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    A Study Guide for Octavio Paz 's "Two Bodies"
    A Study Guide for Octavio Paz 's "Two Bodies"
    A Study Guide for Octavio Paz 's "Two Bodies"
    Ebook36 pages44 minutes

    A Study Guide for Octavio Paz 's "Two Bodies"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Octavio Paz 's "Two Bodies," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateSep 2, 2016
    ISBN9781535841696
    A Study Guide for Octavio Paz 's "Two Bodies"

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      Book preview

      A Study Guide for Octavio Paz 's "Two Bodies" - Gale

      11

      Two Bodies

      Octavio Paz

      1943

      Introduction

      Dos cuerpos, translated as Two Bodies, is a poem by the Mexican political essayist and poet Octavio Paz. The poem was originally published in Paz's 1949 collection Libertad bajo palabra (Freedom under Oath, or Freedom through Word). Libertad bajo palabra gathers together Paz's poetry from 1933 to 1949 and is divided into six sections, called books. Interestingly, Paz did not divide this collection chronologically. Instead, he divided the poems according to the themes they represented and the styles they used. Therefore, although Two Bodies was written in 1943 while Paz was living briefly in the United States, it is included in the book Condicion de nube (Condition of Clouds), a section of Libertadbajo palabra that deals primarily with Paz's life before he arrived in the United States. Paz extensively revised the collection five times, editing and rearranging the poems in the collection. Though many of these poems underwent drastic changes, Two Bodies remained untouched and stayed in Condition of Clouds in each revision. Paz wrote Two Bodies as an experiment in metaphor early in his career under the influence of the surrealist movement, during which he wanted to emphasize the importance and isolation of each individual person in relation to the surrounding world. Two Bodies stands as an example of how the modernist tradition in the arts emerged in Mexico during the twentieth century.

      Author Biography

      Paz was born in Mexico City, Mexico, on March 31, 1914, four years into the Mexican Revolution. His father, Octavio Paz Solo´ rzano, was a journalist and lawyer who was actively involved in politics as an ardent supporter of Mexican revolutionary Emilio Zapata, and he was absent for most of Paz's life. Paz was raised by his mother, his aunt, and his paternal grandfather in the village of Mixcoac, outside Mexico City. As a child, Paz was exposed to a wide variety of literature through his grandfather and gained a solid training in Western classics, as well as rich exposure to Mexican authors through

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