aged 69
Known for
American Roulette
1988

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

A Nobel laureate whose poetry shaped a continent, then a death twelve days after the coup that killed his president — officially cancer, but in 2023 toxicology found botulinum in his teeth.

Biography

About

Born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto in Chile, he was writing poems by thirteen and published Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair at twenty. He took diplomatic posts around the world and joined the Chilean Communist Party, serving as senator until President González Videla outlawed communism in 1948 and issued a warrant for his arrest. Friends hid him for months before he escaped through a mountain pass into Argentina in 1949, staying away more than three years. He became close advisor to socialist president Salvador Allende, served as ambassador to France, and won the Nobel Prize i…

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