A Stone’s Throw – Elma Mitchell Page 114

BIOGRAPHY
Elma Mitchell (November 19, 1919 – November 23, 2000) was a minor British poet, but a very
original, crafty and thought-provoking one, even controversial. She began publishing poems at
age 48 (fairly late in life).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcavSx4Qjz0 – Dramatic reading of the poem

Background
A re-creation of an incident from the bible found in the gospel of John, Chapter 8, where a
woman caught in the act of adultery is brought before Jesus by the religious leaders (Pharisees)
of that time. Jesus stooped down and wrote in the sand, and then invited any of the men who
considered himself “without sin” to cast the first stone. One by one they all slunk away by guilty
conscience. Note: the meaning of Pharisees is ‘separated one’ because they believed they
should not defile themselves by keeping company with ‘sinners.’

Situation and Title

The poem is based on an event in the life of Jesus. A woman, caught in the act of adultery, is
brought to Jesus for Him to pronounce sentence on her, giving the Pharisees permission to
stone her to death, as the Law prescribed.

The speaker in the poem, one of Pharisees, seems to gain some pleasure from rough-handling
the woman, and the merciful reaction of Jesus to the woman’s ‘sin’, prefers to point the finger
at another person’s sinfulness than to confess his own shortcomings.

Consider the title of the poem – ‘A Stone’s Throw’. The title here is a kind of pun with three
meanings:

1) literal – the stones that the religious leaders want to throw at the woman to execute
her.
2) metaphorical – alludes to the saying that ‘people in glass houses should not throw
stones.’
3) situational – where individuals are made scapegoats are just a ‘stone’s throw away from
us’ or nearby.
The title with its layers of meaning, contains the entire message of the poem.
POINT OF VIEW

Who is the speaker in the poem? It is one of the Pharisees who relates the incident in the
poem, showing his sadistic tendencies and disrespect for Jesus.
The poem can be seen as a dramatization, in that it shows something without telling it. The
male speaking voice (female poet) narrates an event in his own words, providing details about
the incident while unintentionally revealing much about himself and his companions.
This is also seen in the use of remarks in brackets, the conversational tone of the persona.

POETIC DEVICES

Choice of Speaker
It is not the Gospel writer, not Jesus, not the woman, not an onlooker but is actually one of the
men who are demanding that the woman be stoned to death for her adultery.
The poet, Mitchell, allows the speaker to reveal much about himself as he speaks. His self-
righteousness, prejudice, scorn for Jesus and even his hope that he will have another
opportunity to gratify his sadistic tendencies. If not for this strategy by the poet, the reader
would not have had the ironic situation of a religious man revealing how ungodly he really is .
His own words condemn him as his lust, sadism and hypocrisy are exposed in his thoughts and
words.

Diction – Use of Words

The poet’s careful selection of words creates a true irony of the situation presented in the
poem. Words such as virtuous, justice are used by the speaker to describe himself.
Note the words that refer to a sexual encounter – love bites, hands greedy over her body,
kisses, rape, tastes so good. What impression do they give the reader of the speaker who is a
religious man talking about the woman he is condemning for this kind of sin?
There are also many words and phrases associated with violence – roughed her up, bruised,
assault and battery, kisses of stone which emphasize the attitude of the Pharisees and the
speaker’s lack of regret toward the woman. By referring to the woman as ‘one of them’, the
speaker reveals his prejudice in grouping all attractive women as prostitutes:
‘A decent-looking woman, you’d have said,
(They often are)’

Allusion
The content of the poem makes reference to the Christian/biblical story of Jesus and Mary
Magdalene.
Metaphor
The stones can be seen as a metaphor for judgments. It is noteworthy that the crowd walks
away from the woman, still holding their stones to perhaps be used another day. The woman
may not have been physically punished for her actions, but she has certainly been labelled or
ostracized by her community.

Repetition
There is repeated reference to the word ‘eyes’ – Jesus looks at the men and sees past their
religious clothing to the lust and hypocrisy inside. Similarly, the woman now sees past their
religious exterior and the men finally see themselves as they really are. It is they who are on
trial – not the woman.

TONE
The tone of the speaker is flippant and insulting in reference to Jesus – ‘this guru, Preacher,
God-merchant, God-knows-what’.
Note: The tone of the poem is not the same as the tone of the speaker. The tone of the poem is
disgust for the self-righteous Pharisee, admiration for Jesus and compassion for the woman.

Themes
Despite the biblical setting of the poem, several contemporary issues are raised including a
sensitivity to the harsh realities concerning women; gender politics; sexuality and sexual
politics.
Double Standard - a rule or principle which is unfairly applied in different ways to different
people or groups – that is applied to men v women.

Message
In the final stanza, though the men have ceased their persecution of the woman, they remain
unrepentant and unchanged. This is a powerful statement that long after biblical days, society
has not changed because men behave in the same way today.
By shifting our gaze from the woman, the poem sends a message that self-righteousness makes
us blind to our own failings and cruelly intolerant of the failings of others. The legalistic religious
fanaticism of the Pharisees is contrasted with the mercy and compassion of Jesus – making us
consider the nature of true religion.