Cesar Vallejo

[E.A Rumfield]

I recently purchased the selected poetry of Neruda and Vallejo. Vallejo writing is highly moving. The edition I bought wasn't so dense but it seemed to cover the bases. Would anyone recommend a more encompassing edition? Also what are you favorite poems?

Masses

When the battle was over,
and the fighter was dead, a man came toward him
and said to him: "Do not die; I love you so!"
But the corpse, it was sad!, went on dying.

And two came near, and told him again and again:
"Do not leave us! Courage! Return to life!"
But the corpse, it was sad!, went on dying.

Twenty arrived, a hundred, a thousand, five hundred thousand,
shouting: "So much love, and it can do nothing against death!"
But the corpse, it was sad!, went on dying.

Millions of persons stood around him,
all speaking the same thing: "Stay here, brother!"
But the corpse, it was sad!, went on dying.

Then all the men on the earth
stood around him; the corpse looked at them sadly, deeply moved;
he sat up slowly,
put his arms around the first man; started to walk...


I Am Going To Speak Of Hope

I do not feel this suffering as Cesar Vallejo. I am not suffering now as a creative person, or as a man, nor even as a simple living being. I don't feel this pain as a Catholic, or as a Mohammedan, or as an atheist. Today I am simply in pain.

If my name weren't Cesar Vallejo, I'd still feel it. If I weren't an artist, I'd still feel it. If I weren't a man, or even a living being, I'd still feel it. If I weren't a Catholic, or an atheist, or a Mohammedan, I'd still feel it. Today I am in pain from further down. Today I am simply in pain. The pain I have has no explanations. My pain is so deep that it never had a cause, and has no need of a cause. What could have its cause been? Where is that thing so important that it stopped being its cause? Its cause is nothing, and nothing could have stopped being its cause. Why has this pain been born all on its own? My pain comes from the north wind and and from the south wind, like those hermaphrodite eggs that some rare birds lay conceived of the wind. If my bride were dead, my suffering would still be the same. If they had slashed my throat all the way through, my suffering would still be the same. If life, in other words, were different, my suffering would still be the same. Today I'm in pain from higher up. Today I am simply in pain.

I look at the hungry man's pain, and I see that his hunger walks somewhere so far from my pain that if I fasted until death, one blade of grass at least would always sprout from my grave. And the same with the lover! His blood is too fertile for mine, which has no source and no one to drink it.

I always believed up till now that all things in the world had to be either fathers or sons. But here is my pain that is neither a father nor a son. It hasn't any back to get dark, and it has too bold a front for dawning, and if they put it into some dark room, it wouldn't give light, and if they put it into some brightly lit room, it wouldn't cast a shadow. Today I am in pain, no matter what happens. Today I am simply in pain.

[stlukesguild]

I'm going to assume that this is the edition you are speaking of:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51f6BVBlYVL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

I have the Penguin translation of the Selected Poems of César Vallejo...

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51w%2B0zVbvpL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

And the classic translation of the Complete Posthumous Poems...

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FBKBSG0TL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

There is also a highly acclaimed translation of the Complete Poetry:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51woM46e9NL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Neruda is quite possibly the finest poet of the 20th century... certainly the finest Spanish-language poet. Whatever Bly offers only scrapes the surface. I would recommend focusing upon the various individual volumes of Neruda's poems, including:

Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41VSH51HT7L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

The Captain's Verses:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51k7F4Ygg3L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Residence on Earth:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51IXEdeOsVL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Canto General:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51b2h4QMd%2BL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

The Book of Questions:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41YOmTeGEtL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

100 Love Sonnets:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41QQR0aJnwL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Still Another Day:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51fAZpX-hCL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

and World's End:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ZxwIRitXL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Among the anthologies, there is much to recommend Stephen Mitchell's Full Woman, Fleshly Apple, Hot Moon:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41jNtmvfAAL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

and this rather sizable edition featuring translations by a number of poet/translators:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51wzZQkP6IL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

It's sort of interesting that you would be drawn to Neruda and Vallejo... considering your dismissal of T.S. Eliot. Neither poet is incredibly "easy" and both build upon some of the same traditions as Eliot. Neruda certainly owes much... as does Eliot to Walt Whitman... as well as to the Spanish tradition of an almost Surreal use of metaphor rooted in French Symbolism (among other sources). Vallejo can be one of the most challenging poets. As the entry in Wiki suggests:

"Vallejo's book takes language to a radical extreme, inventing words, stretching syntax, using automatic writing and other techniques now known as "surrealist" (though he did this before the Surrealist movement began). The book put Latin America at the center of the Avant-garde. Like James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, Trilce borders on inaccessibility."

