The Other Voice: Essays on Modern Poetry

Rating:
Summary: Exploring poetry through prose
Review: "The Other Voice: Essays on Modern Poetry" is an admirable prose work by Octavio Paz of Mexico. As the book's subtitle indicates, these essays explore various aspects of the world of poetry. The book has been translated from Spanish into a very readable English by Helen Lane.

Paz considers the work and legacies of many poets: Dante, Milton, Whitman, Sor Juana, Eliot, Baudelaire, and others. He questions the concepts of modernity and postmodernity, and considers various interrelated avant-garde literary movements: Futurism, Dadaism, Simultaneism, etc. He also reflects on the relationship between his own poetry and prose writings.

Along the way are some marvelous nuggets, such as his definition of a poem: "a thing made of words, for the purpose of containing and secreting a substance that is impalpable, resistant to definition, and called poetry" (from "The Few and the Many"). The book ends on a prophetic note of hope: ". . . I can say, with a modicum of certainty, that as long as there are people, there will be poetry." I recommend "The Other Voice" to all those interested in Latin American literature or poetry in general.