SOURCE: "The Siren and the Seashell," in The Siren & the Seashell, and Other Essays on Poets and Poetry, translated by Lysander Kemp and Margaret Sayers Peden, University of Texas Press, 1976, pp. 17-56.

A preeminent Mexican literary figure, Paz has earned international acclaim for works in which he seeks to reconcile divisive forces in human life. His works also reflect his knowledge of the history, myths, and landscape of Mexico as well as his interest in Surrealism, existentialism, Romanticism, Oriental thought—particularly Buddhism—and diverse political ideologies. In the following excerpt from an essay that was originally published in 1965, Paz discusses the Modernist context of Darío's poetry, commenting on its fundamental themes, sources, and archetypes.

Every language, not excluding that of liberty, eventually becomes a prison, and there is a point in the process at which speed becomes confused with immobility. The great Modernist poets were the first...