These are answers to the textbook activities of the chapter ‘Night of the Scorpion’ (Class 10 English, Kumarbharati). They were written with AI help and checked against the textbook.
Night of the Scorpion – Textbook Questions and Answers | Class 10 English
Written board papers, 40 marks and 2 hours each: Science & Technology Part 1 and 2, Algebra, Geometry and more.
Sections
| Warming Up | 2 questions | |
| Questions in the Margin | 6 questions | |
| English Workshop | 21 questions |
Chapters covered
Instructions
Solve on paper with a timer, then check against the solutions.
Warming Up
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Many people are superstitious. In pairs, list any superstitions that you know of and say what each implies. (Example: smashing a mirror brings seven years of bad luck.)
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Brainstorm what you know about scorpions: where they live, their appearance, how they attack and any more information about them.
Questions in the Margin
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Who does the word ‘him’ refer to in line no. 3?
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What does the phrase ‘to paralyse the Evil One’ mean in stanza 3?
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Who are ‘they’ in stanza 4?
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Why does the poem begin with the poet’s remembering the night?
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What forced the scorpion to take shelter in the poet’s house?
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When did the Mother find relief?
English Workshop
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There are three main parts of the poem. Complete the table saying what is happening in each. (Lines 1–7: The scorpion comes into the home to escape the rain and stings the poet’s mother.)
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Complete the table: Background/setting of the poem – Type (Rural/Urban) and Evidence (quote lines from the poem).
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Many images of the scorpion contrast in the opening lines of the poem. Find examples of timid and dangerous qualities.
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Look at the description of the village peasants. What does the imagery suggest about them? (They came like swarms of flies. / They buzzed the name of God. / They threw giant scorpion shadows on the mud-baked walls. / They clicked their tongues.)
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The child is afraid but admires
- (A) the initiative of the peasants.
- (B) his father trying every way to cure.
- (C) the bravery of his mother.
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His father and the villagers panic and hastily suggest
- (A) to take her to the hospital.
- (B) ayurvedic treatment.
- (C) religious remedies to help.
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The poet seems to see the villagers as impractical and almost irritating which suggests that
- (A) the poet is critical of caste
- (B) the poet is critical of religion
- (C) the poet is critical of tradition.
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This is a ______ poem as it tells a story.
- (A) reflective
- (B) imaginative
- (C) narrative
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Using the first person gives the feeling that it is told from
- (A) personal experience
- (B) public experience
- (C) private experience
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‘The scorpion picked on me. And spared my children’ depicts
- (A) mother’s bravery
- (B) mother’s endurance
- (C) selfless and unconditional love of mother.
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The poem does not have a rhyme scheme, which means the poem is a perfect example of a
- (A) Ballad
- (B) Sonnet
- (C) Free verse
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The poem is titled ‘Night of the Scorpion’, for, the major part of the poem,
- (A) the mother remains triumphant at the end.
- (B) the scorpion is the victor.
- (C) the father succeeds in curing the mother.
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The peasants chant the name of God to
- (A) nullify the stinging experience
- (B) praise God.
- (C) appease God.
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The click of tongues reflects their ______ to the predicament.
- (A) individual response
- (B) collective response
- (C) group response
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From the poem provide evidence for the following: (a) the attempts by the peasants to help alleviate the mother’s pain (b) the action of these same peasants to kill the scorpion (c) the reaction of the rational father (d) the various superstitions versus the ‘scientific’ (e) evil versus good.
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Complete the table showing the qualities of the father and mother giving sufficient evidence from the poem.
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Match the figures of speech with the correct definition: (1) Metaphor (2) Alliteration (3) Onomatopoeia (4) Simile; (a) the use of the same sound at the beginning of words (b) an implied comparison (c) a comparison between two different things, especially a phrase containing the words ‘like’ or ‘as’ (d) a word which resembles the sound it represents.
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Find examples from the poem that contain: Simile, Metaphor, Onomatopoeia.
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Expand the flow-chart into a paragraph in your own words: Mother → Agony → Fights the venom (of scorpion) → Unable to utter, but groans → Thanks God → Survives.
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The poet has used various kinds of imagery that appeal to our senses. Complete the table: visual imagery, tactile imagery, sound imagery, and internal sensations, feelings and emotions.
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Write an appreciation of the poem ‘Night of the Scorpion’ in paragraph format.