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| omnipoetics:lament_on_the_fall_of_tenochtitlan [2025/03/11 14:05] – holly | omnipoetics:lament_on_the_fall_of_tenochtitlan [2025/04/24 00:02] (current) – holly |
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| | //Serpent and the Fire// (pp. 38-39) |
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| ====== Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlán ====== | ====== Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlán ====== |
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| ===== Summary and Interpretation ===== | ===== Summary and Interpretation ===== |
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| By definition, a lament is “a song, poem, or other piece of writing that expresses sadness about someone’s death,” ((Cambridge Online Dictionary – “lament” entry, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/lament)) thus, “Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlan” can be summarized as a poem detailing the emotions that accompanied Tenochtitlan’s demise. | By definition, a lament is “a song, poem, or other piece of writing that expresses sadness about someone’s death,” ((Cambridge Online Dictionary – “lament” entry, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/lament)) thus, “Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlan” is a poem detailing the emotions that accompanied Tenochtitlan’s demise. |
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| | __Interpretation__ |
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| | One interpretation suggests that there is a personification of the city throughout the poem. In such an interpretation, the poem can be summarized as documenting the experiences of the Aztec people as they abandon the city, attempting to run for their lives. All the while, the city watches in despair as the Spanish pilfer, pillage, and burn the once-great city down. Thus, the poem “Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlan” is all about the impermanence of the great city and the Empire as a whole, not to mention a commentary on time itself, as all things come to an end when given time. |
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| | __Considerations__ |
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| In the poem, there is an emphasis on observation and emotion. For example, the speaker, who refers to themself as part of the collective with the inclusion of the word “our,” is crying “for Tlatelolco is lost,” but they are still in the process of watching “The Aztecs [who] are fleeing across the lake” (lines 1, 3, 4). ((“Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlan.” //The Serpent and the Fire,// edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024. p. 38)) If we accept that “Tlateloclo [was located] on the northern part of the island,” the poem's speaker suggests that the inhabitants of Tlateloclo were forced to simply wait until the invaders reached their residences, despite knowing that their homes would be destroyed. ((Rajagopalan, Angela Herren. //Portraying the Aztec Past : The Codices Boturini, Azcatitlan, and Aubin//. University of Texas Press, 2019, p. 2)) | In the poem, there is an emphasis on observation and emotion. For example, the speaker, who refers to themself as part of the collective with the inclusion of the word “our,” is crying “for Tlatelolco is lost,” but they are still in the process of watching “The Aztecs [who] are fleeing across the lake” (lines 1, 3, 4). ((“Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlan.” //The Serpent and the Fire,// edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024. p. 38)) If we accept that “Tlateloclo [was located] on the northern part of the island,” the poem's speaker suggests that the inhabitants of Tlateloclo were forced to simply wait until the invaders reached their residences, despite knowing that their homes would be destroyed. ((Rajagopalan, Angela Herren. //Portraying the Aztec Past : The Codices Boturini, Azcatitlan, and Aubin//. University of Texas Press, 2019, p. 2)) |
