Analysing Textual Poems 1

Read the lines from the poem 'Night of the Scorpion' and answer the
questions that follow:
May your suffering decrease
the misfortunes of your next birth, they said.
May the sum of all evil
balanced in this unreal world
against the sum of good
become diminished by your pain.
May the poison purify your flesh
of desire, and your spirit of ambition,
they said, and they sat around
on the floor with my mother in the centre,
the peace of understanding on each face.
More candles, more lanterns, more neighbours,
more insects, and the endless rain.
My mother twisted through and through,
groaning on a mat.
1. Who are the 'they' referred to in the lines?
2. What effect does the poison have on mother according to the folk assembled
there?
3. What does 'the peace of understanding on each face' suggest?
4. Cite an instance of alliteration from the lines.
5. Pick out the line that hints 'despite the prayers of the peasants the pain of the
mother persisted'.