[The] sense of motion created by "Exclamación" and "Juventud" … is a key to the dynamic process of both poems. However, neither work contains any verbs and the poet has succeeded in creating the feeling of motion without the use of a single verbal mechanism, and this is a remarkable achievement. In "Exclamación" the skillful juxtaposition of contradictory statements produces a feeling of motion and both poems depend on the adept manipulation of words to enhance this sensation. The reader's imagination is activated and stimulated by the staccato lines and the contradictions in both poems.
"Exclamación" and "Juventud" portray an objective reality and there is little if any human presence in these poetic compositions…. [The] poetic voice narrates in an impersonal third person in both poems and this tends to enhance the sensation of human distance, at least in a personal sense. However, the reader becomes involved in the creative experience of both poems by participating in a process of discovery, and the trajectory of this experience moves him toward the attainment of an illuminating insight that transcends the limitations of material reality. Although the approach is depersonalized, it does not mitigate the reader's participation in the two poems, and this is testimony to Octavio Paz's mastery of poetic technique. The reader's subjective and limited view and the extensive visions offered by the poems are combined by a dynamic process, and this creative procedure causes the reader to experience the world in a new light. It is the reader's own subjective being rather than the poet's that merges and is incorporated into the objective reality portrayed in the poems. The poet stands aside and works his artistry on the reader and the world. In this regard, the poetic work is the point at which the subjective reader and the objective world meet. "Exclamación" and "Juventud" do not contain the anguished or highly emotional individual voice so frequently present in Paz's poetry, and one encounters in these two poems a contemplative serenity and an integration with the material world that impart a sense of harmony. Both poems emphasize a creative process of discovery rather than a static condition, and it is unlikely that a reader will see the world in exactly the same light after experiencing these poems. (pp. 121-22)
Raymond D. Souza, "Time and Space Configurations in Two Poems of Octavio Paz," in Journal of Spanish Studies: Twentieth Century (copyright © 1976 by the Journal of Spanish Studies: Twentieth Century), Fall, 1976, pp. 117-22.
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