In 1962, Pablo Neruda began to set down some autobiographical poems centered around his house in Isla Negra, Chile. He wrote just over a hundred before he finished; it is this book ["Isla Negra"] Alastair Reid has now translated elegantly.

In some of the poems Neruda goes below the surface of life, with its poisoned flowers, snakes and waterfalls that he loves to describe, and talks of a mysterious "wicked King," who is allied with the terrifying jungle. It's not clear who this wicked King is, but Neruda knows that his life as a poet is associated with the jungle and that his growth resembled a jungle's….

Neruda's growth was amazing; he does find, following Whitman's lead, the secret route that allows him to leaf out, exfoliate, become more and more moist and massive, until his work includes the poor, wristwatches, rabbits, the history of South America. (p. 9)

Neruda...