Takin’ it to “The street”

“The street”

By Octavio Paz

A poem analysis by Mr. Espinosa

Octavio Paz:The poet of MexicoBorn in Mexico City, 1914Father and Grandfather both writersStudied Law and Literature at the National University of MexicoLived in Spain, New York, and San Francisco in the 1930’s and 40’sWon the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990

The street by Octavio Paz

A long and silent street.

I walk in blackness and

I stumble and fall

and rise, and I walk, blind, my feet stepping on silent stones and dry leaves.

Someone behind me also stepping on stones, leaves:

if I slow down, he slows;

if I run, he runs.

I turn: nobody.

Everything dark and doorless.

Turning and turning among these corners

which lead forever to the street

where nobody waits for, nobody follows me,

where I pursue a man who stumbles

And rises and says when he sees me:

nobody

The streetThe theme that Octavio Paz’ poem, “The street”

overwhelmingly relates to is identity. In the historical context, this poem is part of the collection Calamidades y Milagros which translates to Calamities and Miracles, written between the years 1937 and 1947. This time period includes the end of the Great Depression, the rise of Hitler in Germany, and World War Two. Paz lived in Spain in the late 1930’s writing as a young Marxist and Anti-Fascist during the Spanish Civil War and writing in San Francisco and New York during World War Two. “The street” reflects the authors feelings of isolation and loneliness caused by his self-imposed exile from his native country, Mexico. It is this isolation and loneliness which leads him to write that the man who pursues him, (who is himself) refers to him as “nobody”.

Paz uses alliteration such as “silent street” in the first line of his poem, and “stepping on silent stones” in line 4. The repetition of the word “silent” emphasizes the author’s tone of quiet isolation. Alliteration is also used in line 7, “dark and doorless”, again suggesting the author’s isolation in the dark, unable to enter the safety and comfort of a home.

Ending each stanza with the word “nobody”, first when he turns to see who is following him, then when the person sees him and refers to him as “nobody” suggests a feeling of lost identity for the author, and lack of human companionship.

Works Cited

Literature, Mcdougal, Littell, Orange Level, Evanston, Illinois, 1989, pp 824-845

Paz, Octavio, Selected Poems, Edited by Eliot Weinberger New Directions Books, New York, New York, 1984

Poets.org, Octavio Paz, biography

www.poets.org/poet