"Night of the Scorpion" is a poem by Nissim Ezekiel included the AQA Anthology. Night of the Scorpion opens with the poet's reminiscence of a childhood experience. We don’t know why the scorpion stung the poet’s mother. They wished that the scorpion might sit still so that pain would be less severe. The poem “Night of the Scorpion” recounts an incident that occurred on a miserable rainy night. Note the use of the word diabolicas the desperate creature stings the woman and makes off out into the rain. “Night of the Scorpion” was published in The Exact Name. It was a night when a scorpion bit his mother and all the superstitious villagers did irrational things rather than helping her. The poet remembers that it had been raining heavily for ten hours and a scorpion crawled beneath a sack of rice in the poet’s home to keep itself away from water. This poem is about a young rural boy (the poet). Summary • "Night of the scorpion" is a poem that can be understood at two levels at one level, the poet describes how, on a rainy day the narrator's mother is bitten by a scorpion and what are the chain reactions to it. The others assumed that she is going to die and said that the pain that she is suffering from will decrease the troubles in her next birth. Though the father was a rational person, his decision to use paraffin on the mother’s toe is not a rational approach. Matt finds that the insults affect him less and less as time goes on, until the boys just sound like turkeys gobbling to him. The poet dramatizes a contrast between the world of irrationality represented by the villagers and the world of rationalism represented by the father. It is ironic that they thought they had understood her pain, whereas they could not understand the groaning of the poet’s mother. Some others put forward that her good deeds will be balanced against her bad deeds because of the bite of the scorpion. They may be superstitious but their concern for the poet’s mother who was suffering from scorpion bite is really appreciable. The villagers begin searching for the scorpion because they believe that the poison spreads across the body with the movement of scorpion so if the latter is stopped and paralysed, the poison effect can also be controlled. In ‘Night of the Scorpion' Ezekiel recalls the behaviour of 'the peasants', his father, his mother and a holy man when his mother was poisoned by a scorpion's sting. She suffers for twenty hours while peasants, holy men, and her husband attempt to heal her. This poem, it is believed, is an expression of his childhood experience when a scorpion stung his own mother. It was their belief that ritual could save her. The poem “Night of the Scorpion” recounts an incident that occurred on a miserable rainy night. I remember the night my mother was stung by a scorpion. The relationship between the poet’s family and the neighboring peasants is strong. This incident in retrospect brings forth the poet’s gall of criticism against the irrationality of the average uneducated person. Father's helplessness is the helpness of the people in the society. Nevertheless, the poem puts some light on the unity of Indian village people. More and more people come with candles & lanterns. More neighbors visited the house with candles and lanterns, and the rain kept showering. The poet says that after recovering from the poison, his mother’s words were Thank God the scorpion picked on me and spared my children. He tried “every curse and blessing, power, mixture, herb and hybrid”. Ten hours of steady rain had driven him to crawl beneath a sack of rice. Get Your Custom Essay on Night Of The Scorpion Summary Just from $13,9/Page. Then unfortunately the scorpion stung the poet’s mother and after biting his mother the scorpion with its diabolic tail it left the house. Get Essay ‘Night of the Scorpion’ involves the speaker in the poem, recalling an incident in which his mother was stung by a scorpion, whilst ‘Vultures’ deals with a Nazi officer who has been killing people. The phrase again refers to superstitious people of his village who believe in irrational measures to cure a person. Then unfortunately the scorpion stung the poet’s mother and after biting his mother the scorpion with its diabolic tail it left the house. Night of the Scorpion Essay Sample. A Summary of Night of the Scorpion. The poem starts with the reminiscence of a terrible event in the childhood of the poet when his mother was stung by a scorpion. When the poet’s mother went to get rice from the granary, the scorpion bit her and disappeared in the rain. However, he is not happy with them and calls them swarms of flies who buzz the name of God a hundred times to paralyse the Evil One. The poem written in free verse has a terse ending characteristic of the style of English writing of many modern Indian poets. The neighboring peasants, came in large numbers with candles and lanterns. It was raining heavily, a scorpion had taken shelter, under a sack of rice. The Night of the Scorpion is a poem written by Nissim Ezekiel. It starts in a house at night where it is raining and a scorpion, in order to take some shelter, comes to the house. Their efforts are in … He even poured a little paraffin upon the bitten toe and then fires it up. This poem is about how the scorpion stung the poets mother and the mother's love for her children. He says that the continuous rain for ten hours had driven the scorpion into the house, where it crawled beneath a sack of rice. Every night, Jorge makes the boys confess their crimes and then attack Matt with insults. The poem Night of the Scorpion by Nissim Ezekiel is about an incident that the poet has not forgotten in his life. The poet is of the views that the heavy rain which lasted for 10 hours made the scorpion crawl beneath a sack of rice. The poet remembers the dark rainy night when his mother was stung by a scorpion. The poem's speaker uses first person to relate a memory of his mother being bitten on the toe by a scorpion on a rainy night in India. They thought that the sum of all evil and good might be balanced by the pain. The poet can not forget the night when a scorpion bit her mother and the pain which his mother can gone through. We see the use of alliteration in the line “poured a little paraffin”. Summary and Analysis of the Night of the Scorpion by Nissim Ezekiel