Significance of Chile appears in Poetry

Neruda was born in Chile and so of course his heart belonged to his homeland all of his life. Neruda was raised in the rainy south of Chile and led a lonely life as a child. He was surrounded by vast forests, the smell of wet wood, and the sounds of the great rains of southern Chile. Neruda discovered poetry as a child in Chile and his initial encounter is recounted in the poem Poetry, when he describes his poetic talent as coming to him like the heavens unfastening and opening, and rendering him drunk by the vast universe, offering the possibility of poetry.