Night of the Scorpion — Full Poem
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.
Parting with his poison - flash
of diabolic tail in the dark room -
he risked the rain again.
The peasants came like swarms of flies
and buzzed the name of God a hundred times
to paralyse the Evil One.
With candles and with lanterns
throwing giant scorpion shadows
on the...
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Night of the Scorpion Key Facts
Full Title: Night of the Scorpion.
Author: Nissim Ezekiel.
Life Duration: 1924 to 2004..
Written Date: Around the late 1950s.
Published Date: First published in 1965.
First Collected In: The Exact Name (1965).
Publisher: Various Indian and international poetry anthologies.
Genre: Narrative poem and social commentary.
Form: Free verse poem with storytelling tone.
Rhyme Scheme: No fixed rhy...
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Poetry Analysis
Line-by-line paraphrase and literary analysis. Click any line to explore its meaning and devices.
View AnalysisNight of the Scorpion Characters
The Mother: She is the main character of the poem. When the scorpion stings her, she suffers in pain but stays calm and patient. In the end, she only prays for the safety of her children. She is a symbol of motherhood.
The Father: He is an educated and rational man. He does not believe in superstition and tries modern methods to save his wife. He represents logic and science.
The Poet (Child Nar...
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Night of the Scorpion Themes
Mother's Selfless Love: The poem's strongest theme is the mother's unconditional love. After twenty hours of pain, the mother's only thought is not about her own suffering but a prayer of gratitude. Her final words, "Thank God the scorpion picked on me / And spared my children," highlight the depth of her maternal love. It surpasses even extreme physical pain and overshadows superstition and rati...
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Night of the Scorpion Quotations
1. “I remember the night my mother was stung by a scorpion.”
Speaker: The poet (Nissim Ezekiel)
Explanation: The poet recalls a sad moment from his own life in this line. A venomous scorpion bit his mother that night. This sentence starts the main story of the poem immediately. It creates a threatening and dark atmosphere for the reader. It also shows the poet's personal memory and reflection....
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Notes (10)
- Discuss the major themes in Nissim Ezekiel’s “Night of the Scorpion.”
- What does this poem reveal about rural Indian society?
- Examine the character of the mother in “Night of the Scorpion.”
- Analyze the use of imagery in “Night of the Scorpion.”
- Compare and contrast the superstition and rationality in “Night of the Scorpion”
- What is the emotional tone of the final two lines?
- What does the word “sceptic” reveal about the father’s character?
- What do the villagers mean by “sins of your previous birth”?
- What do the candles and lanterns symbolize?
- What does the scorpion symbolize in the poem?