Seriously... if you like Vallejo and Neruda, you should probably also explore Federico Garcia-Lorca, Antonio Machado, Miguel Hernandez, Vicente Aleixandre, Jorge Guillen, Rafael Alberti, Fernando Pessoa, and Octavio Paz... as well as Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire, Les Chants de Maldoror by the Comte de Lautréamont, My Sister, Life by Boris Pasternak... and certainly Ranier Maria Rilke. You might find you'll end up tossing Bukowski in the trash.

[cafolini]

I'm going to assume that this is the edition you are speaking of:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51f6BVBlYVL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

I have the Penguin translation of the Selected Poems of César Vallejo...

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51w%2B0zVbvpL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

And the classic translation of the Complete Posthumous Poems...

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FBKBSG0TL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

There is also a highly acclaimed translation of the Complete Poetry:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51woM46e9NL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Neruda is quite possibly the finest poet of the 20th century... certainly the finest Spanish-language poet. Whatever Bly offers only scrapes the surface. I would recommend focusing upon the various individual volumes of Neruda's poems, including:

Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41VSH51HT7L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

The Captain's Verses:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51k7F4Ygg3L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Residence on Earth:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51IXEdeOsVL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Canto General:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51b2h4QMd%2BL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

The Book of Questions:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41YOmTeGEtL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

100 Love Sonnets:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41QQR0aJnwL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Still Another Day:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51fAZpX-hCL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

and World's End:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ZxwIRitXL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Among the anthologies, there is much to recommend Stephen Mitchell's Full Woman, Fleshly Apple, Hot Moon:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41jNtmvfAAL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

and this rather sizable edition featuring translations by a number of poet/translators:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51wzZQkP6IL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

It's sort of interesting that you would be drawn to Neruda and Vallejo... considering your dismissal of T.S. Eliot. Neither poet is incredibly "easy" and both build upon some of the same traditions as Eliot. Neruda certainly owes much... as does Eliot to Walt Whitman... as well as to the Spanish tradition of an almost Surreal use of metaphor rooted in French Symbolism (among other sources). Vallejo can be one of the most challenging poets. As the entry in Wiki suggests:

"Vallejo's book takes language to a radical extreme, inventing words, stretching syntax, using automatic writing and other techniques now known as "surrealist" (though he did this before the Surrealist movement began). The book put Latin America at the center of the Avant-garde. Like James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, Trilce borders on inaccessibility."

Seriously... if you like Vallejo and Neruda, you should probably also explore Federico Garcia-Lorca, Antonio Machado, Miguel Hernandez, Vicente Aleixandre, Jorge Guillen, Rafael Alberti, Fernando Pessoa, and Octavio Paz... as well as Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire, Les Chants de Maldoror by the Comte de Lautréamont, My Sister, Life by Boris Pasternak... and certainly Ranier Maria Rilke. You might find you'll end up tossing Bukowski in the trash.

It is also important to read the fascist thesis of Ortega & Gasset, written around 1930. It explains to the letter the fascism with which Franco founght and won the civil war. Ortega & Gasset is the last Spanish philosopher outside of the museum. I could quote him, but I think you should benefit from the research and see Vallejo within that context.

[E.A Rumfield]

I'm going to assume that this is the edition you are speaking of:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51f6BVBlYVL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

I have the Penguin translation of the Selected Poems of César Vallejo...

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51w%2B0zVbvpL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

And the classic translation of the Complete Posthumous Poems...

