‘Night of the Scorpion‘ is one of the well-knit poems by Nissim Ezekiel. The poem recalls an unforgettable night in the poet’s life when his mother was stung by a diabolic scorpion and how the villagers came like swarms of flies to share the griefs of the family.
The incident occurred when the poet a small boy. The poet here wants to capture the nobility of motherhood. The main theme of the poem reveals that nothing can match the love of a mother. The poem doesn’t follow a specific rhyme scheme, line length or meter. ‘Night of the Scorpion’ was included in AQA anthology.
Night of the Scorpion Summary
Stanza 1
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.
The speaker still can recall the night when his mother was stung by a scorpion. He says that the scorpion came into his house because of a heavy rain. Due to ten hours of steady rain, the scorpion took shelter beneath a sack of rice in the dark room.
Stanza 2
Parting with his poison – flash
of diabolic tail in the dark room –
he risked the rain again.
The scorpion bit his mother because of its predatory impulse. It injected poison into the speaker’s mother’s body with its “diabolic tail”. At once after biting, the it went into the rain again.
Stanza 3
The peasants came like swarms of flies
and buzzed the name of God a hundred times
to paralyse the Evil One.
In the third stanza of the ‘Night of the Scorpion’, the poet illustrates how the village people invaded his house. The peasants of the village came to his house like swarms of flies at once they heard the News. In the hope to paralyse the scorpion, they buzzed the name of God hundred times because they believed if the scorpion moved, the poison would move in her body.
Stanza 4
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.
The peasants searched for the scorpion with lanterns and candles, but in vain. It was to be found nowhere. The clicked their tongues in despair. The poet illustrates the shadows of the villagers on the mud-baked walls looked like giant scorpion themselves. The villagers believed that with every movement of the scorpion, its poison moved in the mother’s blood.
Stanza 5
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
The fifth stanza of the ‘Night of the Scorpion’ describes the superstitions of the village people. They tried to provide reasons for her suffering. They buzzed that she may be cleansed of her sins of her previous birth. They also added that her suffering would decrease the misfortunes of her upcoming birth and her blood be purified by the poison.
Stanza 6
against the sum of good
become diminished by your pain.
May the poison purify your flesh
The villagers added that the bad things that would occur in future was minimised by the pain. They were hopeful that her flesh and blood would be purified by the poison.
Stanza 7
of desire, and your spirit of ambition,
they said, and they sat around
on the floor with my mother in the centre,
the peace of understanding on each face.
More candles, more lanterns, more neighbours,
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.
The village people continued to console her. After some time, more villagers came with candles and lanterns, and sat around his groaning mother to provide comfort to her. The villagers continued to come and the rain also continued endlessly. His mother, unable to tolerate the pain, twisted and groaned.
The speaker’s father was a rational and skeptic. On seeing her pain, now he gave up his beliefs and tried all superstitious method to tame the poison. He even poured a little paraffin on the mouth of the sting and put it on fire. A holy man came and read an incantation to tame the poison. The speaker was watching all these silently. After 24 hours, the pain subsided.
Stanza 8
My mother only said
Thank God the scorpion picked on me
And spared my children.
After 24 hours, his mother is relieved and thanked God that the scorpion stung her and didn’t touch her children. The poet highlighting the mother’s unparalleled love for her children.
‘Night of the Scorpion’ depicts the dreadful night in the life of the poet. It was an unforgettable moment for the poet because of two main reasons: first, the poet was afraid of the night because of the scorpion and village invaded his house as a result. Secondly, amidst her unbearable pain and suffering, his mother was thinking about her children.
Poetic Devices in ‘Night of the Scorpion’
This poem, Night of the Scorpion by Nissim Ezekiel employs various poetic devices. Though the poem is written in free verse, it doesn’t lack in literary devices. Let’s see the important poetic devices used in the poem:
Imagery
Nissim Ezekiel used lot of imagery in ‘Night of the Scorpion’. Heavy rain for 10 hours, description of the scorpion and description of the village people in the night are some of them.
- “Ten hours of steady rain …. to crawl beneath a sack of rice.”
- “….flash of diabolic tail in the dark room“
- “….throwing giant scorpion shadows on the mud-baked walls“
- “My mother twisted through and through, groaning on a mat.”
When the author describes the shadows of the villagers at night against the walls resembling a giant scorpion, it shows how fearful he was as of the scorpion as a child, especially at that particular night. In his fear whatever he saw fearsome and has a resemblance to the scorpion.
Simile
Simile is a figure of speech that compares two unrelated things. There’s a simile used in the poem when the villagers arrived at the author’s home at once they heard of the news. The peasants’ arrival in large numbers compared to the “swarms of flies”.
- “The peasants came like swarms of flies“
This beautiful comparison creates an instant image in the readers mind that emphasises the number and buzzing nature of the peasants.
Personification
Personification is a figure of speech that attributes human qualities to objects or things. In ‘Night of the Scorpion’ the author’s father poured paraffin upon the bitten toe of the mother and set it on fire. In this line, the poet depicts the flame feeding on his mother and consuming her blood.
- “…poured a little paraffin upon the bitten toe… the flame feeding on my mother.”
Irony
When the pain of the sting subsides after 24 hours, the mother thanked God that the scorpion bitten her and spared her children. Despite her suffering, the mother is grateful that her children were not harmed, highlighting her selflessness.
- “Thank God the scorpion picked on me…. spared my children.”
Repetition
This literary device is used in ‘Night of the Scorpion’ to community’s prayer and beliefs or superstitions.
- “May he sit still, they said / May the sins of your previous birth,… they said. / May your suffering decrease / the misfortunes…, they said.”
This phrase is repeated five times in the poem. The peasants and villagers tried to console the mother telling that the poison would cleanse the sins of her previous birth, it would decrease the sufferings and misfortunes of her next birth, it would purify her blood and so on.
Apart from these devices, ‘Night of the Scorpion’ also employs many other devices like symbolism and so on. These devices help to make this free verse an interesting read.