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The present work aims at traversing across Pablo Neruda's early poetry following the selfexegetic and metaliterary axis. The evolution of Neruda's poetry will be analyzed, focusing on those poems from the Chilean poet's early books in which there is an explicit formulation of an ars poetica or a clear metaliterary reference. Neruda's poetry will be divided into different periods by considering these metaliterary texts landmarks of successive changes in his poetics, ranging from the poetics of poetry as a "terrible gift", through the view of poetry as catharsis, as a debased prophetic gift, to finally arrive at a view of poetry as political commitment. By means of the analysis of textual elements that Octavio Paz would define as ironic or analogical, different critical stands about Neruda will be assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]