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.
Enchanting smile
Any man would be under your spell,
Oh, beauty of a magazine.
How many poems have been written to you?
How many Dantes have written to you, Beatrice?
To your obsessive illusion
To you manufacture fantasy.
But today I won't make one more Cliché
And write this poem to you.
No, no more clichés.
This poem is dedicated to those women
Whose beauty is in their charm,
In their intelligence,
In their character,
Not on their fabricated looks.
This poem is to you women,
That like a Shahrazade wake up
Everyday with a new story to tell,
A story that sings for change
That hopes for battles:
Battles for the love of the united flesh
Battles for passions aroused by a new day
Battle for the neglected rights
Or just battles to survive one more night.
Yes, to you women in a world of pain
To you, bright star in this ever-spending universe
To you, fighter of a thousand-and-one fights
To you, friend of my heart.
Rather, it will contemplate the night
And its bright stars,
And so, no more clichés.
This poem is indeed a love poem, but with a twist. It seems that Paz starts off the poem like any other romantic poet would, complementing the woman on her looks and how they captivate him, but at a certain point he changes. He says that he will not write a poem about a women's looks for that means nothing rather he will talk about her intelligence and their charm.I feel like Paz used to be a man who strictly looked at women through their beautiful looks. he aims to make the change to no longer see women through just one dimension, but rather though the many facets of their personality. Thus comes the title no cliche he does not want to be just any other romantic he wants to be different.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Arthur. The way Paz put a twist into the poem and how he has different ways to define the meaning of love for a women. The way Paz mentions "bright stars" as women who are smart and fight for neglected rights and love. Paz seems to be unique by showing the inner beauty of a women and not just the outer beauty. He demonstrates in the beginning of the poem how he use to see women from the outside. But, as we go further to the poem we start to realize how women have different inner styles of beauty and men should contemplate them for it.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is about love and loving a person’s personality, intelligence, character etc. The narrator seems to know that the woman has received many poems but that the poem he is giving to her is different and that it is not a repetition. I also agree with Arthur and Jocelyn that the narrator does add a twist to the poem towards the end. The narrator at end seems to sort of give up towards the love he had on the women because he sees that many men are doing the same as him. It also mentions at the end that either way he will keep his head up no matter what.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Jocelyn and Arthur in what the author Octavio paz says. He writes a poem about one specific woman at first and then late funnels out to a more broad aspect of women in general. He explains the great things a woman has and why he likes them. The first woman he talks about captivates him with her beauty and her outer looks overall. The author later states in the poem that he wants to look at women in a different way and no longer cliches. Octavio paz wants to be romantic in a new way. He wants to have a new spin to his romanticism. He wants his perspective towards women to change. Octavio paz wants to love for who the woman is not just for how they look. He doesnt want to be ordinary in how he loves a woman. His romance has to be different, very unique.
ReplyDeleteI believe this poem is crafted to bring appreciation for women and looks are the very least of it. Men usually relieve their lonlyness through a sexual kind of love and here is Paz critizing these men in addition to showing how women have to deal with these kinds of "BATTLES". I don't know but I kind of see that the second to last stanza is controversial. It seems a bit cliche like "bright star in this ever-spending universe" or maybe even "contemplate the night and its bright stars". The structure of the poem has a transition. It starts off by a man being in love of the outer beauty he saw in a woman then, it transitions to a different kind of love where inner beauty is much more important than appearances. Overall he is as cool as Ibsen :)
ReplyDeleteI see how the author criticizes “beauty of magazines”, how he sees that women are alimentated with the idea that beauty is strictly based on physically appearances, and not on their character charm, and intelligence. Also, he mentions how their beauty are an ‘obsessive illusion, manufactured fantasy’, the author insinuates that looks can be almost to the point of perfection, but that just because they look like that it does not mean that they are perfect; that everyone has a flaw and that all those depictions of magazines are fake. In the fifth stanza, he mentions that beauty is all inside and that it’s not on their fabricated looks, what happens to things that are fabricated? They eventually break and lose their luminance, he is trying to say that beauty is not going to last very long, that it could last for a while but that those women that look good in the magazines are going to age. On the other hand, women that are beautiful inside will never grow old or lose their luminance; they will stay like that, with all those characteristics that make women truly beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI believe this poem is about really loving someone not for their outer beauty but for their character, their inner beauty, and intelligence. When he says "how many poems have been written to you?" he is comparing that to how many times have people acted the same towards you and only like her because of her looks. This guy actually wants to do things different and not the typical manner when he says "No, no more cliches this poem is dedicated to those women who's beauty is in their charm, intelligence, and character". When he says "A story that sings for change" he is putting a stop to this typical way that guys look at women and do things for them he wasn't to be the first to love a woman for the right reasons.
ReplyDeleteOctavio Paz makes use of his abstract style in this poetic work, to criticize society for its constant depiction and denigration of women. The title “No More Clichés,” highlights the idea that certain types of women are a constant cliché to a man’s eye. For example in magazines, the reader reads cliché titles such as “sexy,” “hot,” “fit,” and many other titles along with pictures of women. Those pictures portray beautiful women showing some skin and sexy postures along with naughty face expressions. Pictures of that kind stimulate the mind of men, into thinking of women as sexy beings or objects. Octavio Paz utilizes diction and imagery in the first three stanzas to create this image. However, the contradiction comes when he mentions that the poem would not address those women but real women.
ReplyDeleteMost of the time it’s neglected that women have feelings and strength within that sweetness. Paz dedicates the poem to those women who fight and win the “battles” the “fabricated” ones don’t even dare to participate in. Although is sometimes rewarding for some men to have a sexy woman to their side, for others it’s more valuable to have a smart woman who worries about others and not only makeup and shoes.
The opening of the six stanza; “This poem is to you women,” acknowledges women from all over the world who can related to the poem and have sometime felt depicted, forgotten, or denigrated by society. The denigration of women can be seen in different types of media such as magazines, music videos, lyrics, covers, TV, etc. Octavio Paz’s poem, has gained strength through the years because this particular type of criticism can hardly be seen or heard about in our current society. Men or women don’t bother to look beyond what is in front of them and realize the harm, instead some of us choose to go with the flow of things and never question. The closing lines of the poem, suggest that there are still men who valued much more than physical features or external beauty.
Where can I find the original version in Spanish?
ReplyDeleteDear Shantal:
DeleteI am looking for the same thing: the poem "No More Cliches" by Octavio Paz in the original Spanish as written by the Author himself.
If you could please help me to find this poem in the original Spanish, I would truly appreciate it.
Please write to me directly at:
caleb@eaglecom.net
or
calebboone1957@yahoo.com
My sister would like to have this poem in the original Spanish for her High School Spanish Class.
Thank you very much for your kind assistance.
Sincerely yours,
Caleb Boone.