Line by line analysis of Mushrooms by Sylvia Plath with questions for students at the end.

1. Mushrooms
Sylvia Plath

2. Sylvia Plath
 Sylvia Plath was born in Boston Massachusetts in 1932
 She excelled at school, particularly in arts and writing
and was selected to be a guest editor on Mademoiselle
magazine
 She attended Smith College, and made her first attempt
at suicide by crawling beneath her house and taking
sleeping pills
 She was treated with electric and insulin shock therapy
before returning to Smith to graduate with highest
honours.
 She won a Fulbright scholarship to study at Cambridge
University in England where she met her husband Ted
Hughes (who later became poet laureate of England)
 They had a short courtship lasting only a few months
after which they moved to America to work and live
there

3.  Sylvia worked as a lecturer at Smith but
found it difficult after her first child was born
 She retired and attended writing seminars
eventually publishing her poetry as The
Colossus
 She attempted suicide a number of times, but
was treated by her old psychiatrist
 They returned to Englandin 1959, and
Sylvia’s 2nd pregnancy ended in a
miscarriage
 She did eventually have another child but
then split from her husband to live alone with
the two children
 In 1963 she finally committed suicide

4. Plath’s Poetry
 Plath is a member of the Confessional
School of poetry
 Much of her work is autobiographical
and deeply personal
 Many of the concerns she addresses
are women’s concerns,
 She was only recognised after her
death receiving the Pulitzer Prize
posthumously

5. What do you think of when you
hear the word mushroom?

6. Sylvia Plath reads
‘Mushrooms’

7. Overnight, very
Whitely, discreetly,
Very quietly
Our toes, our noses
Take hold on the loam,
Acquire the air.
Nobody sees us,
Stops us, betrays us;
The small grains make room.
Soft fists insist on
Heaving the needles,
The leafy bedding,
Even the paving.
Our hammers, our rams,
Earless and eyeless,
Perfectly voiceless,
Widen the crannies,
Shoulder through holes. We
Diet on water,
On crumbs of shadow,
Bland-mannered, asking
Little or nothing.
So many of us!
So many of us!
We are shelves, we are
Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,
Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:
We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot's in the door.
Mushroom
s

8. Stanza I
Overnight, very
Whitely, discreetly,
Very quietly
How quickly the
mushrooms
appear, is noted
in the very first
word.
Whitely – is a strange
word, it is acting as
an adverb
White has various
connotations too
mostimportantly
purity and
innocence
Discreetly, and very
quietly are synonyms.
Discreet means to act
carefully & cautiously
which are is associated
with being quiet
There is no rhyme scheme, but a great deal of
assonance and consonance is used. The ‘t’ and
‘r’ sounds clip of the words – as though to make
you more guarded (cautious) of your words
The ‘i’, sound (represented by the letter ‘y’) trails
off the words adding emphasis to the idea of
quietnessLiteral – the poem is describing mushrooms here,
there is no hint yet what their significance may be
apart from the use of colour.

9. Stanza II
Our toes, our noses
Take hold on the
loam,
Acquire the air.
Inclusion of body parts indicates we aren’t
talking about mushrooms but people
through the use of personification
Also note the speaker is using 1st person
plural to identify themselves as the
mushrooms
Loam – is a rich
dark fertile soil.
It’s very heavy
Take hold – conveys
the idea of seizing
something, or
grabbing something
desperately
Acquire the air –
conveys the idea
they’ve been
suffocating.
Assonance is used again with the repetition of the long ‘o’ sounds and short
‘a’ sounds
Consonance is used with the repetition of ‘l’ and ‘r’ sounds.
The sounds used are soft sounds, that reflect the quietness from the previous
stanza.
Stanza ii introduces the beginning of an extended metaphor, the
mushrooms are personified. The idea that they haven’t had a place to live or
air to breathe indicates that they are perhaps poor or oppressed.