| Moreover, emotionally, the speaker expresses “grief,” but there is also a sense of frustration throughout the poem when we consider the use of the word “deserting,” which typically has a negative connotation (1, 7). ((“Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlan.” //The Serpent and the Fire,// edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024. p. 38)) Therefore, it could be argued that the helplessness that is evoked with the line “How can we save our homes, my people” is, in a way, assigning blame to those the speaker has already witnessed abandoning the fight (6). ((“Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlan.” //The Serpent and the Fire,// edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024. p. 38)) Interpreting the poem in this manner creates a division between the speaker of the poem and, by extension, their community, and “The Aztecs [who] are fleeing” (4). ((“Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlan.” //The Serpent and the Fire,// edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024. p. 38)) | Moreover, emotionally, the speaker expresses “grief,” but there is also a sense of frustration throughout the poem when we consider the use of the word “deserting,” which typically has a negative connotation (1, 7). ((“Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlan.” //The Serpent and the Fire,// edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024. p. 38)) Therefore, it could be argued that the helplessness that is evoked with the line “How can we save our homes, my people” is, in a way, assigning blame to those the speaker has already witnessed abandoning the fight (6). ((“Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlan.” //The Serpent and the Fire,// edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024. p. 38)) Interpreting the poem in this manner creates a division between the speaker of the poem and, by extension, their community, and “The Aztecs [who] are fleeing” (4). ((“Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlan.” //The Serpent and the Fire,// edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024. p. 38)) |
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| To support the division theorized above, it is recommended to examine how religion functions in the poem. The speaker of the poem says, “The water has turned bitter / our food is bitter / These are the acts of the Giver of Life” (17-19). ((Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlan.” //The Serpent and the Fire,// edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024. p. 39)) While the lines undoubtedly refer to Cortes’s erasure of the city’s “religious structures,” they also hint at the existence of a complex religious system dependent on location. ((Rajagopalan, Angela Herren. //Portraying the Aztec Past : The Codices Boturini, Azcatitlan, and Aubin.// University of Texas Press, 2019, p. 3)) Specifically, the Guggenheim has a “Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Axis Mundi of the Universe” on their website and maintains that “The great temple known as the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan symbolize[d] the axis mundi, the Aztec center of the world, where the sky, the earth, and the underworld met,” and significantly, “Each of the four cardinal directions radiated out from the Templo Mayor….[and] the northern half was dedicated to Talaloc, the god of rain, water, and the earth’s fertility” (para. 1-2). ((Guggenheim Website - “Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Axis Mundi of the Universe,” https://www.guggenheim.org/teaching-materials/the-aztec-empire/mexico-tenochtitlan-axis-mundi-of-the-universe, para. 1 -2)) Given the location of Tlateloclo, the final lines of the poem most likely refer to Talaloc and either express the god’s displeasure with Tlateloclo’s inhabitants or the deity’s pain at the imminent destruction of their grounds. | To support the division theorized above, it is recommended to examine how religion functions in the poem. The speaker of the poem says, “The water has turned bitter / our food is bitter / These are the acts of the Giver of Life” (17-19). (("Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlan.” //The Serpent and the Fire,// edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024. p. 39)) While the lines undoubtedly refer to Cortes’s erasure of the city’s “religious structures,” they also hint at the existence of a complex religious system dependent on location. ((Rajagopalan, Angela Herren. //Portraying the Aztec Past : The Codices Boturini, Azcatitlan, and Aubin.// University of Texas Press, 2019, p. 3)) Specifically, the Guggenheim has a “Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Axis Mundi of the Universe” on their website and maintains that “The great temple known as the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan symbolize[d] the axis mundi, the Aztec center of the world, where the sky, the earth, and the underworld met,” and significantly, “Each of the four cardinal directions radiated out from the Templo Mayor….[and] the northern half was dedicated to Talaloc, the god of rain, water,* and the earth’s fertility.” ((Guggenheim Website - “Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Axis Mundi of the Universe,” https://www.guggenheim.org/teaching-materials/the-aztec-empire/mexico-tenochtitlan-axis-mundi-of-the-universe, para. 1 -2)) Given the location of Tlateloclo, the final lines of the poem most likely refer to Talaloc and either express the god’s displeasure with Tlateloclo’s inhabitants or the deity’s pain at the imminent destruction of their grounds. |
