Parvathy 1214231

Pablo Neruda [1904-1973]

The  poem “Discoverers of Chile” from the CANTO GENERAL [1950] by Pablo Neruda

“Discoverers of Chile” is taken from Canto General, Neruda’s most important work. First, it was conceived as Canto General of Chile and later became the general song of America, i.e., Canto General. The new practice of addressing to an audience, communicating with a group of people becomes more specific in Canto General, a collection of poems that are often called epic poems of Chile. Published in 1950 and divided into fifteen sections, these poems tells the tale of Latin American people. Songs of Canto General were composed over twelve years, which are also considered years of militant Neruda. Many sections of Canto General are dedicated to workers and peasants whose homes and experiences the poet had shared so many times. While reading these poems one feels that these are the people who are lending their voice to his poetry. Through these poems Neruda explains how his people were oppressed and exploited first by the conquerors and then by the dictators, the collection ends with an autobiographical account of the poet himself.

"Discoverers of Chile" describe the destruction and violence unleashed by the colonisers. In the part entitled "Betrayed Sand" he writes against the dictators, especially Gonzalez Videla, the oligarchies, the advocates of the dollar, the exploiters, the United Fruit Company, the Standard oil Co., diplomats and heavenly poets, In “Discoverers of Chile”, Neruda starts with the history of the Spanish settlers in Chile, enamoured as they were by the tales of richness and of wealth. It marks Neruda’s return to his native land..This poem is the beginning of Neruda’s American genesis and this cultivates in his visit to Machu Pichu. This poem is a “first clear stirring of an allegiance that for the rest of Neruda’s life would never be far from his poetry”. According to John Felstiner, “The war on Spanish soil tightened his bond to Chile. One affiliation prepared the next. While stilled gripped by Spain, Neruda more and more felt the need, as he said in 1938, to reach and touch “my true soil”. This poem appears in Canto General where Neruda celebrates the mysteries of South America, its flora and fauna, and gazes with wonder at an antique civilization that really belongs to pre-Columbian days. It is a continuous Eurocentric history that is only displaced by the myth of creation, where an eagle drops a strip of land in the sea and the country is born. Neruda describes his country in its actual physical form, in tellingly simple phrases such as ‘my thin country’ and ‘silence lies in its long line’. This contains a veiled suggestion of people that could not hold out against the powerful invaders and so were compelled to merge their own history and culture with that of the masters. For him, there is never a conflict between Spain and Chile, Spain’s social and political crisis clarified Neruda’s voice and turned it directly towards the people of his own native land.

Spanish colonization over Chile can be defined as settler colonization, wherein the colonizers mingle with the colonized and the dichotomy between the two cultures is blurred. The conquistadors took it on themselves to be a part of the establishment and not demean the status of the colonized. They shared culture, language and became one with the residents of their colony. This is one of the reasons why Neruda’s poetry does not comprise of any hatred towards Spain. There is no hostility towards the colonizers of any kind. Neruda sees himself as an embodiment of the Spanish culture, as “the poet of violated human dignity who brings alive a continent’s destiny and dreams” According to Jaime Alazraki, “Neruda is not merely chronicling historical events but re-interpreting them with a definite outlook of history. He’s looking back at American pre-history and examining the land’s rich, natural heritage”.