10. Stanza III
Nobody sees us,
Stops us, betrays us;
The small grains make
room
These people are unimportant
to society because they aren’t
seen
Benefits to being
unseen, are that
you aren’t
controlled
(stopped) or
betrayed
Us – 1st person plural
Indicates the speaker
identifies as one of
the group
Though small they are still
increasing hence the need to
make roomAlliteration falls on the ‘s’ sound emphasising important words “see”, “stop”
and “small”.
The idea that this is a minority group is emphasised again. Yet the last line
indicates they are gaining in number (and perhaps power). (Strength in
numbers)
Grains – marks a shift in metaphor. Grains of sand are
indistinguishable from each other. How does this relate to the idea of
nobody seeing them.

11. Stanza IV
Soft fists insist on
Heaving the
needles,
The leafy bedding,
Soft fists – acts as an
oxymoron. Fists are used for
harming yet these are soft,
which makes one think they are
weakHeaving – again gives a
notion of violence. Of
throwing the needles
aside.
In informal British
English heaving also
means ‘extremely
crowded’ which relates
to the ‘grains making
room’ from the previous
stanza
The scene here is
again a forest scene
with the diction
conveying this through
words like needles
(pine needles), leafy,
and bedding.
What role does the
environment suggest?
Consonance – “f”, “t” and “s” sounds are all repeated in the first line.
The other two lines use assonance with long “e” sounds closed off with a
short “e” sound on bedding.
This stanza introduces a hint of violence. The quietness of the
mushrooms emergence has changed to a dramatic opposite, and yet no
actual conflict has occurred other than existence.

12. Stanza
V
Even the paving.
Our hammers, our
rams,
Earless and eyeless,
Paving – again marks a shift.
Paving is associated with urban
environmentsHammers & rams are
also instruments of
destruction again
implying the prospect
of violence.
They are also the
appearance of the
heads of the
mushrooms
Earless & Eyeless – gives an
idea of vulnerability. This
contrasts strongly with the
violence implied in the previous
line
Plath often uses internal rhyme, here again
with the endings ‘–less’ she makes the prose
fit together strongly by tying sounds together.

13. Stanza VI
Perfectly voiceless,
Widen the crannies,
Shoulder through holes.
We
Voiceless serves two
functions firstly it indicates
the silence of the
mushrooms growth
Secondly it underscores the
vulnerability of the people
It is a counter to the idea of
vox populi which means
the opinion of the majority
of the people
Widen the crannies
– speaks to the
continuation of the
mushrooms/people
to grow and make
more space for
themselves “living
space”
To shoulder through – is somewhat aggressive and
persistent. This gives the idea of determination of the
people
Holes – there is no pathway or welcome for the people, they
have to enter through holes, cracks that they exploit themselves
The poem has now given us a clearer image of the people it
speaks about. They are definitely not the majority as they are
voiceless and silent. They continue to grow and persist though,
with an aggressive force that could be violent yet isn’t.
Another image here is of an infant. Before a first breath infants cannot
cry, and they also emerge from their mothers with some degree of
violence.

14. Stanza VII
Diet on water,
On crumbs of
shadow,
Bland-mannered,
asking
This stanza focuses on the requirements that the people need to
exist. The implication is that they need very little to survive and
that they are unassuming. Quietly and gratefully receiving whatever
small crumbs are offered to them.
In addition the poem is clearer. We can now use the Gospel of
Matthew as a reference to indicate these people could be women or
foreigners due to the reference to the Canaanite woman. This would
make sense as all since Plath is a feminist poet.
Diet – the requirements and
nutrients to survive.
Water – the most
abundant liquid on earth
Crumbs – echoes
Matthew 15: 21-28
and the Canaanite
woman (a foreigner
in Israel) who said
even the ‘dogs’ get
crumbs from the
‘master’s’ table
Bland-mannered – pleasant agreeable and
above all non-confrontational. Quietly
accepting even shadow bread which
doesn’t offer much of sustenance at all

15. Stanza VIII
Little or nothing.
So many of us!
So many of us!
Enjambent again draws attention to
what the ‘women’ are asking for…
And is
underscored by
the repetition of
the two following
lines.
This repetition acts as a refrain and an entreaty.
The switch to the 1st person plural again “us” shows they do have a
voice and are stating their reality. This is a slight change from the
‘voicelessness’ of before.
The repetition of the phrase is important as it brings through two
ideas. Firstly that the ‘mushrooms’ are slowly gaining a voice
Secondly they may not be a minority for long, there are ‘many’ now.
And this increase in numbers will give them power, and begin more
politically rallying cries.

