Piedra de sol Analysis

Hendecasyllabic Free Verse Hendecawhat? Yep, you heard us. "Piedra de sol" is made up of 584 hendecasyllabic lines (that's the fancy pants way of saying that each line has eleven syllables) in the...

The speaker of this poem never gets a name, but we do get to know a little bit about him. We're calling him a him because of the masculine adjectives he uses to describe himself in the original Spa...

The real setting from where the speaker seems to be speaking is in his own meditative mind, or in the room where he writes. This might have something to do with that surrealist crowd that Octavio P...

When you read "Piedra de sol" aloud, you might notice that you automatically swing into a cadence-like rhythm. There are no periods (even though there are some question marks in there) and most of...

"Piedra de sol" or "Sunstone" refers to the round, gigantic, stone Aztec calendars. The poem is inspired by the circularity of the Aztec year, and the way that events repeat in a cycle. Therefore,...

Abstract, Natural ElementsOctavio Paz was a sucker for basic elements of nature. One of his other poems is called "Water and Wind and Stone," and he loves to weave and repeat these types of images...

(6) Tree Line"Piedra de sol" is a long hike, but at least it's circular and not out-and-back. While some of the abstract images may let you get distracted, try to watch your step and keep going—i...

The sunstone is a real Aztec calendar that inspired Octavio Paz in writing this poem. A visual might help you imagine what his mind was working with. What can we say? He's kind of a big deal. Octav...

PGThe speaker in the poem is definitely interested in the transcendence he claims comes from making love, but he's a pretty proper old chap: nothing too graphic here, but there is some innuendo.

Literary and Mythological References:Melusina (109, 217) is a serpent- or fish-woman in medieval mythology and, more recently, the name of a character in Andre Breton's surrealist writings, like th...