2. Born in Bombay to Jewish parents in 1924.
He won the Akademi Award for a
volume called Latter Day palms .
He is credited with beginning
the modernist movement in india.
His first book, THE BAD DAY,
appeared in1952.
Some of his poems are in india , Enterprise,Goodbye
party for Miss Pushpa T.S., The railway clerk,
Case Study ,The Doctor
3. The poem opens with the poet’s reminiscence of a
childhood experience. One night his mother was stung by a
scorpion. Ten hours of steady rain had driven the scorpion
to hide beneath a sack of rice. After inflicting unbearable
pain upon the mother with a flash of its diabolic tail, the
scorpion risked the rain again. The peasant folk of the
village came like swarms of flies and express their
sympathy. They believed that with every movement the
scorpion made, the poison would move in mother’s blood.
So, with lighted candles and lanterns, they searched for
him, but in vain. The villagers further opened the bundle of
superstitions. They expressed that the mother’s suffering
and pain will burn away the sins of her past and decrease
the misfortunes of future.
7. SUPERSTITION MEANING
Smashing a mirror Bring seven years of bad
luck
Cat crossing your path Considers as a bad omen
Bathing in river Ganges Leads one to heaven
8. How is the scorpion portrayed in the poem by the villagers?
The scorpion does not seem to be portrayed as any type of villain
at first. It probably just stung the mother instinctively when it tried to
hide beneath a sack of rice inorder to save itself from ten hours of
steady rain. According to the villagers, the sting of the scorpion would
burn away the sins of her past and decrease the misfortunes of future.
Identify the theme of the poem and summarize your views on the
environment created by the poet.
The theme of the poem is an experience of a scorpion bite that was
inflicted on the poet’s mother. The poem depicts the superstitions and
beliefs and thereby a superstition ridden India where an insect is
given monstrous image. It also carries Ezekiel’s satires against the
many maladies affecting the Indian society.
9. Revise the entire poem at your home and
compare the way in which the poet
presents the different characters in Night
of he Scorpion.
