The Sun Stone: A pilgrimage from cosmos to man Octavio Paz (1957)

Abstract

His reflection is traversed by a deep knowledge of man, world and life. His inspiration brings elements that make it possible a very wide and suggestive work in several genres: poetry, essay, and critic. The Sun Stone, Octavio Paz´s most significant poem, deals with the central topics of the western lyric: the couple and the lovable presence as a reflection of a “body of light”, man´s pilgrimage, woman and her symbology, time, history, and the vital cycle. This sustained and eloquent poetic composition is covered by enormous expressivity and a great metaphoric scope. Its symbology is sculptured on the edge of that giant wrapped stone that the Mexicas, Aztecs or Nahoas regarded as their calendar, The Sun Stone, which was understood as the fusion of the cosmic world. This enormous poem is conveyed into a media episode between the original experiences of the poet in his act of creation and the ulterior experience, as a critic, in his act of recreation. Paz would have said, “It is the place where poetry and man meet”.