Pick out four lines from the extract that show that the backGround of the poem is a rural area.
Extract
I remember the night my mother
Was stung by a scorpion, Ten hours Of steady rain had driven him To crawl beneath a sack of rice.
Parting with his poison—flash Of diabolic tail in the dark room— He risked the rain again.
The peasants came like swarms of flies And buzzed the name of God a hundred times To paralyse the Evil One.
With candles and with lanterns
Throwing giant scorpions shadows
On the mud-baked walls
They searched for him: he was not found.
They clicked their tongues.
With every movements that the scorpions made his poison Moved in Mother’s blood, they said.
Answers
Answer:
The lines that that show that the background of the poem is a rural area:
The peasants came like swarms of flies
With candles and with lanterns
Throwing giant scorpions shadows
On the mud-baked walls
Explanation:
Ten hours’ of steady rain had filled the scorpion’s hiding place with water; saving its life it hid under the sack of rice in the kitchen. When the poet’s mother went to the kitchen, it accidentally stung her.
The villages reacted unscientifically to the scorpion bite. They gave their own superstitious, philosophical and religious interpretations for the incident. They believed the scorpion bite was universe’s plan to cure the mother of her previous birth sins. They believed it will purify her flesh and soul.
They did nothing except philosophizing or lecturing. They just sat around the writhing mother and gave their opinions.