My Life with the Wave | Style

My Life with the Wave Style

Prose Poetry

Although it can be read as a short story, "My Life with the Wave" is included in a poetry collection, and is generally categorized as a "prose poem." A prose poem is written in the form of prose, but includes significant elements of poetry. "My Life with the Wave" is a prose poem in the sense that while it is a story written in prose, it includes elements of heightened emotion and imaginative fancy characteristic of poetry.

"My Life with the Wave" is written from the first person point-of-view, meaning that the narrator, the main character in the story, tells the story from his own perspective. The first person narrative voice in this story represents a love relationship from the perspective of one of the lovers, portraying only one side of the story, which is how most people in real life experience love and relationships—from their own perspective.

Personification is a literary device by which an animal or inanimate object is given human traits, characteristics, and behaviors. The wave in "My Life with the Wave" is personified; it is represented as a woman in love. This stylistic choice creates a metaphorical comparison between the emotional ebb and flow of a woman in a relationship, and the turbulent, ever-changing nature of an ocean wave. The school of fish is also personified in this story, as the narrator sees them as rivals for the affection of the wave. Other natural elements, such as the stars and the wind, are also personified within the story.

"My Life with the Wave" is considered to be one of Paz's surrealist works of poetry. Surrealism was a movement in literature and the arts that developed in France during the post-World War I era. It grew out of, and in reaction to, a movement known as Dadaism, and was influenced by the theories of the unconscious mind put forth by Sigmund Freud. While living in Paris, Paz was strongly influenced by surrealism and became acquainted with André Breton, the "father" of the surrealist movement in literature. "My Life with the Wave" includes surrealist elements in the sense that it expresses the internal state of a man in and out of love through striking imagery and absurd concepts that forgo realism for the sake of expressiveness.