The opening passage is then followed by an account of his childhood, which is equally evocative. Honestly, this passage was probably the only poetical passage that has affected me the most. The sights, the sounds and the feelings are described in such a haunting manner that one cannot help but see, feel or hear every single thing that Neruda describes. I have come out of that landscape, that mud, that silence, to roam, to go singing through the world.” (p. “Anyone who hasn’t been in the Chilean forest doesn’t know this planet. It is, in fact, an apt introduction to Neruda himself as he was the product of that very landscape the starting passage describes: The passage is an apt introduction to Chile and its landscape, or its landscape as Neruda knew it. It is also interesting to note how Neruda begins his life account with a short, poetic passage.

That is why the landscape seems so intrinsic to his region.

And that seems probable because the way he describes it, one really cannot help but think that yes, I have never seen such rain or vegetation. Neruda also describes the rain, the landscape of the region where he lived in his childhood, claiming that it is unlike any other region he has ever seen. He continues like this for much of the first chapter, which is based on his childhood. Neruda begins the Memoirs with a small, yet beautiful and evocative passage about the Chilean forests. These are the major themes of the book and by extension, his life. In his memoirs, Neruda talks about several themes, such as his politics, patriotism/nationalism, communism, socialism, local politics, regional politics, world politics, the literary circles Neruda had moved in, all the writers, poets, editors he met throughout his life. In fact, Neruda began to use poetry as a medium to express his political beliefs, as well as detail the momentous political occurrences happening all around him. A major portion of his Memoirs details his political birth and subsequent political career, which simultaneously influenced his poetry. What one doesn’t know is that Neruda had led an eventful political career as a staunch left-wing politician, first as a Chilean diplomat and then as a parliamentarian, as well as writing numerous poems during that time. Pablo Neruda’s Memoirs, as the name suggests, are about his entire life, literary influences on him.

Neruda memoirs