Question

Prepare a Presentation (on paper or on a PC) as a piece of reference to other students. Make use of the following points.

1. Title page
2. Introduction of the poet
3. The complete poem (All 48 lines)
4. Learning objectives
5. Style of writing
6. Scorpion lines (1-7)
7. The peasants
8. The poet’s father
9. The poet’s mother
10. Vocabulary
11. Credits (positive aspects)

Narrative poem/ first person/Poet’s role-

lines of irregular length/ absence of rhyme and metre enjambement

Free style/colloquial Repeated use of indirect speech Repeated imagery/use of similes, metaphors, alliteration, repetition and onomatopoeia

Answer 1

1. Title:
   Night of the Scorpion
2. Introduction of the poet:
   Nissim Ezekiel (1924-2004) was an Indian Jewish poet, actor, playwright, editor, and art critic. He was a foundational figure in postcolonial India’s literary history, particularly in the wider range of Indian literature. The poem depicts the selfless love of a mother who is stung by a scorpion.
3. The complete poem:
   Night of the Scorpion
   I remember the night my mother
   was stung by a scorpion. Ten hours
   of steady rain had driven him
   to crawl beneath a sack of rice.
   Parting with his poison – flash
   of diabolic tail in the darkroom –
    he risked the rain again
   The peasants came like swarms of flies
   and buzzed the name of God a hundred times
   to paralyze the Evil One.
   With candles and with lanterns
   throwing giant scorpion shadows
   on the mud-baked walls
   they searched for him: he was not found.
   They clicked their tongues.
   With every movement that the scorpion made his poison moved in Mother’s blood, they said.
   May he sit still, they said
   May the sins of your previous birth be burned away tonight, they said.
   May your suffering decrease the misfortunes of your next birth, they said.
   May the sum of all evil balanced in this unreal world against the sum of good become diminished by your pain.
   May the poison purify your flesh of desire, and your spirit of ambition,
   they said, and they sat around on the floor with my mother in the center,
   the peace of understanding on each face.
   More candles, more lanterns, more neighbors,
   more insects, and the endless rain.
   My mother twisted through and through,
   groaning on a mat.
   My father, sceptic, rationalist,
   trying every curse and blessing,
   powder, mixture, herb, and hybrid
   He even poured a little paraffin
   upon the bitten toe and put a match to it. 
   I watched the flame feeding on my mother.
   I watched the holy man perform his rites to tame the poison with an incantation.
   After twenty hours it lost its sting.
   My mother only said
   Thank God the scorpion picked on me
   And spared my children.
   -Nissim Ezekiel
4. Learning objectives:
   My mother only said
   Thank God the scorpion picked on me
   And spared my children.
   I watched the flame feeding on my mother.
   I watched the holy man perform his rites to tame the poison with an incantation.
5. Style of writing:
   (This is a narrative poem in the first person, lines of irregular length, free verse, absence of rhyme and meter, enjambement. Style is free and colloquial. There is repeated use of indirect speech, Imagery, use of similes, metaphors, alliteration, repetition, and onomatopoeia.)
6. Scorpion lines:
   I remember the night my mother was stung by a scorpion. Ten hours of steady rain had driven him to crawl beneath a sack of rice. Parting with his poison - a flash of diabolic tail in the darkroom - he risked the rain again.
7. The peasants:
   The peasants came like swarms of flies
   and buzzed the name of God a hundred times
   to paralyze the Evil One.
8. The poet’s father:
   (sceptic, rationalist. anxious, worried)
9. The poet’s mother:
   (brave, patient, selfless, loving, understanding)
10. Vocabulary:
    The poem is simple and easy to understand. The poem is enriched with various figures of speech, such as Alliteration, Antithesis, Hyperbole, Inversion, Metaphor, Onomatopoeia, Oxymoron, Repetition, Simile, and transferred Epithet. An example of personification from the poem is “I watched the flame feeding on my mother” as the flame is given the human quality of ‘feeding’. 
11. Credits:
    The ironic twist in the poem comes when, in the end, the mother who suffered in silence opens her mouth. She says, ‘Thank God the scorpion picked on me and spared my children.’ Yes, I like this poem because it mentions the bond between the mother and son.