Abstract: (Metaphors of identity in Octavio Paz’s poetry) This paper aims at exploring the metaphorical facets of identity in Octavio Paz’s poetry, both from the individual’s point of view and from the perspective of its insertion in the wider context of the collective identity. The case of the Mexican poet, like that of other poets with similarly heterogeneous roots, is special because the personal identity is defined within a framework of a national identity influenced by two ancestral legacies, the Aztec and the Hispanic one. We will focus on identity as a process, configured through imagination and memory, as well as on the presence of metaphors in the definitions of the human being. In Octavio Paz’s opinion, poetry reflects the tendency of the human being to define the self through imaginative projection and to search for ways of transcending ordinary experiences through art. The exploration of identity, especially after becoming aware of the mystery of otherness, is carried out through the use of metaphors which can open new interrogations. In this sense, we will highlight the metaphors with assertive or exhortative functions that involve the reader in the poet’s dialogue with himself.