No More Clichés Poem by Octavio Paz: a Note of Love for Women

Paz starts the poem with the phrase “Beautiful face” because he wanted to begin the poem by mentioning what a man usually sees first in a woman, his face. In the second stanza, he says “Enchanting smile” “Oh beauty of a magazine” implanting a stereotype of beauty, like magazine models that are governed by the same physique, a perfect body, and a perfect smile.

Appreciation of the Female Spirit, Not the Body

As the poem continues, he says he does not want more cliches and shows interest in the essence of women. Paz also mentions a painting by Henry Holiday titled “Dante and Beatrice,” which is one of his masterpieces and expresses that Beatrice is the main inspiration of Dante and the love of his life; for this, in the third stanza he says “How many poems have been written to you?” “How many Dantes have written to you, Beatrice” wanting to tell the woman to whom he is writing the poem that she is his inspiration. He writes as if she were his muse; for this time, he talks about his inner beauty, it is a love note to all women because in the fifth stanza he says “This poem is dedicated to those women, whose beauty is in their charm. ”

Valuing a woman’s spirit every day has become more difficult. Know how to look beyond and reach the feelings, goals, fears, frustrations, weaknesses, dreams and everything a woman is full of, not all men can achieve. Paz wanted to exalt the importance of a strong, capable and complete woman. In the sixth stanza the writer says “This poem is to you women, that like a Sherezade 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 flesh, battles for passions aroused by a new day, battle for the neglected rights. Or just battles to survive one more night. ” Giving an emphasis to how complicated it has become to be a woman today, when a person minimize your essence, and your physique becomes all you have to offer to the world. This poem is a tribute to all women to show themselves as they really are, without fear of what people may think.

From a few years until today, it has become very common to idealize women by their faces and bodies, which is why thousands of women feel insecure to show themselves as they really are. For this, Paz decides to write a poem breaking schemes, a poem that can be interpreted as a note of love for all those insecure women, unable to love themselves for what they are, because of a society full of absurd and empty stereotypes, where they promote a perfect body and not a brilliant mind, preferring a body full of curves and not a head full of ideas.

The seventh verse begins “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” Paz is recognizing the problem that women face in these times, a world in which women are with broken souls and watery eyes; facing their life problems and trying to fight against their internal devils. When reading this poem, I reflect on many things. Not only men make us feel inferior,also women destroys each other. That’s why I like to always remember that other women’s bodies are not our battlegrounds and also I want to apologize to all women I have called pretty, before I’ve called them intelligent or brave. I am sorry I made it sound as though something as simple as what you are born with is the most you have to be proud of when your spirit has crushed mountains. From now on I will say things like “you are resilient” or “you are extraordinary” not because I don’t think you are pretty, but because you are much more than that. We are all born so beautiful… the greatest tragedy is being convinced we are not.