SOURCE: "Chess and Mirrors: Form as Metaphor in Three Sonnets of Jorge Luis Borges," in Kentucky Romance Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 3, 1980, pp. 289-98.

[In the following essay, Mandlove explores Borges 's use of archetypal patterns in his sonnets "Ajedrez I, " "Ajedrez II, " and "A un poeta del siglo XIII."]

"To the Looking-glass world it was Alice that said,
'I've a sceptre in hand, I've a crown on my head;
Let the Looking-glass creatures, whatever they be,
Come and dine with the Red Queen, the White Queen and me!'"
Lewis Carroll

The mirror appears frequently in Borges' work as a symbolic representation of the infinite multiplication and repetition of human experience. In his short stories, Borges often uses mirrors and mirror images to show that human nature endlessly repeats itself, that a single character exists in both the past and in the future, or that he exists simultaneously in places widely remote from each other. The mirror image in the short stories generally serves to reflect and support the theme of the work. A very different use of the mirror image appears in much of Borges' more recent poetry, where the form of the poem itself becomes a mirror which captures and reflects the infinite variety of human experience. Through the image of the mirror, form becomes metaphor; the structure of the poem points beyond itself to the structure of human existence.

Critics Guillermo Sucre and Zunilda Gertel have both emphasized the fact that Borges turns away from the visionary images and free verse of the early ultraísta period (1918-1929) in favor of traditional, timeless metaphors and conventional poetic forms in the later work (1958 to the present). According to Sucre: "el poeta, para él [Borges], es aquél que busca secretamente los arquetipos, las formas esenciales; aquél que busca un orden superior de la que la obra sea un símbolo y donde el azar se vea cada vez más reducido" [Borges, el poeta]. The more recent poetry of Borges is then, a search for forms, for forms which reveal a superior order, the order of the universe itself. The work becomes symbolic of a higher order because Borges uses archetypal images and metaphors within conventional poetic forms in such a way that both the formal structure and the content of the poems reflect the same basic structural pattern of human existence. The archetypal content of the poems is a metaphorical representation of a higher order. The form of the poems, too, becomes metaphorical through the image of the mirror. Ana María Barrenechea has observed that the mirror image in Borges' work alludes to "the Gnostic idea that the universe is an inverted copy of the celestial order" [Borges: The Labyrinth Make, trans, Robert Lima, 1965]. Functioning like a mirror, the formal structure of the poem directly reflects a greater structure, that of the universal order. Thus one finds in Borges' work not just a harmony of form and content, but poems in which both form and content are parallel vehicles of a metaphor in which the tenor is the greater, universal structure. The poems produce an ever expanding pattern of reflections, mirror images into which the reader too, is drawn, recognizing himself as part of the pattern, as one of the multiple reflections in the mirror of the poem. As Borges notes in "Arte poética:" "A veces en las tardes una cara Nos mira desde el fondo de un espejo; / El arte debe ser como ese espejo / Que nos révéla nuestra propia cara."

It is Borges' use of the sonnet which, as the most ordered and conventional of poetic forms, best illustrates the way in which form becomes metaphor. In a sonnet entitled "A un poeta del siglo XIII," Borges suggests that the sonnet form—the structure of the sonnet—is archetypal, that it is not the result of trial and error, of an arbitrary arrangement of quatrains and tercets on the part of the great poet Petrarch, but rather the reflection of a divinely revealed archetypal structure. The sonnet form itself is a mirror, a metaphor reflecting another, greater structure.

Vuelve a mirar los arduos borradores
De aquel primer soneto innominado,
La página arbitraria en que ha mezclado
Tercetos y cuartetos pecadores.
Lima con lenta pluma sus rigores
Y se detiene. Acaso le ha llegado
Del porvenir y de su horror sagrado
Un rumor de remotos ruiseñores.

¿Habrá sentido que no estaba solo
Y que el arcano, el increible Apolo
Le había revelado un arquetipo.

Un âvido cristal que apresaría
Cuanto la noche cierra o abre el día:
Dédalo, laberinto, enigma, Edipo?

