Night of the Scorpion is a celebrated poem by Nissim Ezekiel, one of India's foremost English-language poets. The poem recounts the night the poet's mother was stung by a scorpion and describes the contrasting responses of the superstitious villagers and the poet's rationalist father. The poem ends on a note of profound maternal love when the mother, despite her suffering, expresses gratitude that her children were spared.
Poem by Nissim Ezekiel, a pioneering Indian English poet from Mumbai.
The mother is stung by a scorpion on a rainy night; the scorpion hides under a sack of rice.
Villagers believe the scorpion's movement after stinging spreads the poison — a superstition.
The father is described as a 'sceptic, rationalist' who tries every available remedy including herbal cures and fire.
After twenty hours of pain, the mother recovers completely.
The mother's final words — thankful the scorpion stung her, not her children — are the poem's emotional peak.
The poem is written in free verse; its plain, conversational style contrasts with the intense subject matter.
Key themes: superstition vs. rationalism, mother's selfless love, community solidarity, karma and suffering.
On a rainy night, a scorpion stings the poet's mother and retreats under a sack of rice. The village peasants gather with lanterns and try to help in their superstitious way — they believe the scorpion's movement spreads the poison further through the body and that the mother's suffering is burning away her sins from past lives. They chant prayers and invoke the name of God. The father, described as a sceptic and rationalist, tries every remedy he can find — herbs, powder, fluid, and even pours paraffin and sets the toe alight. A local holy man also performs rites. After twenty hours of pain, the mother recovers and says she is only thankful the scorpion stung her and not her children.
Free Verse: The poem is written in free verse with no regular rhyme or metre, giving it a conversational, narrative tone.
Simile: The scorpion is compared to 'the peace of understanding evils of past lives' — used ironically to reflect the villagers' beliefs.
Repetition: The word 'May' is repeated as the villagers chant prayers (May the sins be burned away, May the sum of evil be diminished), creating a hypnotic, incantatory effect.
Imagery: Vivid imagery of rain, lanterns, shadows and swarming peasants creates a dark, claustrophobic atmosphere.
Contrast: The key structural contrast is between the villagers' faith/superstition and the father's rationalism — both ultimately fail to be decisive, yet the mother recovers.
Irony: The father, a sceptic, tries every traditional remedy anyway, showing that in crisis, rationalism wavers.
Faith vs. Rationalism: The poem juxtaposes the villagers' superstitious prayers with the father's rational remedies. Neither is presented as superior — both stem from a desire to help.
Mother's Love (Selfless Love): The poem's emotional climax is the mother's final statement — she is grateful the scorpion chose her and not her children. This universal maternal selflessness is the poem's moral centre.
Community and Solidarity: Despite being superstitious, the villagers gather immediately to help. Their instinct to support the family is genuine, even if their methods are flawed.
Suffering and Redemption: The villagers interpret the mother's suffering as a burning away of past sins, reflecting Hindu beliefs in karma and purification through pain.
Nissim Ezekiel (1924–2004) was a Jewish-Indian poet, playwright, and critic considered the father of modern Indian English poetry. Born in Mumbai, he was a secular, urban intellectual whose work often reflects the tension between tradition and modernity, community and individual. Night of the Scorpion is semi-autobiographical and is one of his most widely anthologised poems.
The peasants believe that the scorpion's movement after the sting spreads the venom further through the body. They also believe the mother's pain is burning away the evil of her past lives according to their faith in karma. They chant prayers and invoke God, hoping her suffering will reduce her debt of sins.
While the villagers respond with prayers, rituals and superstitious chanting, the father — described as a sceptic and rationalist — tries practical remedies such as herbs, powders, and even pouring paraffin and lighting the mother's toe to neutralise the poison. The irony is that the rationalist father also tries folk remedies out of desperation, blurring the line between reason and superstition.
The mother's final words — that she is thankful the scorpion stung her and not her children — are the emotional climax of the poem. After twenty hours of intense suffering, she thinks not of her own pain but of her children's safety. This encapsulates the theme of selfless maternal love and gives the poem its deeply moving conclusion.
The poem has a complex, layered tone. It is largely objective and narrative in its recounting of events, with an undercurrent of gentle irony toward the villagers' superstitions. There is also a tone of quiet admiration for the mother's resilience and love, and subtle humour in describing the father's contradiction of being a rationalist who tries every available remedy.
Key literary devices include: free verse (no rhyme or metre), repetition of 'May' in the villagers' chants to create a prayer-like rhythm, vivid imagery (lanterns, shadows, rain, swarming peasants), simile, and dramatic contrast between superstition and rationalism. The poem's plain diction enhances its realism and emotional impact.
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