Summary Poem Analysis of 'The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants' by Emily Dickinson
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Course
Poetry
Institution
CIE
Here’s a full analysis of the poem ‘The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants’ by Emily Dickinson, tailored towards A-Level students but also suitable for those studying at a higher level. Enjoy and feel free to leave feedback if you found it useful!
Includes:
POEM
VOCABULARY
STORY / SUMMARY
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The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants -
Emily Dickinson
The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants -
At Evening, it is not
At Morning, in a Truffled Hut
It stops opon a Spot
As if it tarried always
And yet it’s whole Career
Is shorter than a Snake’s Delay -
And fleeter than a Tare -
’Tis Vegetation’s Juggler -
The Germ of Alibi -
Doth like a Bubble antedate
And like a Bubble, hie -
I feel as if the Grass was pleased
To have it intermit -
This surreptitious Scion
Of Summer’s circumspect.
Had Nature any supple Face
Or could she one contemn -
Had Nature an Apostate -
That Mushroom - it is Him!
VOCABULARY
, Elf - a magical creature with pointed ears, elves have a reputation for being
mischievous and haughty, thinking of themselves as superior to other magical
creatures
Truffled - made from truffles, a kind of mushroom
Opon - upon
Tarried - waited, delayed, lagged behind
Fleeter - faster
Tare - a scrambling weed that quickly grows over wheat fields and destroys crops -
in the Bible, Jesus told the Parable of the Wheat and Tares (see the context for more
info).
Vegetation - plants and undergrowth
Juggler - a circus performed who throws balls in the air and catches them
Germ - the origin or beginning of something
Alibi - in modern English, the word ‘alibi’ is used in legal terms, but in 18th and
19th-century parlance it was used more generally as an adverb meaning ‘elsewhere’
or ‘somewhere else’
Antedate - a verb meaning ‘to appear before something’
Hie - a verb meaning ‘to go quickly’
Intermit - a verb meaning ‘to stop for a period of time’
Surreptitious - sneaky, secretive
Scion - a young new shoot of a plant
Circumspect - cautious and unwilling to take risks
Supple - young, flexible
Contemn - to treat with contempt - feeling as though you are superior to something
and looking down on it with a lack of respect
Apostate - a person who rejects religious or political beliefs, in this case, a person
who rejects the laws and systems of Nature
STORY/SUMMARY
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