Jaime Rodriguez 
University of New Hampshire
Major: Spanish
Mentor: William Forbes
Octavio Paz and William Carlos Williams: A Discovery of the National
The debate over the relationship between history and poetry can be traced back to Aristotle's Poetics (384-322 A.C.). In his work, Aristotle differentiated between the poet and the historian by assigning the first with those events that can happen –that is, events that are probable- and the second with those events that actually happen. This concern with history and poetry has survived until today and can be shown to still be a vital literary concern as seen in the work of William Carols Williams (1883-1963) and Octavio Paz (1914). Both of these poets show a very specific preoccupation with the subject, although both approach the problem from a different angle.
It is this interplay of history and poetry that leads me to formulate an even deeper question: How can the different degrees of interaction between history and poetry have a role in shaping the character of a nation? The search for the answer to this question raises an even more intriguing question, and that is: Could the Americas have a common literature guided by a common basic necessity? That is, even thought the final product is different, the reason for that difference is the same element. Which brings me to the central question that will guide my current research efforts: Can that common element be the historical consciousness, as least as far as Mexico and the United States of America are concerned?
With that purpose the poetry of Williams and Paz will be studies and analyzed in relation to the poetic production of their respective countries- the United States of America and Mexico -as they relate to the questions raised above.
