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
trampling the silent stones and the dry leaves.
Someone behind me also tramples, stones, leaves:
if I slow down, he slows;
if I run, he runs I turn : nobody.
Everything dark and doorless,
only my steps aware of me,
I 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.
By:Octavio Paz
Born: in March 31 1914 Mexico City
Died: April 19, 1998
He was one of the greatest Hispanic poets of all time in 20th century
Speaker: The speaker sounds like someone who is paranoid and is scared. He mentions keywords like “ dark”, “long and silent street” and “ blackness” which gives you an idea of a horror scene.
Imagery: The imagery that the author used appealed to the five senses. When he says “ Here is a long and silent street “, he's appealing it to the hearing and seeing sense. Another quote where he uses imagery is when he says ” Someone behind me also tramples, stones, leaves:
if I slow down, he slows; if I run, he runs I turn”, this is an example of kinesthetic imagery.
Figurative Language: A figurative language that is used in this poem is anaphor. When the poet says “ trampling the silent stones and the dry leaves.
Someone behind me also tramples, stones, leaves”. He repeats “leaves” at the end of the sentences. Another type of figurative language is personification. When the poet says “only my steps aware of me”. In reality, steps cannot be aware of a person.
Tone: The tone of this poem is mysterious and frightening. The idea of having the feeling that someone is following you is frightening and sound like the person is paranoid. It's mysterious because the whole idea of walking in a dark streets/alleys is so vague .
Theme: The theme of this poem is that people should take life as it comes although you never know what to expect. Life is all about overcoming obstacles.In lines 3 and 4 when he says “ and rise, and I walk blind, my feet
trampling the silent stones and the dry leaves.”, he possibly doesn't know what he wants out of life so he keeps going.
I really love how your poem has nice scary tone to it.I like how you chose this poem because you did excellent on explaining the theme, speaker,tone of this poem. I can relate your annotation really well with this poem. Yes, I do agree with your theme how some people feel fear but they like try to ignore it but they sill fear the fear. Also how you picked the word "darkness" symbolize really well with your whole poem it explains nicely ! Well done I like it!
ReplyDeleteThe format of your biographical information is extremely organized ! It makes it easy to read and I admire the way you worded it .
ReplyDeleteI love the confusion presented within the poem. While reading you lose sense of why or what's making the speaker stumble. I think that life itself has become and obstacle in the speaker's path. The speaker usually goes with the flow of life, not really questioning his experiences. The speaker is lost and doesn't know what lies ahead for him. The author uses repetition to emphasize the struggle within the speaker. There is a shift in the poem in which the speaker begins to search for his purpose in the world. This poem was very thought provoking, and interesting. Great choice of poem!
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