Comparing Dharker's Blessing versus Ezelkiel's Night of the Scorpion

2684 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: An eco critical approach to Indian poetry

Blessing & Night of the Scorpion ‘Blessing’, by Imbilz Dharker and ‘Night Of The Scorpion’ by Nissim Ezelkiel both teach us a lot about another culture. Both poems are set in India and so the people in the poem haven’t got much and so cherish what they do have. I shall analyse the similarities and the differences between the two enthralling poems and then evaluate my findings. ‘The Night of the Scorpion’ was written by Imbilz Dharker and is based in India. The title immediately draws the reader’s attention as it makes you wonder what it means. It also gives an evil and sinister feel to the poem. The first line is brunt and too the point “I remember the night my mother was stung by a scorpion”. “The night of the Scorpion” has very strong religious links as it refers to religion many times throughout the poem. You can feel the narrator’s distain for the scorpion in the opening lines “flash of diabolic tail in the dark room”. The word diabolic may be a reference to the devil. Diablo is the Spanish word for devil and there are more mentions of the devil later on, when the poem refers to the scorpion as “The evil one”. The people in the poem are all very religious, except possibly the father of the narrator, “buzzed the Name of God a hundred times to paralyse the Evil One”. The peasants of the story use phrases such as “May the sum of evil balanced in this unreal world” showing that they believe that it is the will of God that is causing this and only he can stop this. The peasants go about trying to find the scorpion “they searched for him, he was not found” but alas they could not. This increases the drama and tension of the poem as the reader wants to know what will happen now that they have not found the scorpion. The peop... ... middle of paper ... ...arn. In conclusion “Blessing” and “The Night of the Scorpion” are very similar. They are both about poor undeveloped countries, both poems have a lack of something (water/medical knowledge). The people in both stories are highly religious and express their emotions freely. The people in both poems fell desperation at some time. However there are also big differences between the two poems like for example “Blessing” is a lot more positive than “The Night of the Scorpion” which is very dark and sinister. Both poems have strong morals but they do differ. The people’s values are also very different. The people in “Blessing” are desperate for water but in “The Night of the Scorpion” it has rained for ten hours. Both of the poems are very strong with a clear message, they move you with emotive language, and they are both well thought out poems with underlying messages.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of The Was Of Things By Willie Perdomo

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imagery uses five senses such as visual, sound, olfactory, taste and tactile to create a sense of picture in the readers’ mind. In this poem, the speaker uses visual imagination when he wrote, “I took my time in old darkness,” making the reader visualize the past memory of the speaker in “old darkness.” The speaker tries to show the time period he chose to write the poem. The speaker is trying to illustrate one of the imagery tools, which can be used to write a poem and tries to suggest one time period which can be used to write a poem. Imagery becomes important for the reader to imagine the same picture the speaker is trying to convey. Imagery should be speculated too when writing a poem to express the big

    Read More

  • The Death of a Toad

    424 Words  | 1 Pages

    The poem “The Death of a Toad” incorporates the literary devices of structure, syntax, imagery, and diction to portray the speakers’ sarcasm. The poet leads the reader through the detailed stages of the toad’s death through out every stanza. The grammatical forms that the speaker uses is to help depict the scene of the dying toad. Another tool the speaker uses is to refer to death in an indirect way. The stanzas progressively illustrate the dying toad as well as the cynical view of the speaker.

    Read More

  • Egyptian And Chinese Poem Analysis

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    Literature shows us the changes of our society from time to time. It also gives us an idea about people, culture, politics, gender traditions, as well as an overall view of previous civilizations. As a part of literature, poetry introduces us to different cultures with different perspectives. Ancient Egypt and ancient China may differ in terms of culture, politics, economic stability, tradition, or even in religious belief. However, in poetry, especially in love lyrics both Egyptian and Chinese poems portray common area of describing women, social attitudes toward love, sexuality and the existence of romance or selfishness in relationships. . If we look at the Egyptian poem “My god, my Lotus” and the Chinese poem “Fishhawk”, we will see both poems have similarities in describing relationships. Also, they have the similarity of imagining the lovers and their expression of love toward each other. However, both poems have some significant differences in terms of representing female sexuality, gender disparity and the display of love.

    Read More

  • The Pessimism of Beowulf in the Epic Poem, Beowulf

    2836 Words  | 6 Pages

    The ethical life of the poem, then, depends upon the propositions that evil. . . that is part of this life is too much for the preeminent man. . . .  that after all our efforts doom is there for all of us” (48).

    Read More

  • Maya Angelou and Alice Walker

    930 Words  | 2 Pages

    The poetry by these two poets creates several different images, both overall, each with a different goal, have achieved their purposes. Though from slightly different times, they can both be recognized and appreciated as poets who did not fear the outside, and were willing to put themselves out there to create both truth and beauty.

    Read More

  • Death and Emily Dickinson

    1312 Words  | 3 Pages

    ..., they are somewhat similar in comparison because they both have an inevitable ending, death. Both of the poems also used rhythm to give the reader a better insight and experience. The use of rhythm helps to set the tone right away. The use of symbolism and tone helped to convey an overall theme with both of the poems.

