Lecturer, Department of English at Feni University

4. Biography of Nissim Ezekiel
•Nissim Ezekiel (16 December 1924 – 9 January 2004) was an Indian
Jewish poet, actor, actor, playwright, edit and art-critic. He was a
foundational figure in postcolonial India's literary history, specifically
for Indian writing in English.
•Ezekiel was born on 16 December 1924 in Mumbai (Maharashtra)
•His father was a professor of botany at Wilson College, and his mother
was principal of her own school
•In 1947, Ezekiel earned a BA in Literature from WILSON College,
Mumbai, University of Mumbai. In 1947-48, he taught English
Literature and published literary articles. After dabbling in radical
politics for a while, he sailed to England in November 1948.
•He studied Philosophy at Birkbek College, London. After three and a
half years stay, Ezekiel worked his way home as a deck-scrubber aboard
a ship carrying arms to Indochina.

5. •Ezekiel's first book, The Bad Day, appeared in 1952. He published
another volume of poems, The deadly man in 1960. After working as an
advertising copywriter and general manager of a picture frame company
(1954–59), he co-founded the literary monthly Jumpo, in 1961. He
became art critic of The Names of India (1964–66) and edited Poetry
India (1966–67). From 1961 to 1972, he headed the English department
of Mithibai College, Bumbai.
•The Exact Name, his fifth book of poetry was published in 1965.
During this period he held short-term tenure as visiting professor at
University of Lees (1964) and University of Pondicherry (1967).
• In 1967, while in America, he used LSD. In 1969, Writers Workshop,
Ezekiel published his The Damn Plays. A year later, he presented an art
series of ten programmes for Indian television.

6. Books by Nissim Ezekiel
1952: Time To Change
1953: Sixty nine poems
1956: The Discovery of
India
1959: The Third
1960: The Unfinished Man
1965: The Exact Name
1974: Snakeskin and Other
Poems, translations of the
Marathi poet Indira Sant
1976: Hymns in Darkness
1982: Latter-Day Psalms
1989: Collected Poems
1952-88 OUP
enterprise
Night of the Scorpion
In India
In the Theatre
The Couple
A Time to Change
Island
For Elkana
The Professor
Soap
Marriage
In the country cottage
Famous Poems of Nissim Ezekiel

7. •He was honored with the Padmashri award by the President of
India in in 1988 and the Sahitya akademi cultural award in 1983.
•Ezekiel is universally recognized and appreciated as being one of
the most notable and accomplished Indian English language
poets of the 20th century, applauded for his subtle, restrained
and well crafted diction, dealing with common and mundane
themes in a manner that manifests both cognitive profundity, as
well as an unsentimental, realistic sensibility, that has been
influential on the course of succeeding Indian English poetry.
•Ezekiel enriched and established Indian English language poetry
through his modernist innovations and techniques, which
enlarged Indian English literature, moving it beyond purely
spiritual and oriental's themes, to include a wider range of
concerns and interests, including mundane familial events,
individual angst and skeptical societal introspection.

9. 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 mud-baked walls
they searched for him: he was not found.
They clicked their tongues.
May he sit still, they said
May the sins of your previous birth
be burned away tonight, they said.
May your suffering decrease
the misfortunes of your next birth, they said.
Night of the Scorpion

10. May the sum of all evil
balanced in this unreal world
against the sum of good
become diminished by your pain.
May the poison purify your flesh
of desire, and your spirit of ambition,
they said, and they sat around
on the floor with my mother in the centre,
the peace of understanding on each face.
More candles, more lanterns, more neighbours,
more insects, and the endless rain.
My mother twisted through and through,
groaning on a mat.
My father, sceptic, rationalist,
trying every curse and blessing,
powder, mixture, herb and hybrid.
He even poured a little paraffin
upon the bitten toe and put a match to it.
I watched the flame feeding on my mother.
I watched the holy man perform his rites to tame the poison with an incantation.
After twenty hours
it lost its sting.
My mother only said
Thank God the scorpion picked on me
And spared my children.

11. •Nissim Ezekiel’s Night of the Scorpion is a strong yet simple statement on the power of self-effacing love.
Full to the brim with Indianness, it captures a well-detached black and white snapshot of Indian village life
with all its superstitious simplicity. The poet dramatizes a battle of ideas fought at night in lamplight between
good and evil; between darkness and light; between rationalism and blind faith. And out of this confusion,
there arises an unexpected winner – the selfless love of a mother.
•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 hiding 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 expressed 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 began to search for him, but in vain.
•To console the mother they opened the bundle of their superstitions. They told mother that the suffering and
pain will burn away the sins of her previous birth. “May the suffering decrease the misfortunes of your next
birth too”, they said.
•Mother twisted and groaned in mortifying pain. Her husband, who was sceptic and rationalist, tried every
curse and blessing; powder, herb and hybrid. As a last resort he even poured a little paraffin on the bitten part
and put a match t The painful night was long and the holy man came and played his part. He performed his
rites and tried to tame the poison with an incantation. After twenty hours the poison lost its sting.
•The ironic twist in the poem comes when in the end the mother who suffered in silence opens her mouth.
Summary of Night of the Scorpion

