Wind, Water, Stone

“Proem” by Octavio Paz (1986)

This prologue poem also appears in Paz’s The Collected Poems 1957-1987, a landmark bilingual collection of all his poems written between those years edited and compiled by his primary translator, Eliot Weinberger. The book also contains translations from some famous English-language American poets, like Elizabeth Bishop and Denise Levertov. Like “Wind, Water, Stone,” this poem is a translation into English by Weinberger. Unlike the poem on which this guide is focused, “Proem” provides explication of Paz’s poetics in his own words.

“In Her Splendor Islanded“ by Octavio Paz (1958)

This translation by Muriel Rukeyser appeared in the American journal Poetry in the 1950s, well before Paz’s work was widely translated and disseminated in English. The poem is a good example of the more prose-like verse that Paz was known to write, as well as an interesting artifact of Paz’s reception into the English language literary world before he was canonized.

“Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market“ by Pablo Neruda (2007)

This translation was published in Poetry in 2007 by poet Robin Robertson. Pablo Neruda encouraged a young Octavio Paz both in terms of his poetry and his politics.