A Stone’s Throw

by Elma Mitchell
Notes
collated by Miss. D. Gordon
 Poem
And then - this guru,
Preacher, God-merchant, God-knows-what-
And if our fingers bruised Spoilt the whole thing, (30)
We shouted out Speaking to her
'We've got her! Here she is! Her shuddering skin,
These were love-bites, compared (Should never speak to them)
It's her all right '. Squatting on the ground - her level,
We caught her. To the hail of kisses of stone, (20)
The last assault Writing in the dust
There she was – (5) Something we couldn't read. (35)
And battery, frigid rape,
To come And saw in her
A decent-looking woman, you'd have said, Something we couldn't see,
(They often are) Of right.
For justice must be done (25) At least until
Beautiful, but dead scared, He turned his eyes on us,
Tousled – we roughed her up Specially when
It tastes so good. Her eyes on us, (40)
A little, nothing much (10) Our eyes upon ourselves.
And not the first time
By any means
She'd felt men's hands We walked away
Greedy over her body - Still holding stones
But ours were virtuous, (15) That we may throw
Of course. Another day (45)
Given the urge.
John
8: 1-
11it
Read
Be enlightened
John 8: 1-11
8 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 
At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and
he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman
caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this
woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such
women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a
basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on
questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be
the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus
was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman,
where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Summary of Poem
The poem A Stone's Throw is a crowd of some self-righteous men who caught a
prostitute/harlot/indecent woman. Prostitution was a sin (still is) and the punishment was
stoning. She was beautiful, but scared because she had gotten 'roughed up' a little by the
crowd. The persona states that the woman has experienced men's hands on her body before,
but this crowd's hands were virtuous. He also claims that if this crowd bruises her, it cannot
be compared to what she has experienced before. The persona also speaks about a last
assault and battery to come. He justifies this last assault by calling it justice, and it is
justice that feels not only right, but good. But then a 'preacher, god merchant,' aka Jesus
squatted down to her level and writing in the dust and looked at her. He writes something
that the crowd cannot see. They saw that they weren't as sinless as they had thought and so
no stone was thrown at her or rather Jesus’ look was an admonition enough. Essentially, the
preacher judges them, thereby allowing the lady to also judge the crowd, leading to the
crowd inevitably judging itself. The crowd walks away from the lady, still holding stones
[which can be seen as a metaphor for judgments] that can be thrown another day.
"We shouted out, 'We've got her! Here she is! It's her all
right '. We caught her."

The persona begins with the use of the pronoun 'we' to show that
he was accompanied by at least one other person. This is a display
of the involvement of multiple pursuers in search of this woman.
The subsequent lines are punctuated with exclamation points to
show their excitement. 'We've got her' shows a triumphant
conquering of this woman . 'Here she is' gives the impression of
exhibiting her for all to see, like a trophy or an elusive animal. 'It's
her all right' and 'we caught her' echo that triumph in capturing
the woman.
 "A decent-looking woman, you'd have said, (They
often are)“"Beautiful, but dead scared,"
"Tousled - we roughed her up A little, nothing
much"
The persona evidently sees the woman as physically attractive, but uses
the phrase 'you'd have said' to somewhat distance himself from admitting
to the idea of finding her attractive. She is made to be only a stereotype.
The word tousled here suggests that her clothing is ruffled or her hair is
dishevelled. The persona goes on to say that they 'roughed her up a little,
nothing much', a euphemism, insinuating that they didn't use any
excessive force in capturing her. His version of the tale is obviously a lie.
 "And not the first time By any means She'd felt men's
hands Greedy over her body - "
"But ours were virtuous, Of course."

These lines show that the men took the opportunity to let their hands roam around the
woman's body. The persona makes a point of expressing that it wasn't the first time
something like this would have happened to her, so it wasn't out of the ordinary. This also
insinuates that she was a prostitute or a adulteress given to such promiscuity. The use of the
word 'greedy' suggests a violent ravaging of the woman's body by these men who hope to
sate a hunger by molesting this scared woman. The persona here tries to make it seem as
though they are virtuous in probing her body with their hands; as if they are above reproach
for doing so. He tries to distance himself from those men with whom she fornicates. This is
irony in that the persona suggests that he and those with him are 'virtuous' in touching this
woman's body, although they are doing the same thing as those she 'sins' with. Hence, his
assertion of self-righteousness is ironic, since he is no different from those he tries to
separate himself from.
"And if our fingers bruised Her shuddering skin, These were love-bites,
compared To the hail of kisses of stone,“/ "The last assault and battery, frigid
rape, to come of right."
The persona uses 'if' here in an attempt to mitigate their cruelty. It is obvious that they
did bruise her skin, which is described as shuddering due to her fear. The persona
introduces more erotic overtones by juxtaposing these bruises to pleasurable 'love-
bites'. He attempts to mitigate their maltreatment of the woman by saying that there was
far worse in store for her- particularly what is expressed in the speaker's euphemism
for being stoned, 'the hail of kisses of stone.' By saying that the hail of stone would be
like kisses, he introduces the idea that this violent execution of 'justice' would be
pleasurable.
"For justice must be done specially when it tastes so good."

