Nezahualcoyotl · Philosophy

Flower and Song: The Only Truth on Earth

The Nahua idea of <em>in xochitl in cuicatl</em> - &lsquo;flower and song&rsquo; - the paired metaphor for poetry and art, held by the sages of Texcoco to be the one way a human being can say true words and touch the divine on a fleeting earth.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that in xochitl in cuicatl , &lsquo;flower and song,&rsquo; is a Nahua difrasismo (a paired metaphor) meaning poetry and art, and that the tradition attributed to Nezahualcoyotl treated it as the truest speech a human can manage on a slippery, fleeting earth. Explain the idea, and why art rather than argum…

Leads to Horace.

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