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| Therefore, by the end of the poem, the city appears to have been abandoned, especially if Motelchiuhtzin, Tlacotzin, and Oquitzin* can be associated with the time period following Tenochtitlan’s downfall. | Therefore, by the end of the poem, the city appears to have been abandoned or at the very least rebuilt and unrecognizable, especially if Motelchiuhtzin, Tlacotzin, and Oquitzin* can be associated with the time period directly following Tenochtitlan’s downfall. |
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| *Refer to Key Names | *In the poem, "tears" are important and may warrant further research, considering that "Talaloc, [was] the god of rain, water, and the earth’s fertility” (2). (("Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlan.” //The Serpent and the Fire,// edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024. p. 39)) ((Guggenheim Website - “Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Axis Mundi of the Universe,” https://www.guggenheim.org/teaching-materials/the-aztec-empire/mexico-tenochtitlan-axis-mundi-of-the-universe, para. 2)) |
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| | *Refer to Key Names |
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| ===== Key Names* ===== | ===== Key Names* ===== |
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| * **Motelchiuhtzin** - “Motelchiuhtzin….He was interim ruler of Tenochtitlan” ((Rajagopalan, Angela Herren. //Portraying the Aztec Past : The Codices Boturini, Azcatitlan, and Aubin//. University of Texas Press, 2019, p. 97)) | __Motelchiuhtzin__ - “Motelchiuhtzin….He was interim ruler of Tenochtitlan” ((Rajagopalan, Angela Herren. //Portraying the Aztec Past : The Codices Boturini, Azcatitlan, and Aubin//. University of Texas Press, 2019, p. 97)) |
| * **Tlacotzin** - “Tlacotl, baptized don Juan Velázquez Tlacotzin, would oversee the tremendous labor force required to raze and rebuild the new capital until 1524…” ((Rajagopalan, Angela Herren. //Portraying the Aztec Past : The Codices Boturini, Azcatitlan, and Aubin//. University of Texas Press, 2019, p. 93)) | |
| * **Oquitzin** - “Oquitzin (ruler of Azcapotzalco)” ((Rajagopalan, Angela Herren. //Portraying the Aztec Past : The Codices Boturini, Azcatitlan, and Aubin//. University of Texas Press, 2019, p. 93)) | __Tlacotzin__ - “Tlacotl, baptized don Juan Velázquez Tlacotzin, would oversee the tremendous labor force required to raze and rebuild the new capital until 1524…” ((Rajagopalan, Angela Herren. //Portraying the Aztec Past : The Codices Boturini, Azcatitlan, and Aubin//. University of Texas Press, 2019, p. 93)) |
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| | __Oquitzin__ - “Oquitzin (ruler of Azcapotzalco)” ((Rajagopalan, Angela Herren. //Portraying the Aztec Past : The Codices Boturini, Azcatitlan, and Aubin//. University of Texas Press, 2019, p. 93)) |
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| ===== Key Term ===== | ===== Key Term ===== |
| * **Tlatelolco** - “While the Tenochca Mexica occupied Tenochtitlan, later capital of the Mexica Empire, the dissidents (Tlatelolca Mexica) established Tlatelolco on the northern part of the island.” ((Rajagopalan, Angela Herren. //Portraying the Aztec Past : The Codices Boturini, Azcatitlan, and Aubin//. University of Texas Press, 2019, p. 2)) | __Tlatelolco__ - “While the Tenochca Mexica occupied Tenochtitlan, later capital of the Mexica Empire, the dissidents (Tlatelolca Mexica) established Tlatelolco on the northern part of the island.” ((Rajagopalan, Angela Herren. //Portraying the Aztec Past : The Codices Boturini, Azcatitlan, and Aubin//. University of Texas Press, 2019, p. 2)) |
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| | ===== Gender ===== |
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| | It may be beneficial to focus on how gender is explored within the poem. |
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| | __Aztec Women__ |
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| | One line in particular frames the Aztecs, those “fleeing across the lack” as “running away like women” (4-5). (("Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlan.” //The Serpent and the Fire,// edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024. p. 38)) In a 1994 article titled, “Fighting with Femininity: Gender and War in Aztec Mexico,” Cecelia F. Klein’s research suggests that Aztec communities held what we would now refer to as traditional gender roles, wherein women were expected to be “passive and at home,” and “war was a male domain in ancient Central Mexico” (221). In fact, Klein maintains that “In the final pages of Codex Azcatatilan (xxvi)…they [women] are…shown being ferried to a stone building well away from the site of the struggle.” ((Klein, Cecelia. "Fighting with Femininity: Gender and War in Aztec Mexico," p. 222)) |
