Chilean · 1904–1973
Pablo Neruda won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971 for "poetry that with the action of an elemental force brings alive a continent's destiny and dreams." The Chilean poet wrote love poems that became wedding readings and political poems that became rallying cries. "Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair" (1924) made him famous at twenty; "Canto General" (1950) traced the Americas from prehistory to dictatorship. Neruda served as ambassador and senator. He died days after Pinochet's coup in 1973.