Poetry Analysis
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- Category: Politics
- Date Submitted: 01/29/2010 01:37 AM
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Night of a scorpion
The poem uses three types of tones
Factual tone- is used to portray the facts
First person narrative portrays the story through the eyes of Nissim and shows that we are seeking exactly what he did.
Religious language used to portray the views of the community and peasants.
The first stanza ends in the line "After 20 hours it lost its sting." This line could be read into two different ways: The most common interpretation is that the after 20 hours, despite "every curse or blessing", it literally stops hurting. Another interpretation is that the mother dies; after 20 hours of agony 'it' lost its sting as she couldn't feel anything. This could also be implied in the last section where it says "the only thing my mother said" which could mean the only thing she got to say about it before she died was that it didn't get her children so that they could live on.
Poetry analysis
Nissim Ezekiel's 'Night of the Scorpion' is the poet's personal account of his memory of his mother being stung by a scorpion when he was a child. He begins by explaining that the scorpion had come in because of heavy rain and had hidden under a sack of rice. Ezekiel uses alliteration to describe the moment of the sting: 'Parting with his poison'. He alludes to evil in the phrase 'diabolic tail', comparing the scorpion to the devil.
Line eighteen is the first in a fourteen-line section which recounts the words of wisdom voiced by the peasants in the hope that the woman would survive. Five of the lines begin 'May ...' and are clear examples of the religious beliefs held by these villagers. They refer to past and future lives, absolution of sins, the lessening of evil and the hope that the poison will 'purify' the woman's flesh and spirit. Ezekiel describes how they surrounded his mother; he saw 'the peace of understanding' in their facial expressions.
Lines thirty-two and thirty-three form a repetitive pattern in which Ezekiel...
The poem uses three types of tones
Factual tone- is used to portray the facts
First person narrative portrays the story through the eyes of Nissim and shows that we are seeking exactly what he did.
Religious language used to portray the views of the community and peasants.
The first stanza ends in the line "After 20 hours it lost its sting." This line could be read into two different ways: The most common interpretation is that the after 20 hours, despite "every curse or blessing", it literally stops hurting. Another interpretation is that the mother dies; after 20 hours of agony 'it' lost its sting as she couldn't feel anything. This could also be implied in the last section where it says "the only thing my mother said" which could mean the only thing she got to say about it before she died was that it didn't get her children so that they could live on.
Poetry analysis
Nissim Ezekiel's 'Night of the Scorpion' is the poet's personal account of his memory of his mother being stung by a scorpion when he was a child. He begins by explaining that the scorpion had come in because of heavy rain and had hidden under a sack of rice. Ezekiel uses alliteration to describe the moment of the sting: 'Parting with his poison'. He alludes to evil in the phrase 'diabolic tail', comparing the scorpion to the devil.
Line eighteen is the first in a fourteen-line section which recounts the words of wisdom voiced by the peasants in the hope that the woman would survive. Five of the lines begin 'May ...' and are clear examples of the religious beliefs held by these villagers. They refer to past and future lives, absolution of sins, the lessening of evil and the hope that the poison will 'purify' the woman's flesh and spirit. Ezekiel describes how they surrounded his mother; he saw 'the peace of understanding' in their facial expressions.
Lines thirty-two and thirty-three form a repetitive pattern in which Ezekiel...