SOURCE: "Mexican Poet, Essayist Octavio Paz Dies at 84; Won Nobel Prize," in Washington Post, April 21, 1998, p. B6.

[In the following obituary, Barnes describes the literary and cultural significance of Paz's writings as well as the milestones of his life.]

Octavio Paz, 84, the Mexican writer and Nobel laureate whose haunting metaphors and graphic images evoked echoes of Aztecs and conquistadors while simultaneously charting the folkways and mindsets of modern mestizos and criollos, died of cancer April 19 at his home in the Mexico City neighborhood of Coyoacan.

Mr. Paz, a poet, essayist, thinker, social critic, political commentator, translator and man of letters, was among the preeminent literary figures of the 20th century, and he helped define the Mexican culture and identity to the world community. Novelist Carlos Fuentes, his countryman, once called him the "greatest living Mexican writer, great renovator of the Spanish language, great universal poet and essayist."

In...