In one part of the poem, it mentions that the scorpion was controlling the poison that was inside the child’s mother. “With every movement the scorpion made, his poison moved around the mothers blood”. The villagers seem to believe that the scorpion controls the poison that is inside the mother so they think that if they capture the scorpion, the poison inside the mother will also stop moving. They state that they want to stop the scorpion on line 18, “May he sit still”. After line 18, a series of sentences are started with the word “may”. In Standard English, this word usually introduces a polite request.
The villagers all sat round whilst the mother laid there. It is described that there is a look of understanding on all of the people’s faces, which shows that they are supporting the mother, hoping she will be fine. In some cultures it is believed that if you catch the scorpion that has poisoned someone, the victim will recover. This may be why the villagers were so keen to capture the creature. The poet then describes how everyone is trying to help the child’s mother recover. “My father, sceptic, rationalist, trying every curse and blessing, powder, mixture, herb and hybrid. He even poured a little paraffin wax upon the bitten toe and put a match to it”.
“I watched the flame feeding on my mother” this is one of the most effective quotes in this poem as it’s dramatic and metaphorical. Again, the poet describes how people are trying to help the child’s mother by writing; “I watched a holy man perform his rites to tame the poison with an incantation”. The p poet gives the effect that the poison has been inside the mother for a long time by saying; “After twenty hours, it lost its sting” The last three lines of the poem have had a large amount of thought go into them, as it’s unusual to normally end a poem like this.
The poem Limbo, tells the story of slavery in a rhyming, rhythmic dance. It is ambiguous and complex. There are two main narratives running in parallel; the actions of the dance and the history of a people – which is being enacted. Going down under the limbo stick is likened to the slaves going down into the hold of the ship, which carries them into slavery. In Roman Catholic tradition, Limbo is a place to which the souls of people go, if they are not good enough for heaven but not bad enough for hell, between this is Limbo. It has come to mean an unpleasant place or a state of mind or body from which it is difficult to escape.
The story of slavery told in the poem is very easy to follow, yet full of detail and action. The poem has a very strong beat, suggesting the dance it describes. The rest of the poem tells a story enacted in a dance. These lines are greatly rhythmic and almost every syllable is stressed, until the very last line, where the rhythm is broken, suggesting the finish of the dance and the end of the narrative. This poem is suited to a dramatic performance – there is the dancing under the limbo stick and the acting out the voyage into slavery. The poem can be chanted or sung with a rhythmic beat to give the best effect. The poem refers to a “drummer” which may be suitable.
The poem is laid out on the page in a very peculiar fashion; this is related to the poem being chant like. Parts of the poem are echoed or at least rhyming in a repetitive way to suggest that this may not be any song or dance, but one of an “African” like culture. From the start of the poem, it seems pessimistic, but as you read on towards the end of the poem, it gradually stats to change into an optimistic look onto what will happen. “The music is saving me” could mean that the songs of their cultures were what gave them hope or the fact that the drummer was beating a rhythmic beat was what got them to carry on.
The first line of sacrifice is an unusual line to start with because describing a goat having a knife dragged across its neck isn’t the sort of image you would want to convey for the opening sentence. The person’s point of view throughout the poem seemed to switch between two characters, a young boy and a goat being sacrificed. “Two spadefuls of dirt will cover me up forever” & “I can feel its point on my throat”.
Many cultures bless their house or have some kind of ceremony once the house is built. Also, there are still some cultures today that sacrifice animals to their “gods”. “We stand in a tight circle around the animal to be sacrificed” this short sentence is a great example of this. It seems that the child in question seems to dislike the idea of animals being sacrificed. “The heat and the smell of the blood make me dizzy”. Again, there is a whole paragraph describing just how the animal in question is sacrificed.
The writer of the poem has made a strange choice by putting both children and the theme of sacrificing together, as usually a poet would not normally do this. “The children are fascinated by the tableau”. Here, a drama convention is used. A tableau is a still image that can be used at the beginning, during or at the end of a piece of drama. Again, the idea of ceremonies are used; “A white bearded man chants something holy”.
“The cameras click.” This short sentence sounds wrong when put into context with the theme of the poem. The idea of people taking pictures of an animal that has just been sacrificed is disgusting. The ending of the poem is unusual because it seems that it is from the boy’s point of view because it describes the house as an unnecessary killing. “We are not laying the foundations of a house but another dachau.” A Dachau is a Nazi concentration camp where thousands of Jews were exterminated.
