The Poetry of Octavio Paz - Essay Example

An Analysis of the Poetry of Octavio Paz Octavio Paz became the first Mexican writer to win the Nobel Prize in 1990. Richard Rodriguez, essayist, author, and editor of the Pacific News Service, describes Paz as “ the voice… (and) soul of Mexico.” The dichotomy of Mexican identity, that of the indigenous people combined with Spanish colonization, is a dualistic theme Paz often returns to in his poetry, be it in cultural differences, gender polarities, or the contrast between individual perception and the nature of reality. Thus, another common element in many of his poem’s is a dissection of time in linear, cyclic, and instantaneous manifestations. His poetry is often analytically dense, a culmination of historic and classical references culminating in the present, and therefore requires multiple close readings. His subtlety in approach and distinction between thoughts of similar theme can be most easily discerned through comparison of similar poems, which this paper shall attempt by examining the poems “A Tree Within,” “Before the Beginning,” and “ A Song Out of Tune.” In Paz’s poem “A Tree Within,” the poet creates a metaphysical metaphor of an inverted tree growing within his body to illustrate the path of desire inspired by the presence of an outsider’s influence. The inversion of the tree is established within the first line which, despite the slight contradiction of the third line’s claim that “Its roots are veins…”, establishes that the tree is growing upside down. The branches stretch out into the nerves of the body’s extremities and, while the fifth line states that “thoughts (are) its tangled foliage” (presumably because of the parallel imagery of human hair), the tree’s growth implies a rather different nest of hair and a distinctly more lustful direction of growth. The inversion of the tree resonates with the classic illustration of Satan in Dante’s Divine Comedy: the poet likewise seems to be describing an escalating hellish torture of excitement. This interpretation is reinforced by the introduction of the second person in the sixth line, whose “glance sets it on fire…” When one considers that the foliage is often the first thing of a tree to catch fire, this image can be viewed as the other person’s presence either causes the poet’s thoughts to kindle or that the ‘foliage’ of his loins has become enflamed with desire. The themes of the tree, lust, and damnation are extended through the course of lines 7-9. The “fruits of shade” are both a reference to (and an anagram of) Hades, a fact declared beyond question by mention of the pomegranates. Paz undoubtedly assumes that the reader is knowledgeable enough of the classics to recognize a reference to the story of Persephone, in which she is lured to Hades by Pluto and, while there, consumes six pomegranate seeds. This reference not only continues the theme of lust (as it was Pluto’s main motivation) but carries the implicit sexual suggestion given in the traditional reference of a man’s seed. When the poet claims that “Day breaks/ in the body’s night.” he recognizes the spark that has kindled both his lust and his thoughts: an acknowledgement of his need for this other person. Thus, in the final lines of the poem, the poet entices the other to come closer on the pretense of hearing the tree speak. Whether they are able to or not, the gambit is successful if it draw them into intimate contact and an intense focused silence. The tone of quiet intimacy inherent within the narration is therefore completed through a connection to the beloved. While “A Tree Within” is a meditation focusing on the inner workings of the self, the poem “Before the Beginning” contemplates the connection and the division between two separate beings. The scene is fairly straight forward: the narrator awakes, still half asleep, and regards his companion still asleep beside him. This poem is not then focused on either action or symbolic manipulation… it is instead a celebration of observation. The “confusion of sounds, an uncertain clarity.” of the first line establishes the narrator’s state of mind while the second line “Another day begins.” indicates a cyclic continuity to the events about to be described. The narrator had been “…lost / on a plain with no one.” in his dreams, and this sense of despair from his isolation has cast a malicious intent even to the mere passage of time. The narrator, knowingly or not, is comforted by the other’s presence, for their breathing is a motion he can sense in the depths of his consciousness, regardless of his state. Despite being “buried deep, and remote…” the motion of her body, living even in rest, is something recognized by the core of his being. The poet thinks of her as “untouchable” for the mere fact that they are two individual entities, yet he realizes that although “Dreams (i.e. their minds, realities, etc.) divide / and blood unites us: / we are a river of pulse beats.” The spiritual refreshment of the poet’s recognition of his companion is therefore logically recognized as inherently the same, and therefore connected despite being separate, while the imagery of the liquid “flow” and “river” imply a sense of relief to the barrenness of the plain the poet had envisioned in his dream. It is this confusion of reality, this recognition that most aspects of any reality are illusion and perception, that the poet address when he says “The world / is still not real…” Therefore, the concrete existence of the other person’s body heat and breathing are