It is made evident by this line exactly how self-righteous the persona really is, because it isn't
made clear in the poem exactly whose justice is being executed. These lines, then, clarify that
this is simply providing pleasure for the persona, who neither values the life of the woman
nor the idea of true justice. After all, whose laws did the woman break? What authority have
they to deliver punishment? And most of all, is anything done here even close to justice?
This extrajudicial punishment is clearly just enjoyable for the persona as shown by the line
"...it tastes so good." They relish in the brutal assault and violation of this woman. This
delight in her misfortune and, continues this metaphor of a meal to sate the appetites of these
power-hungry, misogynistic miscreants.
John 8: 7
When they kept on questioning him,
he straightened up and said to
them, “Let any one of you who is
without sin be the first to throw a
stone at her.”
"And then - this guru, Preacher, God-merchant, God-knows-what -Spoilt the whole
thing,"
"Speaking to her (Should never speak to them) /Squatting on the ground - her level,“
"Writing in the tone
The persona's dusttakes
/Something we couldn't
a turn as his masochistic read."
euphoria is interrupted. He spits out in a tone of sarcasm
several names to label the man by, and it is obvious that he is greatly upset by this man's intervening. The
poet skilfully incorporates the use of the phrase 'God-knows-what,' as it indicates the fact that God does know
the identity of this man even if no one in the crowd does (Jesus).
The man speaks to the woman who they want to persecute- something the persona considers taboo
due to how he discriminates against this woman, stigmatizing her as a prostitute/adulteress undeserving of
any human decency. The man literally comes between the mob and the woman, putting himself in harm's
way.
The intervening man stoops to the ground, at the same level as the woman. This essentially shows that
he is not critical of the woman; he doesn't consider himself morally or socially superior to her for any reason.
Unlike the crowd, he sees her as a human being and not an object of immorality and ridicule. The way that
the persona says 'her level' gives the impression of disgust and prejudice.
This line, where the man is said to write something that the mob couldn't read, has several possible
connotations. What he wrote could either be a foreign language or it could be simply illegible. However, he
could have intended to show the crowd that they lacked discernment in their condemnation/persecution of
another human being by writing in the dust.
"And saw in her something we couldn't see at least until he turned his eyes on
us, her eyes on us, our eyes upon ourselves.“
"We walked away still holding stones that we may throw another day given the
urge."
The man sees something in the woman that the persona and the mob could not see in her.
However, it became obvious once the man looked at the crowd, and the woman looked at
them as well. In turn, they began to look at themselves. In an attempt to persecute this
woman, they themselves had operated with no moral compass. They had descended to
such a level where nothing morally right had been achieved. No words were said, but the
crowd understood.

The crowd leaves, feeling dejected and unable to satisfy their craving for brutality and
violence. However, they still have their stones in hand- showing that the insight given by
the man would not be permanently incorporated into the minds of the crowd. The precepts
of true justice- rationality, truth and fairness- has never been and will never be a part of the
crowd's purpose. They have no intention of changing. They will do the same again 'given
the urge.'
Major Themes
What is the poem’s final message?
Biblical
Allusion
Irony
Euphemism
Sarcasm
Imagery
 Metaphor/
Personification
 Thanks!
Do you have any questions?
[email protected]
+91 620 421 838
yourcompany.com

CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo,

including icon by Flaticon, and infographics & images from Freepik

Please keep this slide for attribution

Alternative resources
Alternative resources
 Instructions for use (free users)
In order to use this template, you must credit Slidesgo by keeping the Thanks slide.

You are allowed to:

● Modify this template.
● Use it for both personal and commercial purposes.

You are not allowed to:

● Sublicense, sell or rent any of Slidesgo Content (or a modified version of Slidesgo Content).
● Distribute this Slidesgo Template (or a modified version of this Slidesgo Template) or include it in a database or in
any other product or service that offers downloadable images, icons or presentations that may be subject to
distribution or resale.
● Use any of the elements that are part of this Slidesgo Template in an isolated and separated way from this
Template.
● Delete the “Thanks” or “Credits” slide.
● Register any of the elements that are part of this template as a trademark or logo, or register it as a work in an
intellectual property registry or similar.

For more information about editing slides, please read our FAQs or visit Slidesgo School:
https://slidesgo.com/faqs and https://slidesgo.com/slidesgo-school
 Instructions for use (premium users)
In order to use this template, you must be a Premium user on Slidesgo.

You are allowed to:

● Modify this template.
● Use it for both personal and commercial purposes.
● Hide or delete the “Thanks” slide and the mention to Slidesgo in the credits.
● Share this template in an editable format with people who are not part of your team.

You are not allowed to:

● Sublicense, sell or rent this Slidesgo Template (or a modified version of this Slidesgo Template).
● Distribute this Slidesgo Template (or a modified version of this Slidesgo Template) or include it in a database or in
any other product or service that offers downloadable images, icons or presentations that may be subject to
distribution or resale.
● Use any of the elements that are part of this Slidesgo Template in an isolated and separated way from this
Template.
● Register any of the elements that are part of this template as a trademark or logo, or register it as a work in an
intellectual property registry or similar.

For more information about editing slides, please read our FAQs or visit Slidesgo School:
https://slidesgo.com/faqs and https://slidesgo.com/slidesgo-school