Octavio Paz's reputation as one of the greatest literary figures of Latin America in the twentieth century and certainly Mexico's most important writer at that time rests on both his extensive output of poetry—over thirty collections over the course of fifty years—and his essays, which almost equal the poetry in quantity, thoughtfulness, and influence. The two categories of writing compliment each other. As John C. Fein put it in an essay titled "Toward Octavo Paz: A Reading of his Major Poems, 1957-1976," "His success in diversified fields is heightened in the ways in which his essays and his poetry are complimentary: the core of his creativity is a concern for language in general and for the poetic process in particular." In other words, critics' positive reaction to Paz's poetry is brought to an even higher level by the fact that his poetry is based...