Early Poems, 1935-1955 (A New Directions paperbook, NDP354) [Paperback]

Octavio Paz (Author), Muriel Rukeyser (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Spanish

Product Details

• Paperback: 145 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; Revised edition (June 1973)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811204782
• ISBN-13: 978-0811204781
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,632,715 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great poet's early work, June 13, 2001

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Early Poems, 1935-1955 (A New Directions paperbook, NDP354) (Paperback)

"Early Poems 1935-1955," by Octavio Paz, is an excellent collection of work from this important Latin American writer. This is a bilingual edition, with Paz' Spanish originals on each even-numbered page, and English translations on each odd-numbered page. The translations represent the collaborative work of several individuals: Muriel Rukeyser (who also wrote a foreword), Paul Blackburn, Lysander Kemp, Denise Levertov, and William Carlos Williams.

The poems in this book represent a mix of short, haiku-like verses; prose poems; and longer poems. Although Paz is a distinctive and original talent, some of his work seems to echo the spirit of such earlier poets as William Blake, Walt Whitman, and Stephen Crane.

Paz often writes about writing and language, often with a metaphysical, reality-warping perspective. His poems include a multicultural mix of interesting references: Polyphemus, Buddha, Tlaloc, the Tower of Babel, etc. He uses much striking imagery, and frequently his writing has a prophetic tone.

There are many fine poems in this collection, but I was particularly impressed by "The prisoner," his stunning homage to the Marquis de Sade: "The letters of your name are still a scar that will not heal, / the tattoo of disgrace on certain faces." If you are interested in Latin American literature or 20th century poetry, I recommend this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Could be better..., June 24, 2005

By 

Love Phillip (Des Moines, IA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Early Poems, 1935-1955 (A New Directions paperbook, NDP354) (Paperback)

The reason I picked this book up was to read Octavio Paz in the Spanish (which I appear to be having a difficult time locating a spanish language, as opposed to bilingual, collection of his poetry. but anyway...). I give the poetry itself, as Octavio Paz wrote it, 5 stars. I give the translation about 2 stars. Understandably, translating poetry is always difficult, and I am trying to take that into account as I review this work. However, there are quite a few outright errors in this book. For instance, (let the reader beware that I haven't figured out how to make accent marks in Amazon, so some words must of necessity be misspelled) in the poem titled "Fabula" I count 4 separate errors, 2 of which I must consider inexcusable. line 12: Aquel arbol cantaba reia y prefetizaba. The translation reads: And as it grew it sang laughed prophecied. A more accurate one: That tree sang laughed and prophecied. "Grew" doesn't appear anywhere in the spanish. line 13: Sus vaticinios cubrian de alas el espacio. The translation: It cast the spells that cover space with wings. (What? Where is the translator pulling this stuff from?) Should read: Its predictions covered space with wings. line 20: Son las palabras del lenguaje que hablamos. The translation: They were the words of the language we speak. Apparently the translator doesn't know how to conjugate his verbs, because "Son" means "They are" not "They were." And last but not least, line 21 is missing from the translation entirely. Inexcusable. Thank God I can read Spanish. Anyway, buy the book for his poems, ignore the translations. Cheers.