'Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair' is a collection of romantic poems by Pablo Neruda, a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. This became Neruda's most popular book and immediately established his reputation. It also became one of the most widely read collections of poetry written in Spanish. The book stands as an essential collection that continues to inspire lovers and poets around the world. The collection begins with passion, describing sensual affection that slackens into melancholy and separation in the later verses. The closing poem, "A Song of Despair," is painful and anguished.