comforting as their comfort apparently transcends any reality the poet encounters. The line the poet uses to end the poem, “… The tide of being, / the forgotten syllable of the Beginning.” tie off both the cyclic nature (and soothing water imagery) of the tidal flow with the speculation of both the Creation of the universe and the birth of individual consciousness. The poet holds his companion in a state of reverence, both in a spiritual way for acting as a sort of life-line, and as a completion of psychoanalytic self-recognition, in which one can only recognizes oneself through the recognition of another. In Paz’s poem “A Song Out of Tune,” the poet once again explores his relationship with another person, only the focus of this poem is not so much upon that person, but rather the slow erosion of memory by time. This conflict is driven home in each of the five major stanzas by his use of the split lines, first “The day is short, / the hour long.” and then “-but I don’t find me, / and I don’t see you.”, which he essentially uses as bookends. The repetition of these lines, combined with the visual disjointed aspect of their placement (which causes an optical disharmony - i.e. makes it out of tune), underscore the true source of the poet’s ruminations: his obsessive thoughts try to distinguish himself while recovering his companion, all of this despite the confusion brought about by the natures of time and memory. The poet uses imagery to describe his mental search in the very first stanza, saying “Motionless I retrace its steps, / climbing it minor cavalries…” The first half of which describes being lost in his own reminiscing; the latter, through comparison to the Crucifixion, implies that this act is some type of great sacrifice for the poet. By the second stanza, the “circular words” imply a frustration with the cyclic repetition of his life, while the description of seeing “…myself falling through the hour’s blank center…” uses a manifestation of the concept of time to distort it into a concrete image through which the poet falls… which means his mind is beginning to wander further into the disjointed time of the mind. The main body of the third stanza uses the noun Time as the subject to seven different verbs, personifying it through so much action, as well as seeming to confuse it with memory, in that it “sprouts up” and “bashes my forehead.” The fourth stanza proves to be the most illuminating, for the other person vanishes when the poet attempts to touch them and the poet sees his own image disappear in the other’s eyes. Thus, the line “the hour traces, erases, invents its own reflections…” describes the malleability and insubstantial ness of memory over time; reflection (clarity of perception) is destroyed by the process of reflecting (recalling from a later time). Because of this, the fifth stanza contemplates how the symbology of a mere word or name can carry so much connotation, for it can contain an implied essence of the poet, the companion, or time itself when the mind cannot come close to defining any of them. The final two line therefore work on a number of different levels. Thematically, the image of the names as fruit implies that even their existence is dictated by time, for they have a peak in reality and then wane after passing this point. This is followed by a description of the enormity of “the hour” collapsing under its own inner entropy. The finality of these two last thoughts is solidified through the only use of end rhyme throughout the course of the entire poem; the disharmony, or state of being out of tune, is reinforced by the first of these lines being roughly trochaic tetrameter and the last primarily iambic pentameter, the effect of which makes the rhyme have a staggering conclusion, structurally tying it back into the title. These three poems show a progression from the perception of an individual and its desire of a companion to a contemplation and appreciation of the other’s existence to the transient nature of time, memory, and relationships. He nimbly combines both sensual elements and mental concepts into a powerful progression of though through poetic imagery. Octavio Paz played many roles in his life: activist, ambassador, essayist, et cetera. But despite all of theses accomplishments and triumphs, his place in history is most firmly anchored by his poetry. Eliot Weinberger, a translator of Paz’s poetry for over forty years, believes the poetry outshines the other aspects of his life for one simple reason: “Paz’s poetry… (addresses) the things that make us human. He’s talking about life and death and love and eroticism, politics, mythology, religion in ways that were extremely accessible…” As long as human nature exists, it will appreciate observations that resonate within its own experience; Paz’ poetry accomplishes this by directly addressing issues not of the human condition, not of the Mexican experience of identity, but of experiences that cross identity divisions and speak for all humans through one voice. Works Cited "Octavio Paz." Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. 2005. 16 Apr. 2006. Paz, Octavio. The Collected Works of Octavio Paz: 1957-1987. Ed. Eliot Weinberger. New York: New Directions, 1987. Rodriguez, Richard and Eliot Weinberger. Interview. “In Memoriam.” The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. 20 Apr. 1998. PBS. MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, 2006. Stovall, Courtney. "Octavio Paz." Octavio Paz. Washington and Lee University. 16 Apr. 2006. Read More