night of the scorpion
About the poem – The poem was anthologized in Collected Poems (1952 – 1988). It is one of the first poems of Ezekiel and presents a scary picture of the superstition ridden India where an insect is given monstrous dimensions. It carries Ezekiel’s stringiest of satires against the many maladies that affect the Indian society. Not to mention it also explores the ever benign love of a mother for her child, which in itself is a conspicuous feature of Indianness.
Analysis of the poem –
Apparently the theme of the poem is an experience of a scorpion bite that was inflicted on the poet’s mother. The poem is a first person narrative of the agony that a son had to undergo watching his mother suffer due to a scorpion sting. But subtly the theme of the poem is a stringent satire on the lack of medical and scientific knowledge that plagues the lives of so many people in India. The poem shows how the physical ailment is associated with the spiritual fallouts in a typical ignorant village.
Obviously the tone is satirical. Pungent yet Horatian; Subtle and biting, the tone is that of a wronged person who sees the futility of a protest in the face of an ignorant army.
The author recounts the night, a scorpion driven by continuous rain hidden beneath a rice sack stung the poet’s mother and ran off after the attack. The villagers tried to search for the insect in order to immobilize it so that the poison doesn’t spread since according to their belief the more the insect moves the more the poison spreads inside the body. Unable to find the creature the villagers prayed that the scorpion be still and invoked the gods. According to the villagers the sting of the scorpion would purge the impurities of the flesh and would make the mother spiritually healthy. Nobody did anything for the benefit of the mother other than make these kinds of nonsensical remarks except the father who tried all his quack techniques to heal the lady but it took around 20 hours for the poison to lose its
Analysis of the poem –
Apparently the theme of the poem is an experience of a scorpion bite that was inflicted on the poet’s mother. The poem is a first person narrative of the agony that a son had to undergo watching his mother suffer due to a scorpion sting. But subtly the theme of the poem is a stringent satire on the lack of medical and scientific knowledge that plagues the lives of so many people in India. The poem shows how the physical ailment is associated with the spiritual fallouts in a typical ignorant village.
Obviously the tone is satirical. Pungent yet Horatian; Subtle and biting, the tone is that of a wronged person who sees the futility of a protest in the face of an ignorant army.
The author recounts the night, a scorpion driven by continuous rain hidden beneath a rice sack stung the poet’s mother and ran off after the attack. The villagers tried to search for the insect in order to immobilize it so that the poison doesn’t spread since according to their belief the more the insect moves the more the poison spreads inside the body. Unable to find the creature the villagers prayed that the scorpion be still and invoked the gods. According to the villagers the sting of the scorpion would purge the impurities of the flesh and would make the mother spiritually healthy. Nobody did anything for the benefit of the mother other than make these kinds of nonsensical remarks except the father who tried all his quack techniques to heal the lady but it took around 20 hours for the poison to lose its