Contained within his volume, Passions and Impressions, Pablo Neruda's essay, "Shakespeare, Prince of Light," is an ode to perhaps the most revered author in history. This is its thesis: William Shakespeare stands above all others as the bard who assumed "responsibility for the dreams and the wisdom of the age" in which he lived. The late Chilean poet and author wrote this essay as a paean to Shakespeare. Shakespeare produced a body of work that, hundreds of years later, remains as relevant in its themes and as brilliant in its exposition as any literature in history. Neruda was acknowledging the role of Shakespeare in the history of literature and the latter's unquestioned influence on succeeding generations. Note, for example, in the following quote from Neruda's essay the respect the Chilean author has for the English one:

"One reason more, then, to love William Shakespeare, the greatest of all human beings. There will always be time and space to explore in Shakespeare, to lose ourselves, or to begin the long journey around his statue . . . And though we may go the long way without reaching the end, we always return with hands filled with fragrance and blood, with flowers and sorrows, with mortal treasures."

Shakespeare's legacy, Neruda states, is second to none. As all students of English literature know, Shakespeare's influence is inestimable, his phrases a permanent part of the modern lexicon. For the man who was noted for his odes to socks, his cat, and the activity of ironing, one might anticipate that an essay titled "Shakespeare, Prince of Light" might be satirical in intent. It is not. It is a heartfelt ode from one writer of the common era to another writer of an earlier period.