12. Theme: Images of the dark forces of evil abound in Night of the Scorpion; the diabolic tail of
the scorpion, giant scorpion shadows on the sun-baked walls and the night itself point to evil. In
fact, the poem is about the pertinent question as to what can conquer evil. Where superstition,
rationalism and religion proved futile, the self-effacing love of a mother had its say. Once again it
is “Amor vincit omnia.” Love conquers all, and that is all you need to know as The last part of
the poem upholds the dignity of the Indian motherhood.
The mother's comment: "Thank God the scorpion picked on me and spread my children" is
typical of an Indian mother. She is relieved to find that the scorpion let her children alone and
thanks God for it. The entire poem may be taken as a tribute to the incomparable love of a
mother.
Another important theme of the poem is the helplessness that loves ones feel when someone close
to them is dying. There is an overall sensation of helplessness when the mother gets stung by the
scorpion. The villagers come by and essentially are fairly worthless in alleviating the mother's
pain. The father, skeptical of all of this, can only watch to see his wife endure pain. In a way, he
is helpless as well because his skepticism and faith in Western medicine also does not necessarily
help his wife. The pain of this is the inescapable fact that she is dying and there is nothing he can
do to stop it. The ending of the poem reveals this helplessness when the mother says that she is
glad it was her who took this and not the children.
Analysis of Nissim Ezekiel’s Night of the Scorpion

13. Indian Background In Night Of The Scorpion
"Night of the scorpion" is typically an Indian poem by a typical Indian poet whose
interest in the Indian soil and its ordinary human events of day-to-day Indian life is
superb. A good many Indians are illiterate and are blindly superstitious. But they are
simple, loving and lovable. They attempt to save the victim by doing whatever they
can. But they do not succeed. The father who is not superstitious and is educated tries
his own scientific ways; he too, does not succeed. There is the holy man who performs
his rites with incantation. He also fails to find a cure. Finally the cue comes by
itself. This can be taken as a proof for the belief in 'fate'; everything in a man's life is
pre-destined and man has no role in changing it. Ezekiel is known to be a detached
observer of the Indian scenario and this stance often has the power of a double-edged
sword that cuts both ways. On the one side Night of the Scorpion presents an Indian
village through the eyes of an outsider and finds the deep-rooted strains of superstition
and blind faith which may seem foolish to the western eye. But on the other, the poem
never fails to highlight the positive side of Indian village life. The poet does not turn a
blind eye to the fellow-feeling, sympathy and cooperation shown by the villagers. And
in a poem that deals with the all-conquering power of love, the reader too should be
well aware of it.

14. Clash of Ideas
There is a contrast between the world of irrationality represented by the villagers and the world
of rationalism represented by the father who tries all rational means to save his wife from
suffering. Religion too plays its role with the holy man saying his prayers. But all three become
futile. Or do they? One cannot totally ignore the underlying current of love and fellow-feeling in
their endeavors.
‘Night of the Scorpion’ is not a poem of a simple incident in the life of poet’s mother, rather a
poem of Indian culture, belief, philosophy and superstition. In this short poem he has presented
some Indian pictures with graphic truth. He presents vividly the inner relationship between
individual families to the neighboring community. Superstitious they may be but their fellow
feeling is noticeable – “More candles more lanterns, more neighbors”. The neighbors came
forward for help nowhere one can find such strong social relationship.
What is most sweet in the poem is the affectionate concern of a mother for her children. It is
universally acknowledged that a mother is ready to suffer all types of pain and tortures with a
smiling face, but she will not bear any pain imposed on her children.
“My mother only said
Thank God the scorpion picked on me
And spend my children”

15. Throughout the poem Ezekiel has used simple, common language in exact place. Within
the poem he uses parallelism and antithesis. Not only that the poet very consciously
uses the sound effect of the word and for this he discards the traditional prosody and
creates new rhymes for expressing a new mood The poem is interpreted as a symbolic
juxtaposition of darkness and light.
The night, the scorpion, the poison and the suffering represent darkness. The incessant
rain stands for hope and regeneration. Candles, lanterns, neighbours and ultimately the
recovery of the mother represent light. The poem can also be thought of as symbolic of
Good and Evil too.
Taking such accounts, ‘Night of the Scorpion’ from the point of poetic expression,
observation , Indian perception and experience is a brilliant poem It is Nissim Ezekiel
who says in his “Poet, lover and Bird Watcher”, “The Best Poets wait for the
words” remaining always alert because “Eternal vigil is the price for the gift of
poetry”.