Mistral vs. Neruda

Needless to mention that both Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda were recognized for their artistic literature and both won Nobel Prizes. Both Chilean poets, Gabriela Marquez received her recognition in 1945 for the work of her many poems and other writing. On the other hand, Pablo Neruda claimed his Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971, 16 years after Mistral.

Both authors share common ground. For one, they were both born in Chile and they were both highly recognized for their talent in writing. At one point, it is apparent that Gabriela Mistral taught Pablo Neruda in school. As I’ve read and researched, Neruda was too shy to show any of his work to Mistral.

One difference that both authors demonstrate in their writing, is the emotion and passion that the words reflect. For example, Neruda appears so passionate when he writes his love poems. It feels as if he has poured out his heart into his words on the page and they transpire so much greater meaning than the reader can interpret. I find that in Mistral’s writing, she is not as passionate as Neruda is. Oddly, you would think that the female would have more emotion in her writing but this is not the truth. Moreover, Pablo Neruda and Gabriel Mistral do share some common elements. For example, they both write about women – in different ways, but they do.

Neruda discusses the love that he has for women in his poems. We as readers do not know if he is referencing one woman alone or if he is talking about all women in general but it appears that with the depth of his writing he may be talking about one women – the love of his life. In Gabriela Mistral’s writing, she describes more than one woman. She characterizes them differently by naming each poem. Gabriela Mistral is more descriptive in who she is writing about in her work. She attaches a name to each figure where Neruda does not.

Another difference between the two authors is that Gabriela Mistral focuses a lot of her work on naturalism, feminism where Neruda is so focused on the passionate women he describes the body a lot. He goes into detail about what the figures look like, what they wear, what color they are, etc etc. There is a more simplistic form that Mistral writes with. Pablo Neruda, although young writes with fire and flame. He is extremely entertaining in his works, much more so than Gabriela Mistral.