Metaphors in Sylvia Plath´s Poem: "Mushrooms"

The poem ‘Mushrooms’, by Sylvia Plath has multiple meanings within the one poem which can be deciphered differently to give altering views. Mushrooms is a poem made up of eleven short three line stanzas and has an underlying sense of gloom throughout the poem. The poem is written in a way that it can be interpreted differently and to different levels of complexity. The most obvious meaning is the conception and ‘birth’ of mushrooms which is described in detail throughout the poem. Looking deeper, the poem is relatable to the human conception of a child through to the birth and early life. The another, more complex, way to look at the novel is in the view of Sylvia Plath from a feminist view that was taking over during the time of the writing of the novel. Mushrooms has many ways of looking at it, in which each gives a varying story.

The primary meaning of the poem ‘Mushrooms’ is a story of the reproduction of the mushroom, from conception to birth. The mushrooms creation is described step by step throughout the poem, from its conception in the first stanza, to its ‘birth’ in stanza six. The conception of the mushroom is described as ‘whitely, discretely, very quietly’ by Plath which makes the poem feel very soft and gentle to the reader suggests that the conception is a very nice and peaceful thing. The poem continues on describing the mushroom in various stages of development and finally, in the last stanza, states that they shall ‘inherit the earth’ which suggests the unseen power of the spores that have been described in the first ten stanzas. The surface meaning of the poem is one of the growth of the mushroom and the power it holds.

Looking deeper into the poem, the mushroom is very relatable to a baby human and its creatio...

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...n and that their ‘foot is in the door’ and that they will fight all the way to equality. Looking at mushrooms with a feministic view shows though a very clear referencing by Sylvia Plath through out the stanzas of the poem.

In conclusion, Sylvia Plath’s poem, Mushrooms, can be interpreted differently to gain a different story. The poem in its most basic form is a story of the reproduction of a mushroom and the power that it will hold in the future. The mushroom is also relatable to a human baby in the way that Plath describes the mushroom vividly. Sylvia Plath also uses her writing as a more complex metaphor to express her own personal opinion on the feministic movement that was occurring at the time of the poems publishing. ‘Mushrooms’, a poem by Sylvia Plath is used to convey multiple stories to the reader through various metaphors she uses throughout the writing.