Death degree zero in the poetics of Walt Whitman and Pablo Neruda

Authors

  • Sergio Pizarro Roberts Universidad de Playa Ancha

Abstract

On the basis of the treatment given to modern poetry in the essay Writing Degree Zero, by Roland Barthes, this work proposes a dialogue between the respective meanings of death contained in the poetic work of Walt Whitman and Pablo Neruda. This dialogue allows us to conclude, comparatively, that in both cases their works contain a heterodox eschatological poetics (regarding the Western Christian tradition, when assuming pantheistic features) and soteriological poetics (destined to save humanity), but they differ in the theistic idealism that is perceived in Whitman’s poetic itinerary in regard to Neruda’s atheist materialism.

Keywords:

Whitman, Neruda, pantheism, theism, death, heterodox eschatology