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Octavio Paz
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Octavio Paz poems, quotations and biography on Octavio Paz poet page. Read all poems of Octavio Paz and infos about Octavio Paz.
Mexican poet, essayist, and political thinker. His works reflect many influences, including Marxism, surrealism, and Aztec mythology. El laberinto de la soledad/The Labyrinth of Solitude (1950), the book which brought him to world attention, explores Mexico's heritage. His long poem Piedra del sol/Sun Stone (1957) uses contrasting images, centring on the Aztec Calendar Stone (representing the Aztec universe), to symbolize the loneliness of individuals and their search for union with others. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990.
In 1962 Paz was appointed Mexican ambassador to India, but resigned in 1968 in protest against the Mexican government's killing of 200 ... more »
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Octavio Paz Poems
No More Clichés
Beautiful face
That like a daisy opens its petals to the sun
So do you
Open your face to me as I turn the page.... more »
As One Listens To The Rain
Listen to me as one listens to the rain,
not attentive, not distracted,
light footsteps, thin drizzle,... more »
Between Going And Coming
Between going and staying
the day wavers,
in love with its own transparency.
The circular afternoon is now a bay... more »
The Street
Here is a long and silent street.
I walk in blackness and I stumble and fall
and rise, and I walk blind, my feet... more »
Last Dawn
Your hair is lost in the forest,
your feet touching mine.
Asleep you are bigger than the night,
but your dream fits within this room.... more »
The Bridge
Between now and now,
between I am and you are,
the word bridge.... more »
Brotherhood
I am a man: little do I last
and the night is enormous.
But I look up:... more »
All poems of Octavio Paz »
Octavio Paz Quotations
more quotations »-
''"Art" is an invention of aesthetics, which in turn is an invention of philosophers.... What we call art is a game.''
Octavio Paz (b. 1914), Mexican poet. "André Breton or the Quest of the Beginning," Alternating Current (1967). -
''Man does not speak because he thinks; he thinks because he speaks. Or rather, speaking is no different than thinking: to speak is to think.''
Octavio Paz (b. 1914), Mexican poet. "André Breton or the Quest of the Beginning," Alternating Current (1967). -
If we are a metaphor of the universe, the human couple is the metaphor par excellence, the point of intersection of all forces and the seed of all forms. The couple is time recaptured, the return to t...
Octavio Paz (b. 1914), Mexican poet. "André Breton or the Quest of the Beginning," Alternating Current (1967). -
''Social criticism begins with grammar and the re-establishing of meanings.''
Octavio Paz (b. 1914), Mexican poet. "Development and Other Mirages," The Other Mexico: Critique of the Pyramid (1972). -
''What distinguishes modern art from the art of other ages is criticism.''
Octavio Paz (b. 1914), Mexican poet. "Invention, Underdevelopment, Modernity," Alternating Current (1967).
As One Listens To The Rain
Listen to me as one listens to the rain,
not attentive, not distracted,
light footsteps, thin drizzle,
water that is air, air that is time,
the day is still leaving,
the night has yet to arrive,
figurations of mist
at the turn of the corner,
figurations of time
at the bend in this pause,
listen to me as one listens to the rain,
without listening, hear what I say
with eyes open inward, asleep
with all five senses awake,
it's raining, light footsteps, a murmur of syllables,
air and water, words with no weight:
what we are and are,
the days and ...
he is great poet, my first favorite modern poet, his works are different and amazing
I love Octavio Paz! I had him for a spanish project and in my opinion he is the best South American poet ever!
how about publishing poems in the language they were written?
Nice! Love his poem(s) ! Octavio Paz is an amazing guy, just doing an assignment for school, thought he was boring. But after reading these, it was awesome! I know take him as an inspirer.
I love this guy is amazing
From world literature scene Octavio Paz is my favorite, I just start to translate Paz's poem. One week ago I already translate these as: Across, As One Listens To The Rain, Axis, Between Going and Coming, Brotherhood, Counterparts, Last Dawn, No More Clichés, Passage, Spaces, The Street, The Bridge etc from poemhunter.com. I think next year I can publish a book on Paz and his Peoms.
A great poet of the world. He is one of my favorite poems since my university life. I did not know then that my lot will lead me to his country. I feel now happy that my beloved Alma Lorena Lopez Velazquez is a nymph of his country.
I do not know too much about this man, but there is a charter school named after him in Chicago and I attended my first year of schooling there, so he must have been a very influential figure through his words.
A great poet, and also associated with India, Paz have great influence on contemporary Indian poetry.Poets like K, G.Sankara Pillai have imitated Paz to a great extent.Often misquoted and mis=understood as a marxist poet although a school he do not belongs to, Paz put forward the magical experience of poetry of fine quality and great human values.His poems have a personal touch and a nature to talk to the inner profiles.