POEM : NIGHT OF THE SCORPION by NISSIM EZEKIEL

 UNIT - I    [EXPRESSIVE ENGLISH]

THEORY PART

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born: 16 December 1924, Mumbai

Died: 9 January 2004 (age 79 years), Mumbai

Awards: Padma Shri

Parents: Moses Ezekiel

Genre: Modern Indian English Poetry

Notable work: Night of the Scorpion; Latter Day Psalms

THEME OF THE POEM

The Poem recalls an incident that happened in the downpour. It threw up three perspectives from the case: the natives, the father, and the mother.

The night has witnessed a continuous ten-hour rain, and a scorpion has sneaked into the Poet's home to shelter from the brutal rain. The scorpion hid beneath the sack of rice. Sadly, the scorpion had come into the touch with the Poet's mother. Therefore, it bits his Poet's mother and left home.

The natives came to know about the incident and left for the Poet's home immediately. When they witnessed his mother's pain, they repeated the names of the god in a low voice. They tried to search for the scorpion, but the effort went in vain. They thought that if the scorpion moved, the poison would spread faster in the body. Their opinion slightly moves and begins to say that pain will assist the Poem in cleaning his sins of the previous birth. Hindu philosophy says that a person travels through birth and death. They also believed that poison would cleanse her ambition and desire. 

The Poet's father seems irrational and scientific; The Poem uses a specific term to describe him "skeptic rationalist." He applied paraffin (it may be concluded this may be done out of desperation) and used herbs and a mixture of different ingredients.

Those were beliefs not backed by logic and reason. Frequent repetition of chants of religious mantras also suggests limited access to health care and poor medical awareness.

What touched someone' heart and might have surprised all the readers would have been the mother's perspective. It was an interesting one. Even in the excruciating pain, she thought of her family and children.

POEM : SUMMARY VIDEO IN TAMIL

LINK : https://youtu.be/aiv57HBFpz4?si=cNa2iMoztagvvM-q

POEM : SUMMARY VIDEO IN ENGLISH

LINK : https://youtu.be/YuAMtfQZ714?si=uYv-_d4ZZ9-cG6l9