Two Bodies By Octavio Paz Summary

The idea of the poem “Two Bodies by Octavio Paz is that anyone in the world can understand that society is trying to fit you into the mold that they want you in. That being yourself isn’t the norm. Some background information on Octavio Paz to help understand where he is coming from. Paz was born four years into the Mexican Revolution. As a kid he was exposed to many types of literature throughout the years. Paz traveled to many different countries and places to learn about many different cultures. He began giving lectures to students at Harvard University. Paz was the holder of the Eliot Norton professorship. While working at Harvard he was awarded the Neustadt prize and the Nobel prize. This helps us see how Paz sees humanity and how contradicting it is to the rest of the world. The poem “Two Bodies” is about the relationship between two people or beings. Paz wants us to see this poem as something more than just lovers it's almost as these two

A quote that supports duality is when Blackmon states “Two Bodies” explores several dualities at one time: the individual and the universe; man and women; reader and speaker; and even the poet and the speaker.” This means when exploring several dualities means that there are several concepts. When they are being compared it doesn’t exactly state that necessarily trying to affect the other. The quote that proves this theory from the poem is “Two bodies face to face/ are at times two stones/ and night a desert.” (4-6) This is proven because the quote is using a metaphor in it to compare the two bodies to the two stones. The night is also being compared to a dessert as well. Stones are typically in moveable because they are solid and when you have two stones next to each other they tend not to bother one another. The two stones or two bodies in the quote are two completely separate things. No two things are ever alike in anyway. They stand alone and never stand