On Great Chilean Poet
Nicanor Parra

Nicanor Parra (1914- ) A Chilean poet whose work speaks in simple, realistic, colloquial language. "Maximum content, minimum of words," and "[e]conomy of language, no metaphors, no literary figures," have been his work's guiding principles.

Para's theory of "antipoetry" is, in part, a result of his studies in physics at Brown and Oxford Universities, and the time he spent as a professor of physics at University of Santiago. His work with scientific problems led him to the conclusion that poetry should deal with real issues, with cultural, political, and religious questions. His first book of poems to explore these ideas, Poemas y antipoemas, was widely acclaimed and earned the praise of the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.

Parra's work has powerfully influenced twentieth-century Latin American poetry, acting as a counterbalance to some of its more florid and rhetorical tendencies.