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FBKBSG0TL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

There is also a highly acclaimed translation of the Complete Poetry:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51woM46e9NL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Neruda is quite possibly the finest poet of the 20th century... certainly the finest Spanish-language poet. Whatever Bly offers only scrapes the surface. I would recommend focusing upon the various individual volumes of Neruda's poems, including:

Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41VSH51HT7L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

The Captain's Verses:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51k7F4Ygg3L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Residence on Earth:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51IXEdeOsVL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Canto General:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51b2h4QMd%2BL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

The Book of Questions:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41YOmTeGEtL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

100 Love Sonnets:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41QQR0aJnwL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Still Another Day:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51fAZpX-hCL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

and World's End:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ZxwIRitXL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Among the anthologies, there is much to recommend Stephen Mitchell's Full Woman, Fleshly Apple, Hot Moon:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41jNtmvfAAL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

and this rather sizable edition featuring translations by a number of poet/translators:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51wzZQkP6IL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

It's sort of interesting that you would be drawn to Neruda and Vallejo... considering your dismissal of T.S. Eliot. Neither poet is incredibly "easy" and both build upon some of the same traditions as Eliot. Neruda certainly owes much... as does Eliot to Walt Whitman... as well as to the Spanish tradition of an almost Surreal use of metaphor rooted in French Symbolism (among other sources). Vallejo can be one of the most challenging poets. As the entry in Wiki suggests:

"Vallejo's book takes language to a radical extreme, inventing words, stretching syntax, using automatic writing and other techniques now known as "surrealist" (though he did this before the Surrealist movement began). The book put Latin America at the center of the Avant-garde. Like James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, Trilce borders on inaccessibility."

Seriously... if you like Vallejo and Neruda, you should probably also explore Federico Garcia-Lorca, Antonio Machado, Miguel Hernandez, Vicente Aleixandre, Jorge Guillen, Rafael Alberti, Fernando Pessoa, and Octavio Paz... as well as Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire, Les Chants de Maldoror by the Comte de Lautréamont, My Sister, Life by Boris Pasternak... and certainly Ranier Maria Rilke. You might find you'll end up tossing Bukowski in the trash.

I'm reading Rimbaud' complete collection, at times I find him very bright but I times I think he is missing something. Vallejo' head wasn't up his own *** like Eliot. I don't think Eliot had anything to say. It was all an elaborate trick, like a fancy maze that leads you nowhere. Vallejo had substance not just exceptional form. Substance is the most important thing to consider a writer for. Does he have something to say, is it universal? Vallejo poems were very moving. I would place Vallejo above Neruda in my opinion. Rilke I was not really a fan of. Lorca is interesting. I've been reading some Paz. I'm actually pretty well read besides my admiration of Bukowski. I'll check out some of the other writers you mentioned.

[stlukesguild]

I'm reading Rimbaud' complete collection, at times I find him very bright but I times I think he is missing something.

What translation of Rimbaud are you familiar with? There's a new fine translation by Wyatt Mason that I'd recommend... but the best is probably that by Louise Varese of A Season in Hell and Illuminations. I suspect that your preference for "content"... "serious" subject matter over form would make it difficult to appreciate many of the late 19th early 20th poets. Eliot, it would seem, is simply a blind spot for you... because in all reality his poetry is some of the most "serious" in terms of content.

Considering the works you seem to like, check out Federico Garcia-Lorca's Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias and his The Poet in New York. Look into Octavio Paz' Sunstone, and Mark Strand's translations of Alberti.

[E.A Rumfield]

The translation is by Paul Schmidt. I believe his translations are considered more artistic or better capturing the true essence of what Rimbaud was saying.

[bluosean]

Ruben Dario (1867-1916) owes a great debt to a few French poets. He also greatly admired Whitman and he liked Swinburne. This is true of many great Latin American poets (as has already been said of Neruda). But besides the French, Italian, English, and American poets, I think Latin American poets were inspired, and borrowed the most, from poets in their own language. At any rate, if you like Vallejo, you may like Dario as well. Dario was a great influence on Vallejo's poetry. Vallejo and Dario are two of my favorite poets.