Siren and the Seashell

Octavio Paz (1914–1998) was a Mexican poet who won the 1990 Nobel Prize in literature.

Octavio Paz is a living incarnation of those tensions in modern poetry between human commitment and aesthetic concern, a dialectic that is fundamental to the art of all nations. And his poetics is important, for it places the poet at the heart of modern life, singing his solitary song in company with the massed voices of human solitude. In his view, the poet does not speak the language of society but turns away from it, gaining strength in exile. (Hudson Review)

• Editor’s Note I. Sor Juana InÉs de la Cruz, RubÉn DarÍo, JosÉ Juan Tablada, RamÓn LÓpez Velarde, Alfonso Reyes Sor Juana InÉs de la Cruz The Siren and the Seashell JosÉ Juan Tablada The Road of Passion The Rider of the Air II. Robert Frost, E. E. Cummings, Saint-John Perse, Antonio Machado, Jorge GuillÉn Visit to a Poet E. E. Cummings A Modern Hymn Antonio Machado Jorge Guillen III. Poetry of Solitude and Poetry of Communion and A Literature of Foundations Poetry of Solitude and Poetry of Communion A Literature of Foundations Index