In the first stanza, before the original sonneteer has finished his poem, it appears that the composition of the sonnet is a matter to be determined by the creative power of the poet as he labors meticulously over his work. The random arrangement of tercets and quatrains indicated by the words arbitraria and mezclado suggests that the poet is seeking the proper form for his ex pression through an act of his own creative will. However, in the second stanza, when he suddenly discovers the precise combination of stanzas for the sonnet, what were once "tercetos y cuartetos pecadores" now seem to be distant and timeless echoes of a dimly intuited sacred form.

In the first tercet Borges speculates on the possibility that the random pattern selected by Petrarch for the sonnet is not a matter of chance or freely determined creative activity, but the recognition of a greater, archetypal, pattern older than poetry. He associates the revelation of the form with Apollo, god of beauty, law, civilization and supreme authority in matters of ritual [Apollo "is often associated with the higher developments of civilization, approving codes of law…. In matters of ritual especially purification, his oracles are commonly regarded as the supreme authority" (The Oxford Classical Dictionary, ed. N. G. L. Hammond and H. H. Scullard, 2nd éd., 1970], suggesting that the form itself is, in some way, a reflection of an Ideal structure, a structure basic to human civilization which acquires ritualistic dimension through its repetition in diverse areas of man's endeavor.

In the last stanza, Borges compares the form to a mirror which both contains and reflects "cuanto la noche cierra o abre el día." The form captures and contains all the possibilities of human existence, the dark, evil, malevolent as well as the enlightened; at the same time, it serves as a direct formal reflection of those polar opposites because it too is part of the same pattern. The last line of the poem mirrors the four part structure of the sonnet and incorporates the opposites introduced in the preceding line by "noche" and "día." It begins with Dedalus, the archetypal representative of man's highest aspirations, and ends with Oedipus, symbolic of man's deepest anguish. In the middle is the form—a labyrinth, a mysterious mixture of chaos and order, a puzzle. The sonnet is a formal structure which mirrors another, greater formal structure, whose pattern is known, but whose meaning remains an enigma. The form is a mirror image of its content and, as the content may comprise the full spectrum of human existence, the structure of the sonnet, according to Borges, is a microcosmic reflection of the structure of the macrocosm. The form becomes a metaphor linking the lesser world with the greater world.

In two sonnets dedicated to the subject of chess, Borges expands and elaborates the concept of the sonnet as an archetypal pattern which mirrors the structure of man's existence. In these two sonnets, the mirror image is not presented directly, but is created through formal patterns which are mirror images of each other. The black and white pattern of the chessboard becomes the background for a cosmic game in which man is both player and pawn. In "Ajedrez I" the sonnet structure reflects the structure of the chess game, creating a pattern within a pattern. Metaphorical structure mirrors metaphorical content.

En su grave rincón, los jugadores
Rigen las lentas piezas. El tablero
Los demora hasta el alba en su severo
Ambito en que se odian dos colores.

Adentro irradian mágicos rigores
Las formas: torre homérica, ligero
Caballo, armada reina, rey postrero,
Oblicuo alfil y peones agresores.

Cuando los jugadores se hayan ido,
Cuando el tiempo los haya consumido,
Ciertamente no habrá cesado el rito.

En el oriente se encendió esta guerra
Cuyo anfiteatro es hoy toda la tierra.
Como el otro, este juego es inflnito.

The first stanza of this sonnet sets the stage for the interplay of opposing forces which gives form to both sonnets. The setting in which the chess game takes place is stripped of all but the essential details. It is completely impersonal, formal and almost abstract. The game takes place in a "grave rincón," a "severo ámbito." The adjectives "grave" and "severo" lend formal dignity to the game, while the noun "rincón," the place where the nameless players sit, reflects the square shape of the chessboard. Neither the players nor the pieces are named in this stanza. The game proceeds almost mechanically according to strict, logical rules, without haste or emotion. When night falls and the game is suspended, the pieces are frozen, motionless and trapped in their fixed pattern until the game continues. The last line of the stanza ("ámbito en que se odian dos colores") is both abstract and impersonal, yet charged with tension and emotion. The two sides of the game are reduced to pure antithesis, black against white, which implies the opposition of all opposing forces. At the same time, the verb "odiarse" makes the antagonism between them something personal and emotional which is then not confined to the two opposing factions, but spreads out to dominate the entire atmosphere in which the struggle takes place.

