Analysis of The Judgement Tale by Valzhyna Mort



This poem was originally published in the April 2014 issue of Poetry Magazine

The Judgment Tale

BY VALZHYNA MORt

Over the growing shadows fell the dead weight of  light.

With a long bark mules metered the distance and turned back.

Dust rose like columns of unpaid debt.

Spit dried before it could reach the ground.

Then the thin-barked orange trees disowned their thick-skinned fruit.

Then mosquitoes spat out bad blood into the gutters and were gone.

Fish was opened like a two-page book,

its skeleton, caught aflame like an asp,

inscribed with fire along the bone lines,

then slapped on a stone face of a plate

next to a Coca-Cola bottle as cold as hell.

In the market fruit prices jumped up so high — 

the seller women turned into hawks.

With a gibbous peacock brushing by their feet,

in the woods where each leaf  hides a face,

                          and each trunk a spine,

                                                 and each tree a crime,

                                                               where owls and angels,

a man and three women were contesting an apple.

The winner’s body itself was an apple with skin chewed off.

Inside her breasts milk circled like a growling animal

locked behind two heavy nipples.

It was both day and night.

Her moon-white hand on the sun-gold fruit.

In her hair more stones than in a graveyard.

So

    I followed the woman as she ate

    hoping if not for a bite

    then at least

    a spit in my direction.

    But she left nothing of that apple.

    Not even the memory of eating it

    ever.

                                                       Analysis of The Judgement Tale

          In the poem The Judgement Tale by Valzhyna Mort uses harsh language to describe the scene and to convey mood and meaning. 

          Throughtout the poem harsh language is used to describe to the reader the scene that is taking place. The first example of harsh language is shown in the statement "trees disowned their thick skinned fruit." This is an example of harsh language because through the use of personification, the narrator is describing the trees as if she is almost upset with the trees because they are not producing any fruit. This also shows the scene around the narrator because it shows the starvation that the narrator and the other characters are going through, but it also shows how barren the land they live in is. The second example of harsh language can be shown in the statement "mosquitoes spat out blood" and "fish was opened like a two-page book." These are examples of harsh language because they show just how troubling the times are for the narrator. Clearly the narrator is temperate to fulfill the hunger he/she currently feels, but no matter where the narrator turns is disappointment. This shows the scene because it solidifies the idea of starvation throughout the place the narrator is referring to. The last example of harsh language can be seen in the statement "a man and three women were contesting for an apple." This is an example of harsh language because the narrator is almost judging these people for fighting for just an apple, but at the same time, the narrator wishes so desperately that the apple was in his/her hands. This shows just how bad of times the characters are experiencing. The narrator tells the reader later on that a pregnant women was the one who won the apple, and the narrator wished that she would "at least a spit in my direction." People in this scene are starving so much that they would beg for a spit in their direction.

           Harsh language is also used to convey the meaning and the mood of the poem. After the narrator witnsses the pregnant women win the apple the narrator says that she eat the apple with  " Not even the memory of eating it." This is an example of harsh language because the narrator is upset that this women ate the apple without thinking of the other people around her that are starving as well. However, this also creates a since of irony in that this women has two people to feed rather than the narrator who only has to feed them self.This conveys the meaning because it depicts the idea of what is right and what someone is willing to do to survive. Earlier in the poem " seller women turned into hawks" in the market. The narrator shows that people become animal-like by fighting over food just to survive. This example also shows the mood the narrator feels which is how upset she is with her environment. The whole explanation of her environment is depicted in a chaotic way and the narrator seems to be extremely displeased by everything around him/her. 

               The language used in line breaks throughout the poem also reflect the meaning and mood. In the break in lines 12-13 "jumped so high...turned into hawks" shows the lengths in which the characters will go to obtain food. The harsh language is used here to show the narrators disapproval of the way the "seller women" act. The line break also serves a purpose to show the disconnect with morality and what one is willing to do to survive. The next line break "memory of eating it...ever" shows again the disappointment the narrator feels towards the people. It seems as though if the narrator were to have obtained the apple, they would cherish it and savor every single bit rather than not even thinking twice about it like the pregnant women.

             In the poem The Judgement Tale, Mort uses harsh language to describe the scene and to convey meaning and mood.