Review of Mexican poet Nobel laureate Octovio Paz’s poem ‘Between going and coming’
Review of Mexican poet Nobel laureate Octovio Paz’s poem ‘Between going and coming’
I request readers to read the poem first from the above link and then only my review. Thanks.
The short poem opens with a figurative depiction of day; the day is happy about its transparency. A modern poem while mentioning something would leave much unsaid. So the poet reminds readers that the routine of a day from dawn to dusk only is transparent. We need to infer not all that happens during a day are transparent. The day wavers between going and staying. Where can day go? And can it say beyond the twelve to thirteen hours of its typical schedule? So the question now before the reader is how far a day is independent? A day is not independent but it is empathetic. It wants to stay for the vulnerable who night is waiting to hunt, haunt or prey. In its empathy day simply wavers. But its duration will end as ever.
In the next line as he symbolizes afternoon to a bay, we infer the poem points to a state of impasse or complex turn of events where understanding the developments is no easy and the further path is unclear. The next line ‘All is visible and all elusive,
all is near and can’t be touched.’ confirms that. Why is a day very demanding and sometimes choking? It’s because of the targets on one hand, and the unreliability of the moves of others around. The following two lines highlight the stressed state of mind during a day:
Time throbbing in my temples repeats
the same unchanging syllable of blood.
The remaining four lines of the poem elaborate the other dimension of this situation that is, being a prisoner of circumstances, and the uncertainties and anxieties connected with that. The wall here is a metaphor for a dead-end and the last two lines tell us that in such a situation you look for a solution, solace or endurance within:
I find myself in the middle of an eye,
watching myself in its blank stare.
For anyone making a living from a job or profession, most of the days are too stressful and uncertain. The poem has succeeded in the depiction of a typical working day.
# Mexican poet Nobel laureate Octovio Paz’s poem ‘Between going and coming’, #criticism of poetry #appreciation of poetry
Comments
Post a Comment