While the first stanza presents the exterior, logical, rational nature of chess, the second stanza elaborates the interior, irrational logic which operates within the game. The chessmen on the board are subject to a rigorous set of rules which govern their moves and appear to be of a formal, logical nature and yet behind that logic there are irrational, mysterious forces at work. The figures on the board are not pieces now but forms, a change which raises them from mere markers in a game to the level of archetype. Each form is named and modified to correspond to its function in the game, according each one a character of its own.

In the tercets, Borges moves away from the temporal and specific into the realm of the eternal. The chess game is a ritual, a rite symbolizing the perpetual struggle between opposing forces. The last stanza links chess, a game of war to the greater game, the microcosm to the macrocosm, for "el oriente" refers both to the Eastern origins of chess and to the dawn of man and civilization. The world is now a chessboard and the game is infinite.

In "Ajedrez I" Borges presents the game of chess as an archetypal conflict between opposing forces by reducing the game to an essential pattern of forms in opposition, black versus white. He locates that pattern within another archetypal pattern, the sonnet, which is a direct reflection, a mirror image of the same archetypal structure. The sonnet, like the game of chess, is subject to a rigid and predetermined pattern. Both forms are based on the number four, a number symbolic of rational order, of human civilization and logic. The game of chess is played on a four-sided (square) board divided into eight rows, each one composed of alternating colors—four black and four white. The pieces, too, are based on the number four: bishop, knight, rook and pawn governed by the king and queen. [The original game which in Sanskrit was called Chaturanga, "army," literally meant "four arms." … A link between the ancient and the modern versions of the game is still apparent…. See Henry A. Davidson, A Short History of Chess, 1949.] The structure of the game reflects the structure of human society. The terminology used to designate the pieces changes according to the culture and period in which it is played, from terms implying strategic warfare to those reflecting the European court structure, but the game is universal and the patterned movement of the pieces never varies. Whether viewed as a game of war or of court intrigue, chess is an archetypal representation of man's attempt to reconcile chaos and order, to provide a rational, logical structure for the irrational conflict of opposing forces. The sonnet structure into which this game of chess is woven represents the same symbolic ordering of threatening, chaotic oppositions. It too is based on the number four: four stanzas, including two quatrains, symbolic of rational order. Just as the chessboard is composed of symbolic opposites, the sonnet structure also reflects a balance of oppositions. The two tercets complement the quatrains and represent (through the symbolic number three) the irrational dimension of existence, the world beyond man and his society. The tightly knit rhyme scheme of the sonnet further supports the integration of symbolic opposites and contributes to the tensive nature of oppositions held in perfect balance. In the quatrains, the ABBA rhyme scheme, dependent on two rhymes, reflects the tension found in the content between the pairs of opposites: black and white, the opposing players. The CCD/EED rhymes of the tercets also support the tension between opposing forces in the two rhyme sequence found in each tercet, but the pattern here goes beyond that of the quatrains to include a third rhyme when the tercets are considered together, thus contributing to the irrational dimension symbolically represented in the tercets by the number three.

In "Ajedrez I" Borges uses the pattern of the two quatrains to reflect the pattern of the chess game. The form of the game, like the quatrains, represents the external, rational, human ordering of forces in conflict. In the tercets, however, the game extends beyond the limits of the chessboard and encompasses the greater world. The three line stanzas reflect the internal, irrational dimension of the game which is now cosmic. While the order which governs the opposing sides in the game extends, in Borges' poem, to include the universal order, logic is lost when the game becomes infinite. Both the sonnet and the game of chess are man's civilized attempts to bring order out of chaos, to provide a logical structure for irrational forces, to encompass the infinite within the finite, to control the uncontrollable. In chess the moves of each piece are limited and well defined, while the possible variations within those limitations are infinite. In the sonnet, too, the form is limited and pre-determined, but the material contained is limitless. Thus, this sonnet is a mirror image of its content, an archetypal pattern reflecting an archetypal pattern. The form of the poem is a metaphorical vehicle of the same nature as the content and points beyond itself to a higher order.

