SOURCE: Rader, Dean. “Wallace Stevens, Octavio Paz, and the Poetry of Social Engagement.” Wallace Stevens Journal 21, no. 2 (fall 1997): 175-94.

In the following essay, Rader offers a comparison of the works of Paz with those of American poet Wallace Stevens.

La poesía,                     puente colgante entre historia y verdad [Poetry,                     suspension bridge between history and truth] 

—Octavio Paz

Poetry as manifestation of the relationship that man                                         creates between himself & reality 

—Wallace Stevens

At first glance, it would appear that the Mexican Nobel Laureate and former ambassador Octavio Paz would have little in common with the Connecticut poet-lawyer Wallace Stevens. Paz, who has lived on three different continents and held various governmental positions, seems miles away, both geographically and culturally, from the more reserved Stevens. However, the two figures share a number of correspondences, the most obvious of which lies in their poetic influences. Both Stevens and Paz embrace facets...