    Read More

  • Explication of Mary Oliver’s “The Black Snake”

    1158 Words  | 3 Pages

    This poem is divided into six stanzas with four lines each. The poem opens with “When the black snake flashed on the morning road” (1-2). The narrator uses “when” to signify the beginning of the story and introduces the snake as the main character. Labeling the snake as “black” gives it a dark and sinister appeal. The word “flashed” is used to demonstrate how fast the snake moved, and how quickly this event occurred. “Morning” is applied to the time of day that this event occurred. The narrator sees the snake quickly flash across the road. This sets up the scene in our minds. The “truck could not swerve” (3) implies that this was an accidental death. The poet uses “truck” to suggest a big vehicle that is unable to make quick moves or sudden stops. The narrator sees the snake flash across the road, into the path of a big truck that is unable to stop or swerve. “Death, that is how it happens” (4). The word “death” is italicized, emphasizing its importance. The p...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The City Of The End Of Things

    1039 Words  | 3 Pages

    The reader gets a vivid image of a huge industrial city built in “valleys huge of Tartarus”(4). This reference to Tartarus is saying that the city is virtually in a hell-like area. The image of hell is further exemplified by the line “A flaming terrible and bright”(12), which conjures up thoughts of fire and heat. The reference to hell and flames adds to the theme because it brings to light the idea of destruction and nature burning away. Similar to what happens when there is a forest fire. The fire is not just coming out of nowhere though, it is coming “from out a thousand furnace doors”(16), which furthers the idea of industrialization. There are no longer humans in this city which is evident because when talking about the beings in the city Lampman wrote “They are not flesh, they are not bone,/ They see not with the human eye”(33-34). This part of the poem is important because if there are no more humans left it is easy to assume that the only driving force of these “Flit figures that with clanking hands”(31) is work. They work to make the city bigger and to build more than they already

    Read More

  • The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost

    959 Words  | 2 Pages

    On the surface the poem seems to be a meditation on past events and actions, a contemplative reflection about what has gone on before. Research into the poem informs us that the poem is written with a sense of irony

    Read More

  • The People in Night of the Scorpion and My Aunt in Pakistan

    1957 Words  | 4 Pages

    my favourite poem out of the two must be Night of the Scorpion, as I

    Read More

  • Morality and Will Power in Lucifer in Starlight by George Meredith

    618 Words  | 2 Pages

    As with any poem, the title can sometimes be a reference to other works of fiction, the Bible, mythology, or famous figures. In this instance, it's the Bible. Lucifer was a defiant archangel who was forsakened by God and banished from heaven. The title, "Lucifer in Starlight," is not a reference to an uprising in hell, but rather a reference to Earth because it is describing a place where stars are visible. The rising is also mentioned in the first line. "On a starred night Price Lucifer uprose" (1). The first line ironically refers to Lucifer as an honorable prince, while a fiend in the second. Later, it is explained that he is rising because he is tired of hell. "Tired of the d...

    Read More

  • The Last Night That She Lived

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    The speaker’s language towards the woman’s death in “The Last Night that she lived” portrays a yearning attitude that leads to disappointment; which reiterates human discontent with the imperfections of life. The description of woman’s death creates an image of tranquility that causes the speaker to aspire towards death. Her death compares to a reed floating in water without any struggle. The simile paradoxically juxtaposes nature and death because nature’s connotation living things, while death refers to dead things, but death becomes a part of nature. She consents to death, so she quietly dies while those around her refuse to accept her imminent death. The speaker’s description of death sounds like a peaceful experience, like going to sleep, but for eternity. These lines describe her tranquil death, “We waited while She passed—It was a narrow time—Too jostled were Our Souls to speak. At length the notice came. She mentioned, and forgot—Then lightly as a Reed Bent to the water, struggled scarce- Consented, and was dead-“ .Alliteration in “We waited”, emphasizes their impatience of the arrival of her death because of their curiosity about death. The woman’s suffering will be over soon. This is exhibited through the employment of dashes figuratively that form a narrow sentence to show the narrowing time remaining in her life, which creates suspense for the speaker, and also foreshadows that she dies quickly. The line also includes a pun because “notice” refers to the information of her death, and also announcement, which parallels to the soul’s inability to speak. “She mentioned, and forgot—“, refers to her attempt to announce her farewell to everyone, which connects to the previous line’s announcement. The dashes fig...

    Read More

  • Culture in the Poem Blessing

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    The title of the poem is ''Blessing'' and the poet is called Imtiaz Dharker. In my essay I will be looking at how the poet describes a culture different from our own and explaining how the poet brings this culture to life through his use of poetic techniques. The poem is set in a third world country which is in desperate need for water. A municipal pipe bursts and suddenly there is a flurry of people rushing to get that much desired water.

    Read More

  • "Tithonus" by Tennyson and "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes: Compare, Contrast and Analysis

    998 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...za there is personification in the line, “the vapors weep their burthen to the ground”. There is also a sense of irony with, “man comes and tills the field and lies beneath” because its humans working the land for crops that help them survive, only to be buried beneath it when they pass away. In the second stanza, the God granting his wish is described by the smilie, “Then didst thou grant mine asking with a smile, like wealthy men who care not how they give”.

    Read More

  • A Critical Analysis of Judith Wright's 'the Killer'

    913 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... Nature, including human beings, is `red in tooth and claw'; we are all `killers' in one way or another. Also, the fear which inhabits both human and snake (allowing us, generally, to avoid each other), and which acts as the catalyst for this poem, also precipitates retaliation. Instinct, it seems, won't be gainsaid by morality; as in war, our confrontation with Nature has its origins in some irrational `logic' of the soul. The intangibility of fear, as expressed in the imagery of the poem, is seen by the poet to spring from the same source as the snake, namely the earth - or, rather, what the earth symbolizes, our primitive past embedded in our subconsciouness. By revealing the kinship of feelings that permeates all Nature, Judith Wright universalises the experience of this poem.

    Read More

More about Comparing Dharker's Blessing versus Ezelkiel's Night of the Scorpion

Open Document