August 25, 2020 July 19, 2013 by Pritesh Chakraborty About the poet – A Jewish-Indian poet, playwright, art critic ( The Names of India (1964–66)) and editor ( Poetry India (1966–67)) born on 14 th December 1924 in Mumbai, was regarded as the path finder of the post colonial Indian English writing. Nissim Ezekiel’s Night of the Scorpion is a strong yet simple statement on the power of self-effacing love. When it bit the speaker's mother, it was hiding beneath a sack of rice. It was a night when a scorpion bit his mother and all the superstitious villagers did irrational things rather than helping her. They did not think of need of a physician, instead of that a holy man was called to perform his. Night of a scorpion I remember the night my mother was stung by a scorpion. He uses powder, mixture, herb and hybrid to help her recover from the pain. In “Night of the Scorpion,” the speaker recalls an incident from his childhood in which his mother was stung by a scorpion. She suffers a lot because of the pain but still she is happy that the scorpion did not bite her children. Ten hours of steady rain had driven him to crawl beneath a sack of rice. Table of Contents BackgroundWhere The Mind is Without Fear SummaryStructure Rabindranath Tagore’s “Where The Mind is Without Fear” is originally a Bengali poem that was published in the poetry volume called ‘Naibedya’ (1901). Parting with his poison - flash of diabolic tail in the dark room - he risked the rain again. This is a superstition and Nissim knows that well. The poet then explains how the villagers searched for the scorpion. It reflects the motherhood of a lady. “The concern of the villagers and the poet’s father seem rather superficial when pitted against the heartfelt feelings of his mother.” (406). All of them seemed to be in peace because of their thoughts. Years ago, when the poet was a child, he witnessed the brutality of his ‘loving’ neighbors who didn’t allow his father take his wife, the poet’s mother, to a hospital after she was stung by a scorpion. Hearing about the incident, the villagers rush to the poet’s home. Even in such condition, his mother remains more concerned about the safety and health of her children. Filed Under: Essays. It must be a rainy night in summer because we experience heavy rain only in summer. The encounter between the poet’s mother and the scorpion is not told in detail. Night of the Sorpion’ is a poignant poem that evokes the strong hold of superstition within our social psyche. Here the bond between individual families and the neighboring peasants is appreciable. The poem in general appears to be a simple narrative of a tragic incident of scorpion bite. So the setting of the poem “Night of the Scorpion” is a rainy night. The poet remembers that it had been raining heavily for ten hours and a scorpion crawled beneath a sack of rice in the poet’s home to keep itself away from water. He witnessed the drama following the … It is a strong yet simple statement on the power of self-effacing love. The people, in general, are conventional and follow their customs and this is reflected in the poem when the poet’s mother was stung by a scorpion, they began to click their tongues. NIGHT OF THE SCORPION SUMMARY In this poem, ‘ Night of the Scorpion ‘, the poet remembers the night his mother was stung by a scorpion. Summary. This is why he hates the coming of villagers to his home. Ezekiel’s Night of the Scorpion is a strong yet simple statement been brought out. That means there is no definite rhyme scheme and the free verse allows the poet freedom of expression. It has eight stanzas with a different number of lines in each. A Time to Change (1952), Sixty Poems (1953), The Unfinished Man (1960), The Exact Name (1965) and Hymns in Darkness (1976) are some of his verse collection. The village people gathered and with their irrational ideas tried to reason out for the mother's suffering and consoled her with their prayers. Parting with his poison of diabolic tail in the dark room he risked the rain again. Some of them said that his mother’s sins which she committed in her previous birth (as believed in Hinduism) have been forgiven. The main idea of “Night of the Scorpion” is a representation of rural Indian ethos, beliefs on evil, suffering, and its people. The stanza also depicts the Indianess that prevails in a number of other poems as well. Filled to the brim with Indian-ness, the poet captures snapshots of rural life with all its superstitions and simplicity. The poet dramatizes a battle of ideas fought at night in lamplight between good and evil; between darkness and light; between rationalism and blind faith. Poet’s mother was rolling her body on the mat and groaning because of pain. And … The peasants said that every movement made by the scorpion would lead the progress of the poison in the victim’s body and the pain would be more acute. The poet watches the flames of fire burning on the skin of his mother. Ezekiel here conveys an underlying message of motherhood. The poem exposes the superstitions that dominate the minds of Indians and also the motherhood of a lady who just only of her children even in the worst condition. Night of the Scorpion Summary by Nissim Ezekiel • The poem Night of the Scorpion by Nissim Ezekiel is about an incident that the poet has not forgotten in his life. Rating: ★ 3.6. He talks of the sufferings endured by his mother when a scorpion bit her on a rainy day. Therefore “Night of the Scorpion” is not only a poem of an incident in the life of the poet’s mother but also a poem of Indian belief and culture and Nissim Ezekiel has succeeded in presenting a rural Indian picture with vivid imagery. Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. However, we can’t deny his motif who attempts all means to save his wife from suffering in that dire situation. In stanza 2, the poet says that after biting his mother with its diabolic (monstrous tail), the scorpion went back to rain outside again. The poem has no rhyme scheme. In the poem The Night of the Scorpion the poet depicts the selfless love of a mother who is stung by a scorpion. His village was ruled by superstitions and there was hardly anyone who was not superstitious. Developement in the mind of child is seen with the development of society. 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