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Octavio Paz

The Mexican poet and critic Paz was also a diplomat and lived abroad for many years. Paz's books—revealing depth of insight, elegance, and erudition—place him among his generation's greatest writers. His works

Certainty

by Octavio Paz (1914–1998)

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3  <person id="9247" sex="1" role="author">
4    <name>
5      <firstname>Octavio</firstname>
6      <lastname>Paz</lastname>
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9      <date ty="birth" circa="false" suffix="ad">1914</date>
10      <date ty="death" circa="false" suffix="ad">1998</date>
11      <text-value>(1914–1998)</text-value>
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15</author>
16

If it is real the white

light from this lamp, real

the writing hand, are they

real, the eyes looking at what I write?

From one word to the other
what I say vanishes.
I know that I am alive
between two parentheses.

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Poets Book of Days

October 1

Pierre Corneille died, 1684

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Poetry Trivia

Question:

How many words is Shakespeare credited with adding to the English lexicon?

Answer

Shakespeare is credited with either using in a novel way or introducing over 1,700 words to the English language. This represents about 10% of the vocabulary used in his writings.

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