Neruda - The Heights of Macchu Picchu

In “The Heights of Macchu Picchu” Pablo Neruda drifts in between surreal and physical realms, contemplates and confronts death, only to be reborn in unity with his fellow man.

The Heights of Macchu Picchu is essentially a long poem, written in free verse, consisting of twelve individual cantos, representing the calendar year as well as its seasons. Although each canto has its own flow, tone and style, they all fit in together to form a complete idea. Through the use of metaphor, Neruda accomplishes in transporting the reader into a world where the most common items acquire extraordinary attributes and the metaphysical unites with the concrete.

It is a poem of symbolic death, redemption and resurrection in which the poet himself begins as a lonely voyager and ends with a full commitment to the American indigenous people, their Indian roots, their past, and their future.