After this, the simile ‘peasants came like swarms of flies’ and metaphor ‘buzzed the name of God’ compare humans to flies, showing them to be smaller than the ‘Evil One’, the scorpion. Here, the poet portrays the peasants as a huge army of flies that targets and tries to ‘paralyze’ the ‘Evil One’ – the scorpion becomes a common enemy in this scene. Following this, the words ‘giant scorpion shadows’ have the literal effect of projecting the scorpion as a dark, monstrous creature.
The poet presents the poem as an action filled episode with a slight humorous tone as he brings out the typicality of the situation. He uses cleverly manipulated Indian English of a formal register with a sense of patriotic pride. Ezekiel uses enjambment throughout the block structured poem, keeping a fast pace that seems to complement the chaos-filled chain reactions that follow the scorpion bite. On the surface, the poet uses a detached tone, simply narrating the events as and when they take place; however, there is an underlying tone of sarcasm for the main part of the poem, which has been separated from the last three lines. Ezekiel breathlessly narrates the action-filled part of the poem, without any attached emotions after which he sensitively presents his mother’s sacrificing nature in the last three lines of the poem.
Before this point, there is much repetition through which the poet establishes an impatient tone as he is able to list some typical Indian superstitions one after the other and apply them to every situations with the use of crisp metaphors. The use of enjambment throughout this part of the poem also makes it seem like a long list- ‘More candles, more lanterns, more neighbours’ more insects, and the endless rain’. With these words Ezekiel clubs the ‘insects’, ‘neighbours’ together, giving them equal importance. This seems to bring out the Indian belief that all forms of life are equal as our existence is defined by nothing more than the karma which relates all life forms. This is belief is shown through the words ‘May the sins of your previous birth be burned away tonight’, ‘May your sufferings decrease the misfortunes of your next birth’. Here, there is repetition of the word ‘May’ which puts emphasis on the religious aspects of this poem such as prayer and ritual. In this, the words ‘sins of your previous birth’ are a direct reference to karma, through which Ezekiel brings out the basis of Indian philosophy. The concept of karma is brought again in a more logical sense through the metaphor ‘may the sum of evil balanced in this unreal world against the sum of good become diminished by your pain’. Here, the poet uses a sarcastic tone along with the word ‘unreal’, which creates a tone of scepticism in this part of the poem. There is more repetition in the line ‘my mother twisted through and through’ which further brings out the poet’s scepticism as he seems to be ‘exaggerating’ the events taking place. The poet’s underlying tone of negativity seems to be associated with his worry for his mother as he puts emphasis on her pain and suffering through the words ‘groaning on a mat’.
The following line uses irony to show a changing mood- ‘My father, a sceptic, rationalist, trying every curse and blessing, powder, mixture, herb and hybrid’. In this, the words ‘herb and hybrid’ are an alliteration that seem to add rhythm to this part of the poem. The tone changes from negative and mechanical to a more positive, hopeful one with the presence of light- ‘flame feeding’. The last five lines of the poem are distinct from the previous block of the poem as it is the only part of the poem that does not involve the use of enjambment, and instead comprises of short lines that are read more slowly due to a decreased pace. These last five lines perfectly capture the Indian mother’s ideology-‘Thank God the scorpion picked on me and spared my children’-bringing out the richness of Indian culture. Ezekiel writes these last lines with a tone of pride and amazement as he witnesses complete selflessness-‘My mother only said’.
In his poem, Ezekiel uses many vivid images to portray different moods, as they keep changing throughout the poem. He constantly includes symbols of ‘darkness’ and ‘light’ in his poem, referring to elements of nature and the universe to bring out themes of spirituality such as karma. The episodic structure of the poem becomes the writer’s main tool as he is able to illustrate various cultural aspects through the use of symbolism and dialogue.
by
mannat21 (student)
