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The Lament on the Fall of Tenochtitlán
Written by: Unknown during the 16th Century Translated by Lysander Kemp
- Kemp worked at the University of Texas, alongside many Spanish writers and poets to translate long forgotten works. For more information click Here.
Background + Culture
This poem is a Nahuatl poem. The Nahuatl language did not have a word for poetry. What they did have was more of a concept that roughly translated to “flowers and songs”. It was believed that poetry had been a gift from the god Ometeotl, or the dual god. Believed to be both the father and the mother, a convergence. Important themes to authors from this period include: time, impermanence. inevitability of death, etc. For more information click Here.
Poem's Meaning
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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