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| | However, Klein does mention “two Aztec tales…of fighting women who were not enemies of the Aztecs [and] concern[ed] Toltec women who fought valiantly beside their husbands, even taking prisoners, before—along with their men and children…—being killed.” ((Klein, Cecelia. "Fighting with Femininity: Gender and War in Aztec Mexico," p. 224)) |
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| | __Tlatelolco Women__ |
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| | Chapter fourteen of //The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico// by Miguel Leon-Portilla is an “indigenous account” and “contains a considerable amount of material that cannot be found in other documents.” ((Leon-Portilla, Miguel, //The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico//, p. 137, http://www.columbia.edu/itc/spanish/latinhum/brokenspears.pdf)) There is a section on page 134 where, in the account, “the warriors of Tenochtitlan were nowhere to be seen” and “the captains from Tenochtitlan cut their hair short” in what can presumably be shame. ((Leon-Portilla, Miguel, //The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico//, p. 134, http://www.columbia.edu/itc/spanish/latinhum/brokenspears.pdf)) On page 137, the same account claims that “The women of Tlatelolco joined in the fighting.” ((Leon-Portilla, Miguel, //The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico//, pp. 137, http://www.columbia.edu/itc/spanish/latinhum/brokenspears.pdf)) |
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| ===== Historical Context ===== | ===== Historical Context ===== |
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| __Aztec Empire:__ | __Aztec Empire__ |
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| "Mesoamerican empire that originated with a league of three Mexica cities in 1430 and gradually expanded through the Central Valley of Mexico, uniting numerous small, independent states under a single monarch who ruled with the help of counselors, military leaders, and priests. By the late fifteenth century, the Aztec realm may have embraced 25 million people" (Pollard et al. 557). | In the history, //World’s Together World’s Apart with Sources: Volume 2: From 1000 CE to the Present// by Elizabeth Pollard et al., the Aztec Empire is defined as a “Mesoamerican empire that originated with a league of three Mexica cities in 1430 and gradually expanded through the Central Valley of Mexico, uniting numerous small, independent states under a single monarch who ruled with the help of counselors, military leaders, and priests. By the late fifteenth century, the Aztec realm may have embraced 25 million people.” ((Pollard, Elizabeth, et al. //Worlds Together Worlds Apart with Sources Volume 2: From 1000 CE to the Present.// W.W. Norton & Company, 2019. p. 557)) |
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| __Tenochtitlan:__ | __Tenochtitlan__ |
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| "Tenochtitlan spread in concentric circles, with the main religious and political buildings in the center and residences radiating outward. The city's outskirts connected a mosaic of floating gardens producing food for urban markets. Canals irrigated the land, waste served as fertilizer, and high-yielding produce found easy transport to markets" (Pollard et al. 557). | Pollard et al. describe Tenochtitlan as a city that “spread in concentric circles, with the main religious [like the Templo Mayor] and political buildings in the center and residences radiating outward. The city's outskirts connected a mosaic of floating gardens producing food for urban markets. Canals irrigated the land, waste served as fertilizer, and high-yielding produce found easy transport to markets.” ((Pollard, Elizabeth, et al. Worlds Together Worlds Apart with Sources Volume 2: From 1000 CE to the Present. W.W. Norton & Company, 2019. p. 557)) |
| * [[https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_19994/?sp=14|Library of Congress - Image 14 of Second Letter of Hernan Cortes]] | * [[https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_19994/?sp=14|Library of Congress - Image 14 of Second Letter of Hernan Cortes]] |
