Brotherhood: Homage to Claudius Ptolemy :- Octavio Paz

Brotherhood: Homage to 

Claudius Ptolemy

Octavio Paz

I am a man: little do I last

and the night is enormous.

But I look up:

the stars write.

Unknowing I understand:

I too am written,

and at this very moment

someone spells me out.

Brotherhood: Homage to 

Claudius Ptolemy Summary

This poem, as the title indicates, is an homage to the Roman astronomer and mathematician from the tenth century. In the ancient age, when technology was not so advanced, the people were awed by the universe as it appeared to them. Man began speculations as to his position in this universe. Paz writes this poem in the spirit of the astronomer Claudius Ptolemy who tries to define the location of man in the scheme of the universe. The speaker in the poem observes his littleness and brevity of existence in contrast with the enormity of the universe. Upon reflection, the speaker realizes that there is a design that organizes this universe and man's existence in it.