In "Ajedrez II;" the archetypal pattern is extended still further to add two more dimensions to the same structure. In "Ajedrez I" the symbolic chess game expanded in space, converting the world into a chessboard where man waged war against chaos. In "Ajedrez II" the pattern expands in time as well as space and incorporates the literary tradition into the archetypal pattern.

Tenue rey, sesgo alfil, encarnizada
Reina, torre directa y peón ladino
Sobre lo negro y bianco del camino
Buscan y libran su batalla armada.

No saben que la mano señalada
Del jugador gobierna su destino
No saben que un rigor adamantino
Sujeta su albredrío y su Jornada.

También el jugador es prisionero
(La sentencia es de Omar) de otro tablero
De negras noches y de blancos días.

Dios mueve al jugador, y éste, la pieza,
¿Qué dios detrás de Dios la trama empieza
De polvo y tiempo y sueño y agonías?

In the first stanza Borges again names the chess pieces and modifies each with an adjective which both designates its function in the game and contributes to the personification of the individual forms. The black and white pieces, personified by such adjectives as "tenue," "sesgo" and "encarnizada" appear to function as free agents ("buscan y libran su batalla armada"). The pattern of the board, which was represented as a static, spatial pattern in "Ajedrez I," now becomes an active pattern extending into the dimension of time. The opposing pieces are no longer in fixed positions, but are actively pursuing their own destinies in time and space "sobre lo negro y bianco del camino." The quatrains present the relationship between player and pawn. In the first stanza the chessmen appear to forge their own destinies, while in the second the illusion is broken by the hand of man which controls their every move. But it is still the rational world of human civilization, in which man assumes control by methodically ordering his circumstances.

In the tercets of "Ajedrez II," Borges extends the game to include the universal order—the order beyond man and his world. The alternating black and white pattern of the static chessboard in sonnet I became, in the tercets, a spatial pattern encompassing the world. In sonnet II the alternating black and white path followed by the chessmen becomes the eternal cycle of day and night in which man is a prisoner. The pattern expands in time now, as well as in space. In the final stanza, the levels of the game extend to encompass the universal order where the relationship of player and pawn is an infinite series of master and subject. Once again the order is precise, logical and predetermined, but the rational gives way to the irrational when the game becomes infinite, for although the order is clear, the meaning is a mystery. The function of the three line stanzas again contrasts with that of the four line stanzas by providing the irrational dimension.

The form of sonnet II, like that of sonnet I, is a mirror image of its content, a pattern within a pattern. However, in the second sonnet Borges includes still another representation of the pattern which was only hinted at in the first sonnet. The image of the eternal cycle of day and night as a chessboard on which man works out his destiny is not only a continuation of the theme the poet presents in the first stanza, but is a direct reference to The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam ("la sentencia es de Omar"). '"Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days / Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays: / Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays, / And one by one back in the Closet lays" [Trans. Edward Fitzgerald, 1952]. Thus Borges incorporates within a twentieth century Argentine sonnet, an image taken from a twelfth century Persian poet based on the same archetypal pattern. The Persian poet weaves together the pattern of man's fate and the pattern of the chessboard. Borges fuses that pattern, now a part of the literary tradition, with his own re-creation of the same archetypal concept of order and uses the sonnet form, a literary convention to mirror that structure. Furthermore, the version of the original poem which Borges relies on for his poem, is that translated for the modern world in the nineteenth century by Edward Fitzgerald who has added his own stamp to the archetypal pattern. [The Persian poet does not refer to the pattern of the chessboard as the board was not so marked at that time in history. The colored pattern is an elaboration by Fitzgerald; see Davidson, A Short History of Chess.] The result is a complex structure of interwoven patterns: the chess pattern within the sonnet pattern, two literary traditions within a literary convention.

