Night of the Scorpion

Nissim Ezekiel
 Learning Intentions
Key Teaching Points Key Terms
• To read the poem • Narrative
• To examine the way • First person
the poem presents
people and attitudes
• To make
comparisons with
‘Blessing’
 Nissim Ezekiel
• Is a poet from India who writes in
English. While the subject matter may
be in some ways similar to ‘Blessing’ the
poetic methods are very different.
 Reading the poem
• Firstly listen to the poem.
• Now, take one sentence each and read
it aloud.
• You have to summarise what happens
in the poem in four sentences.
• Here are some helpful openings if you
are stuck BUT it would be better to
think of your own!
• A scorpion . . . . .

• The neighbours . . . . .

• The father . . . . .

• The mother . . . . .
• This is a very simple narrative
structure
• The point is not to tell you just what
happens but to contrast the reactions
of the people involved.
• What is the attitude towards
a. The neighbours?
b. The father?
c. The mother?
 Hints and tips
The neighbours:
• Look at the repetition of ‘they said’ in
lines 17, 20, 22 & 29
• What superstitious ideas do they put
forward?
• Comment on lines 8 & 9: “swarm of
flies” and “buzzard”
 Hints and Tips
The Father
• Look at the father’s two types of remedy for
the scorpion sting. What is the difference
between:
a. “curse” “blessing”
b. Powder, mixture, herb, paraffin?
• The father doesn’t believe in religion or magic.
He is a ‘rationalist’ who believes problems can
be solved logically or scientifically.
 Hints and Tips
The Mother:
• Contrast the strength of feeling
expressed in the last three lines with
the rest of the poem.
 Now
• You are going to write some paragraphs
comparing ‘Night of the Scorpion’ and
‘Blessing’.
• The following sheet will help you with
this.
 Comparing ‘Night of the Scorpion’
and ‘Blessing’
• ‘Night of the Scorpion’ and ‘Blessing’ both portray
people who . . . .
• Both poems have stories to tell . . . .
• However, the two poems are very different in the
ways they use language. For example . . . .
Whereas . . . .
• However, the writer’s main purpose in ‘Blessing’ is
to . . . .
• The results of these different intentions are that . . . .
• These two writers seem to have very different
attitudes to . . . .
• (religion/ superstition/ poverty, for example)
 In conclusion:
1. How effective are these two poems in
communicating with the reader?
2. Which of the two poems do you
prefer?
3. Why?