Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) was born in Parral, Chile, and is considered one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. Accomplished in styles ranging from erotically charged love poems to surrealist works, historical epics and political manifestos, he was also a powerful figure in Chilean politics. Neruda was a close collaborator of Salvador Allende’s, and his death was an occasion for mourners to protest the coup d’état of General Pinochet, who sought without success to stifle Neruda’s influence on Chile’s collective consciousness.