A comparison of Neruda's Ode to a travelling Albatross ("Oda a un albatros viajero" in his Tercer Libro de las Odas) with Baudelaire's poem, "The Albatross", shows the essential difference between there two poets. Neruda was well acquainted with Baudelaire and there is no doubt he admired the French poet, but when in 1956 he wrote his poem on the albatross, his idea was not to use the bird as a symbol for the poet, but to describe its marvellous flight as it really is. For this reason, Neruda can be considered as "a realist poet", despite the restrictions he himself made to the concept on different occasions. Neruda's poetical development did not, en fact culminate only in a political commitment, but was oriented to what in strict justice can be called poetic realism (or naturalism) the main characteristic of his "Elementary Odes".La comparación de la "Oda a un albatros viajero" de Pablo Neruda (Tercer libro de las odas) con el poema "El albatros" de Baudelaire sirve para mostrar la diferencia esencial entre ambos poetas. Neruda conocía bien a Baudelaire y ciertamente lo admiraba, pero cuando en 1956 escribió su poema sobre el albatros no intentó, a la manera de Baudelaire, usar el ave como un símbolo del poeta, sino procuró describir el admirable vuelo tal cual es en la realidad. Puede, por lo mismo, ser llamado un "poeta realista", a pesar de las restricciones con que ocasionalmente se refirió a este concepto. De hecho, la carrera poética de Neruda no culminó en el compromiso político, sino se orientó a lo que justamente se puede llamar realismo poético (o naturalismo), la principal característica de sus "Odas elementales".