16. Stanza IX
We are shelves, we are
Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,
Diction –
shelves, tables
are furniture
Part of the
domestic
arrangements of
homes and
usually cleaned
and looked after
by women
Metaphor – the
mushrooms look
like these items of
furniture.
Meek – Matthew 5:5
“blessed are the
meek for they shall
inherit the earth”.
Gospel of Matthew
is referenced again
here and is one of
the most famous of
the beatitudes from
Jesus’ Sermon on
the MountEdible – edible here is also a
contrast
The earlier lines imply not much
nutrition is needed, yet the
mushrooms/women provide
nutrition
The traditional roles of women are
strongly emphasised here.
As domestic caretakers
As mothers (mothers milk)
As carers providing for more than
just literal food but also food for the
soul or mind
Women are in danger of being
consumed, used up entirely

17. Stanza X
Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:
To nudge and shove is to push for
progress/growth
Even if they
don’t intend
to
Genesis 22:17
”I will multiply your
descendants as the
stars of the heaven
and as the sand
which is on the
seashore; and your
descendants shall
possess the gate of
their enemies.”
This verse ties in the
previous mention of
‘grains’in Stanza 3
The mushrooms/women will continue to
multiply, to increase and to lose their place as
a minority and become equal or greater than
Plath indicates here that although not intending to women automatically
push for better positions and more important roles. This links clearly to
the 40’s and 50’s where women were beginning to enter the workforce
in larger numbers.

18. Stanza XI
We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot's in the door.
The poem begins at night
and ends in a morning that
has not yet dawned ‘by
morning’
Matthew 5:5 repeated again,
from the original word ‘meek’ in
Stanza 9.
To have one’s foot in the
door, means one is already
introduced but hasn’t been
fully entered into yet.The poem ends on a positive note. The
prospect that progress has begun and if quiet
persistence continues acceptance will come and
power given ‘inherit the earth’

19. Form and Meter
Write down the answers to the following
questions:
1. How is the poem divided into
stanzas?Mention their length and
how many there are.
2. What sort of rhyme scheme if any
does the poem use?
3. Can you identify any meter (how
many syllables per line)?

20. The Speaker
 What perspective is the poem written
from? How do you know this?
 What groups or identities does the
speaker include themselves with?
 What is the speakers relationship with
the group they are a part of? Quote
from the text to support your answer.

21. The Setting
 What sort of locations are mentioned
in the text?
 What time frame does the poem occur
in?
 What is the relationship between the
settings and the groups that inhabit
them?

22. Imagery and Symbolism
 What is the extended metaphor of the
poem? What subject and objects are
being compared?
 Give two examples of other objects
mushrooms are compared to in the
poem?
 What tone is set by the images and
actions of the poem? Highlight specific
words in your answer.

23. Themes – Women
 What specific imagery indicates the
mushrooms are women?
 What makes mushrooms a good
image to represent women and their
struggles (or not).
 Is the poem pessimistic or optimistic
and why?
 What other groups of people might the
poem represent?

24. Themes – Passivity &
Aggression
 Are the mushrooms aggressive or
passive, Quote to support your
answer.
 What message is the poem giving
about revolution, or passivity and is it
a positive or negative message.
 What sort of revolution do you think
the ‘mushrooms’ would engage in?

25. Themes - Perseverance
 What obstacles are presented to the
mushrooms? Quote.
 Are the challenges the ‘mushrooms’
face internal or external challenges?
 What goal is being striven for (not
literal)?

26. Themes – Freedom &
Confinement
 In what ways do the metaphorical
mushrooms try to gain their freedom?
How do these ways equate with methods
used by women and other oppressed
groups?
 What metaphorical forces are entrapping
the mushrooms? How do they translate
into reality for women and other
oppressed groups?
 In what ways do the mushrooms entrap
themselves?