While in "Ajedrez I" the incorporation of the literary tradition was not as central to the poem as it is in "Ajedrez II" it was, nevertheless present, and added resonance to the sonnet. In the second stanza of that poem where he named the chess pieces, Borges referred first of all to the rook calling it, "torre homérica," giving an epic quality to the struggle between opposing factions. The reference to Homer in this context also calls to mind the Trojan War and the strategic Trojan horse designed like a giant chess piece in which the real players are contained. That brief allusion to the literary tradition recalls a whole series of archetypal references which support the pattern of the poem: the parallel between war and chess, man as a pawn in a greater game, the infinite repetition and variation of the epic struggle between opposing forces.

The last line of "Ajedrez II," ("de polvo y tiempo y sueño y agonías") despite the fact that it is an ordered, parallel construction conforming to the symmetrical structure of the sonnet, reveals a certain sense of chaos and mystery. Even though man imposes order on his creations, God orders man's world and an infinite series of gods behind God impose the same order on their creations, the meaning is still an enigma. The sonnet form, like the game of chess, is an attempt to capture and reflect the universal order, but there is a point at which, when it becomes infinite, the order breaks down and reveals the chaos and disintegration which are the other side of order. The last line of Borges' "Ajedrez II" recalls that of Góngora's famous sonnet in which the perfectly ordered world of physical beauty disintegrates with the passing of time, "en tierra, en humo, en polvo, en sombra, en nada" [Luis de Góngora y Argote, Poemas y Sonetos, 1940]. The world of order once again returns to chaos, to nothingness. Whether by design or by coincidence arising from the archetypal nature of both sonnets, Borges' sonnet is linked to Góngora's which expands the literary resonance of that last line to include another tradition.

Finally, returning full circle, the last line of "Ajedrez II" forms a direct parallel to the last line of Borges' own sonnet, "A un poeta del siglo XIII," in which he speculates on the archetypal nature of the sonnet. "Dédalo, laberinto, enigma, Edipo." "De polvo, y tiempo y sueño y agonías." The sonnet form captures and reflects the human experience. It gives order to experience but it does not explain it. The form reflects the full spectrum of existence, the chaos and mystery as well as the order. In "Ajedrez II" Borges moves from the specific archetypal content of "A un poeta" to a more general archetypal content when he questions the meaning of the whole pattern. The archetypes, whether embodied in a symbolic hero, form or concept—Dedalus and Oedipus, the sonnet and chess, the labyrinth—provide man with a symbolic framework in which to order his experience, but again, the order is lost when the concept becomes infinite. When these two last lines are contrasted, Dedalus (and by extension, all man's aspirations) returns to dust, the labyrinth is an eternal labyrinth of time, the enigma is the infinite world of dream and Oedipus is only one representation of man's eternal anguish in the face of the unknown.

The artistry of Borges' sonnets does not depend on the themes, which are common, on the form, which is conventional, nor on the uniqueness of the language, but on the skillful manipulation and inter-weaving of archetypal patterns. The sonnets work through the pattern itself which expands in ever widening circles and produces the effect of a mirror with infinite reflections. The theme of free will versus predetermination apparent in "A un poeta del siglo XIII" is reflected in the sonnet structure. The same theme predominates in the two sonnets on chess but it acquires greater dimension by becoming fused with the pattern of the game and with the parallel structure of the sonnet, creating a multiple fusion of the pattern. The chess pattern then expands in time and space through the literary tradition and through the extension of the game to universal proportions. Borges suggests that the pattern is universal but the variations are infinite. The reader identifies with the archetypal content of the sonnets, recognizes the same archetypes in the literary tradition incorporated within the poems and becomes a participant in the expanding pattern. Thus the world of Alice, the Red Queen and the White Queen with which this essay begins is, in a sense outside the sonnets, and yet a part of them, for it is another variation, another extension of the same pattern into which Borges has drawn the reader and the reader's own experience. The multiple pattern in the sonnets triggers a reaction in the reader which tempts him to continue expanding that pattern, to see Lewis Carroll's White Queen as part of Omar Khayyam's pattern of days and nights, to watch the chessmen work out their destiny against the background of Stendhal's The Red and the Black, to see himself on the chessboard through the look ing-glass of the sonnet.