I would now like to look at the shape of the poem. It is laid almost like a story and the poem is a free verse poem. The main changes appear in end, for example lines 44 and 45, where the word ‘incantation’ is verbalized. In addition the lines 44 and 45 are like singing speech of a religious belief. In addition, the last three lines form only the second stanza in the poem: the poet does this in order to make it stand out and to show that the mother is the most rational person in the poem. The last verse is ration as the mother survived but if the scorpion had her child the child would have not survived. It also suggest that the mother cares for kids, as she is pleased she was bitten and not the children. The mother is important as the night when she was stuck stick vividly in the poet’s mind. It suggests that the Importance of thinking of others first, like in the last verse.
Next, I would like to focus on the way the poet uses devices. Firstly, lines 5 and 6, where the places the work ‘flash’ at the end of one line, after a dash to show there is something coming on. A hyphen suggests that there is something to add on and it makes seem like a flow. Nevertheless, if you the poet had used a coma it would be a pause so a dash is considered more effective in this situation.
Secondly, the poet compares the villagers to ‘swarms of files’. I that he uses this vivid simile to show that there were many of them. In addition, they are compared to files because there are so many of them that it reduces their status.
Finally, the poet makes the words of the villager’s sound almost prayer- like by the repetition of the word ‘may’. For 5 lines it starts with the word ‘may’ and it makes it look emphasis the prayers clearly instead of just listing them. He uses a lot of abstract nouns, such as desire, ambition etc. Finally he uses alliteration with the letter “s”. IN every line which start with the word ‘may’ the poet uses a word with “s” such as sit, sins, suffering, sum etc. This all adds to the prayer- like quality of these lines.
In conclusion, I think that the poet wants us to see certain aspects of life in his village so we understand that they live in a very close-knit community, as everybody comes round. They believe in God and also the devil, so they are religious. We place emphasis on medicine - they prefer religion. Many different beliefs are associated with the scorpion, e.g. it moving moves the poison in the woman's blood etc. The poet is an outsider in the way that he views the events and we shares because if the poet was an insider the poet may suggest something to you in a different way. I, the reader am looking at it more objecting and there is no judgment. However some people might have been disappointed of what the father did if it was written in more detail and more objective. They are illogical rather than being scientific and have knowledge.
