The Heights of Macchu Picchu

Inspired by Pablo Neruda’s journey to Machu Picchu, the Peruvian Inca city in the Andes, The Heights of Macchu Picchu is Neruda’s most famous longer poems.

The version of this poem has Spanish on one side and English on the other - mostly so you can compare the two if you’re able to read both languages. I only speak English and only know a few words in Spanish, so this wasn’t something I was able to take advantage of. But, I’m not doubting Nathaniel Tarn’s translation and believe he did the translation as true as he could.

This long poem, broken up into 11 sections, is all about life, death, and the history of Machu Picchu through the thoughts and questions of Neruda as he visits. You read about the emotions he goes through - show more from Sections II - V it’s a lot about his thoughts of death and how tired he is of the human world. Then, in Section VI, we get to Machu Picchu and he marvels at how amazing it is and how spectacular it could have been at its prime. But, we go back to sadder sections as Neruda discusses how there’s no living memory of the lives of the Ancient Incans at Machu Picchu, especially since the Incan’s had more oral history than written. He asks the river for its history in Section VIII, and then in Section X askes Machu Picchu itself its history, especially those of the slaves and poor who most likely built and made the location what it was. He calls out to the dead to allow him to be their voice so their stories are never forgotten in the last few sections.

This poem took me a bit to get through - I read it once all the way through in the evening, and then again the next afternoon after doing a bit of research. The second time around, I wrote my thoughts and connections down. That definitely helped me better understand what Neruda was talking about in certain sections, especially when calling out to the slaves and the poor of Macchu Picchu.

After reading this, I can see how this poem is marked as being one of Neruda’s most famous poems. It dives deep into the experience he had while visiting such a historical site of his heritage. show less

A mythopoetic and somewhat surrealistic set of 12 cantos by Pablo Neruda, "The Heights" by one of the finest poets of the 20th Century transcends the personal/lyrical in an eloquence of vision. Neruda uses Macchu Picchu (Intentionally writing two Cs in the first word) to place himself in a larger world of history and time.

I love nearly everything I read by Neruda, but I wish that I could read Spanish better than I do so I could give a more informed review as to the quality of this translation. Nonetheless, Tomas Morin gives a workmanlike English version that is worth reading.

I found myself confused by many of the stanzas to this poem. I am sure that the problem is with me not the poem but I much prefer Neruda's odes.