Question

My father, sceptic, rationalist,
trying every curse and blessing,
powder, mixture, herb and hybrid.
He even poured a little paraffin
upon the bitten toe and put a match to it.
I watched the flame feeding on my mother.
I watched the holy man perform his rites to tame the
poison with an incantation.
After twenty hours
it lost its sting.
My mother only said
Thank God the scorpion picked on me
And spared my children.
A2. What is the rhyme scheme of these stanzas​

Answer 1

Answer:

In the above stanza of the poem, it is a free ballad which means that the line do not rhyme with each other.

Explanation:

This stanza is taken from the poem 'Night of the Scorpion' written by Nissim Ezekiel.

In this, the author talks about various superstitions of the village people also about a mother's absolute love for her children ( this we can understand from this line "Thank God the scorpion picked on me and spared my children".)

This poem does not have a rhyming scheme but has a lot of figures of speech, some of them I've listed below:

    "he risked the rain again".

• Figure of Speech: Alliteration

        Reason: In this, the letter R is repeated 2 times in one line.

     "The peasants came like swarms of flies".

• Figures of Speech: Simile

        Reason: In this, there is a direct link between the peasants and     swarm of flies.

     "and buzzed the name of god a hundred times".

• Figures of Speech: Metaphor

    Reason: In this, the word 'Evil' is meant the scorpion which he villagers thought it to be.

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