Night of the Scorpion is a poem by ‘Nissim Ezekiel’. It tells the story of a rural boy(the poet),whose mother was stung by a scorpion. The illiterate village folk try to curse the poison away & are blinded by their superstitions . The boy’s father is a skeptic, rationalist who does not share their views & tries to get his wife cured by more logical techniques(which are, however, eventually abandoned & he, in contrast to his character, ends up following a more superstitious/unproved method). He uses the scientific methods to release her from that poison .
The lady writhes in pain while other look upon her in pity . The “rationalist” father goes to the extent of lighting her foot on fire . Nevertheless, she thanks god that she suffered & not one of her children. About author: Nissim Ezekiel Ezekiel was born on 16 Dec 1924 in Mumbai.
His father, Moses Ezekiel was a professor of her own school. The Ezekiel belonged to Mumbai’s Marathi speaking Jewish community known as the Bene Israel. In 1947, Ezekiel earned a BA in Literature from Wilson College in Mumbai, University of Mumbai. In 1947-1948 he taught English literature & published literary articles.
He gone to England in Nov 1948. He studied philosophy at Bareback College in Landon. After one & half year in London. He come back to his way home as a deck. Ezekiel’s first book ”The bad day” appeared in 1952 he published another volume of poems. “The Deadly Man in 1960.
His poem “The Night of the Scorpion” is used as study material in India & Columbian Schools. His Poems are used NCERT & ICSE English text books. He got Padmashri award in 1988 & the Sahity akademi award cultural award in 1983 . Some examples of poem are: Time to Change The Discovery of India The Unfinished Man The Three Plays
