Moving away from his introspective beginnings, the second cycle of Neruda’s poetry was more oriented towards a deep social consciousness. By the mid-1920s, Chilean society had changed remarkably, affecting the way the poet perceived the world in which he lived, as he later acknowledged in his memoirs. Neruda was then aware of the return of thousands of now unemployed workers from salty deserts to the capital, of the fight led by Luis Emilio Recabarren, of the popular and student demands, as well as the unshakeable reign of the oligarchy. Without wanting to erase all traces of love, life, joy or sadness from his poems, Neruda nevertheless recognized that it was “impossible to completely reject the street and leave no place for it in my poems.” (Confieso that he vivido, 1979, 76). In addition to these social circumstances, the introduction of politics into his life and work was also motivated by his first diplomatic career started in 1927, when he was appointed consul of Chile in Burma. This is what allowed him to get in touch with the world and to focus on social justice. In 1927, he published in Spain a book written during his travels through the East and Europe, which eventually became one of his major works: Residence on Earth.

Pablo Neruda’s literary and poetic creativity has earned him the recognition of his peers and critics. In 1965, he received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa at Oxford University. In 1945, he received the National Prize for Literature and, in 1971, the Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming the sixth Spanish-speaking writer and the third Latin American writer to receive this distinction.