"The Canto General, thought by many of Neruda's most prominent critics to be the poet's masterpiece, is the stunning epic of an entire continent and its people. ". "The three hundred or so poems of the fifteen-part Canto, written between 1938 and 1950, constitute a visionary interpretation of Latin America, encompassing its geography, flora and fauna, violent history of conquest and repression, heroes and villains, and conflicts at the time of the poems' composition, the destiny of its peoples and the life of the poet himself. "--BOOK JACKET.