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| "At its height, the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, was as populous as Europe's largest city" (Pollard et al. 558). | Moreover, “At its height, the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, was as populous as Europe's largest city” ((Pollard, Elizabeth, et al. Worlds Together Worlds Apart with Sources Volume 2: From 1000 CE to the Present. W.W. Norton & Company, 2019. p. 558)) |
| * [[https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_00503/?st=pdf|Library of Congress - Map of Tenochtitlan]] | * [[https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_00503/?st=pdf|Library of Congress - Map of Tenochtitlan]] |
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| __Documented Responses to Tenochtitlan:__ | __Documented Responses to Tenochtitlan__ |
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| "Upon entering, he [Hernan Cortes] gasped in wonder, 'This city is so big and so remarkable [that it is] almost unbelievable.' One of his soldiers wrote, 'It was all so wonderful that I do not know how to describe this first glimpse of things never heard of, seen or dreamed of before'" (qtd. in Pollard et al. 559). | "Upon entering, he [Hernan Cortes] gasped in wonder, 'This city is so big and so remarkable [that it is] almost unbelievable.' One of his soldiers wrote, 'It was all so wonderful that I do not know how to describe this first glimpse of things never heard of, seen or dreamed of before.'" ((qtd. in Pollard, Elizabeth, et al. Worlds Together Worlds Apart with Sources Volume 2: From 1000 CE to the Present. W.W. Norton & Company, 2019. p. 559)) |
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| __Documented Response to the Fall of Tenochtitlan:__ | __Documented Response to the Fall of Tenochtitlan__ |
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| | "The Aztecs lamented their defeat in verse: 'We have pounded our hands in despair against the adobe walls, for our inheritance, our city, is lost and dead.'" ((qtd. in Pollard, Elizabeth, et al. Worlds Together Worlds Apart with Sources Volume 2: From 1000 CE to the Present. W.W. Norton & Company, 2019. p. 560)) |
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| "The Aztecs lamented their defeat in verse: 'We have pounded our hands in despair against the adobe walls, for our inheritance, our city, is lost and dead'" (qtd. in Pollard et al. 560). | |
| * [[https://jacket2.org/commentary/toward-poetry-and-poetics-americas-33|Additional Response Highlighted by Jerome Rothenberg]] | * [[https://jacket2.org/commentary/toward-poetry-and-poetics-americas-33|Additional Response Highlighted by Jerome Rothenberg]] |
| * [[https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/exploring-the-early-americas/cortes-and-the-aztecs.html|Library of Congress - Cortes and the Aztecs]] | * [[https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/exploring-the-early-americas/cortes-and-the-aztecs.html|Library of Congress - Cortes and the Aztecs]] |
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| __Source:__ Pollard, Elizabeth, et al. //Worlds Together Worlds Apart with Sources Volume 2: From 1000 CE to the Present//. W.W. Norton & Company, 2019. | ===== Additional Sources ===== |
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| ===== Poem's Meaning ===== | |
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| There is a personification of the city throughout the poem. The Aztec people abandon the city, attempting to run for their lives. All the while, the city watches in despair as the Spanish pilfered, pillaged, and burned the once great city down. | |
| The poem is all about the impermanence of the great city and the Empire as a whole, not to mention a commentary on time itself, as all things come to an end when given time. | |
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| Sources: | |
| - [[https://archaeology.org/issues/july-august-2014/collection/mexico-city-aztec-tlatelolco/under-mexico-city/#:~:text=Recent%20excavations%20have%20shown%20that,mostly%20for%20its%20thriving%20market.|Archaeology Magazine]] | - [[https://archaeology.org/issues/july-august-2014/collection/mexico-city-aztec-tlatelolco/under-mexico-city/#:~:text=Recent%20excavations%20have%20shown%20that,mostly%20for%20its%20thriving%20market.|Archaeology Magazine]] |
| - [[https://cbkwgl.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/lament-on-the-fall-of-tenochtitlan-anonymous/|Word Press]] | - [[https://cbkwgl.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/lament-on-the-fall-of-tenochtitlan-anonymous/|Word Press]] |
| - [[https://soprissun.com/flowers-and-songs-aztec-poetry/|The Sopris Sun]] | - [[https://soprissun.com/flowers-and-songs-aztec-poetry/|The Sopris Sun]] |
| - [[https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00399|Texas University]] | - [[https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00399|Texas University]] |
