HE poetic vision of Juan Ram6n Jimenez is one of transcendence, in which the ordinary world of dualistic existence is transformed into an integrated world of harmony. It is a vision of wholeness where the boundaries separating man from nature, from the cosmos and from his own essence are transcended, enabling the poet to participate in the essential harmony of all that exists. Paradoxically, Juan Ram6n's world of harmony is artistically created through tension, through the juxtaposition of opposites held in perfect balance, for the unity that Jimenez seeks is found on the very edge of the fine line where opposites merge: in the moment of love when man and woman are united as one, in the instant when night becomes dawn or evening shades into night, where the infinite is contained within the finite, the essential within the temporal. In any vision of wholeness, opposing forces must be present in equal measure. In Juan Ram6n's world, the tension produced by the juxtaposition of opposites is resolved through the use of paradox.' It is paradox, the fusion of contradictory realities, that transforms tension into harmony and enables the poet to transcend duality. In Sonetos espirituales, Juan Ram6n's integrative vision is revealed thematically through the poetic technique of paradox; oppositions are resolved momentarily in the union of man and woman, night and day, time and eternity. The extensive use of paradox, the fusion of opposites to arrive at a third and higher level of existence is characterized in archetypal terms by the concept of the coincidentia oppositorum or the mystery of the totality. It is a means of transcending multiplicity to perceive the universe as an ordered whole. However, the poet's world of harmony acquires even greater dimension in this small volume of sonnets, as the exclusive use of the Petrarchan sonnet with its rigidly prescribed verse form consisting of two four-line stanzas and two three-line stanzas, is a direct reflection of the perfect balance and fusion of opposites inherent in the poetic content. The structure of the volume itself is an extension of the sonnet form: three relatively equal sections prefaced by a single sonnet, providing again the balance of three and four part divisions of the sonnet structure. Thus, while there are many individual themes present in Sonetos espirituales, the major focus of the work emerges not through the consideration of any one of the predominant themes, but rather through the study of the way in which content, poetic form and structure function in perfect accord to reveal the fundamental unity of Juan Ram6n's poetic world. The intent of this study is not to explore all of the many paradoxical themes present in the work, but rather to show th ough representative themes and a close reading of four of the sonnets, the way in which various elements of the work (content, form and structure) function in perfect harmony to produce the vision of w oleness that characterizes the poetic world of Juan Ram6n Jimenez. The fifty-five sonnets of Sonetos espirituales (1914-15) provide an important key to much of Jimenez's work for, as Bernardo Gicovate has observed, they form a bridge between the poet's early period and his later poetry.2 Furthermore, the sonnet form is a perfect vehicle for the expression of Juan Ram6n's unified world. The tension inherent in the sonnet form through the rigid structuring of otherwise powerful but formless emotion, is a direct reflection of the tensive quality of the poems' content. The balance and symmetry of the sonnet provide the frame for the ordering of experience, for the integration of opposing forces leading to Jimenez's unified world of body and soul, thought and feeling, man and nature. The nature of the form, like that of the content, is paradoxical, consisting of a perfect balance between freedom and restraint, unlimited vision confined within strictly ordered boundaries.