You don’t want to answer me.But the questions do not die. -(Neruda, 1924)The Book of Questions is a collection of 316 questions that compose the 74 poems. 316 questions which no rational answers exists, says the introductory part of my copy. No rational answers may exist for these questions, but the rational mind will strive beyond conventions to grasp its meanings. If you will ruminate on this 74 poems, one will find that some answers do exist, albeit spiritual and mercurial answers validate

Is there anything sillier in lifethan to be called Pablo Neruda? (XXXII)How many questions does a cat have? (VIII)If I have died and don’t know itof whom do I ask the time? (II)Tell me, is the rose nakedor is that her only dress?Why do trees conceal the splendor of their roots?Who hears the regrets of the thieving automobile?Is there anything in the world sadderthan a train standing in the rain? (III)Why do leaves commit suicidewhen they feel yellow? (V)Where is the child I was,still inside me o...

Is it true our desires must be watered with dew?

XLIIDoes he who is always waiting suffer morethan he who's never waited for anyone?Where does the rainbow end,in your soul or on the horizon?Perhaps heaven will be,for suicides, an invisible star?Where are the vineyards of ironfrom where the meteor falls?XLIXWhen I see the sea once morewill the sea have seen or not seen me?Why do the waves ask methe same questions I ask them?And why do they strike the rockwith so much wasted passion?Don't they get tired of repeatingtheir declaration to the sand?...

Pablo Neruda only finished 'The Book of Questions' months before his death in September 1973.With it's composition, he comes full circle as both a human being and writer. The poet existed in waters that no one else could swim in, flowing in all directions, from the sun-kissed surface that flirted with the waves, to the dark-hearted Abyss that lies below. This collection follows the same common source of all his work, re-visiting that deep well of perpetuity, the imagination of regeneration and v...

316 questions posed by the great poet just months before his death. I found more than 70 of them worth copying into my journal, and I'm not particularly compulsive about things like that. Reading them, you will probably find yourself transported to an especially thoughtful and unusual frame of mind.Here are some personal favorites (spaced widely to try to preserve some measure of the original pacing):Is it true that in an anthill, dreams are duty?Am I allowed to ask my book whether it's true I w...

These poems are supposed to be approached indirectly...intuitively, like a zen koan. Sorry. Doesn't work for me. I'm not going to assume the affectation required to pretend to understand these.That said, some of these aren't beyond my appreciation:Where is the child I was, still inside me or gone?Does he know that I never loved him and that he never loved me?Why did we spend so much time growing up only to separate?Why did we both not die when my childhood died?And why does my skeleton pursue me...

El libro de las Preguntas = Libro de las Preguntas = The Book of Questions‬‭, Pablo NerudaBrief poems by the Nobel Prize-winner, Completed only months before his death in 1973.Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda, was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 10 years old, and wrote in a variety of styles, including surrealist poems, historical epics, ove...

Who ordered me to tear downthe doors of my own pride?

a splendid combination of philosophical thoughts and fantasy. each page gives some component of pleasure as it makes your brain think about the world from an alternate point and viewpoint. the entirety of this and it is an interpreted work! how i wish i could peruse it as it was initially created! i sincerely figure any person will discover inside these covers a couplet that stops them in their supernatural tracks and makes them go. 'i wonder...' how would you be able to put a cost on something

4.5*It's incredible how poetic these questions are!

Por que se queda en los ramajeshast que las hojas se caen?Y donde se quedan colgadossus pantalones amarillos?Verdad que parece esperarel otono que pase algo?Tal vez el temblor de una hojeo el transito del universo?Hay un iman bajo la tierra,iman hermano del otono?Cuando se dicta bajo tierrale designacion de la rosa?Why does it linger at the branchesuntil the leaves fall?And where are its yellow trousersleft hanging?Is it true that autumn seems to waitfor something to happen?Perhaps the trembling...

Was it where they lost me that I finally found myself?This book features 74 poems which contain 316 intriguing questions. Do we learn kindness or the mask of kindness?The questions are about nature of things. They make one ponder about one's world; they make one's mind travel beyond reality, beyond what one calls 'normal'.Why was I not born mysterious?Why did I grow up without companions?Who ordered me to tear down the doors of my own pride?And who went out to live for me when I was sleeping or

In France, where does spring get so many leaves? Why do trees conceal the splendor of their roots? Where is the child I was, still inside me or gone? Does he know that I never loved him and that he never loved me? Why did we spend so much time · growing up only to separate? Why did we both not die when my childhood died? And why does my skeleton pursue me if my soul has fallen away?Is there anything in the world sadder than a train standing in the rain? Does a word sometimes slither like a serpe...

This book asks heart-wrenching questions in every prose &I loved it wholeheartedly. ♡ Absolutely brilliant questioning poetry which hit you hard,hit you hard in the core of your heart, blown your mind & in the end made you think. Hold on,Hold on,This book is a gem so how can I let it go without adding my favorite lines here,Is it true our desires must be watered with dew? Do tears not yet spilled wait in small lakes? Or are they invisible rivers that run toward sadness? Is it true that sadness i...

And now for something completely different, I decided, after reading Jane Kenyon's Constance and Natasha Trethewey's Native Guard during a recent trip along the Oregon coast, so I picked up this volume I'd just bought at Powell's Books in Portland. One of eight unpublished collections Neruda left behind at his death in 1973, it turned out not to be the most representative of his books to be my introduction to him. Translator William O'Daly describes the 74 poems comprised of 320 questions as "cl...

Simply hilarious. The great Chilean poet wrote a book of nothing but strange, bizarre questions, like:Tell me, is the rose nakedor is that her only dress?Why do trees concealthe splendor of their roots?Who hears the regretsof the thieving automobile?Is there anything in the world sadder than a train standing in the rain? Many of them would make for great prompts for writing exercises.

Sometimes your brain gets on a tangent and you see that idea or concept popping up everywhere. I've been on a brain-tangent for a while now - about questions. The idea that we all want answers to our questions, especially now, in the information/technology age. We think there must be answers. There must be a conclusion to every story, every problem a solution. So I've begun to wonder why. Could it be that in fact the answers are more questions? Or better questions? That the wonder of life might

And does the father who lives in your dreams die again when you awaken?

I thought this was a classy little act of a book of short snippets of poetry. I’ve read a few of his poetry books before and I like the dude. In this very short book Pablo posits lots of interesting hypothetical scenarios. It reminded me of Samuel Butler’s Erewhon where the children in this utopian society are required to attend lessons where they are encouraged to think about the art of the possible. So what would you get if you were able to mix a donkey with an apple? The poetry here is quite