Read the poem below and write an answer to each of the following questions. Mushrooms 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.
• Sylvia Plath
• Give two examples of assonance from the poem and explain the feeling that they create.
• Is this poem written in free verse or blank verse? Explain your answer.
• Give an example of personification from the poem.
• What is the stanza structure of this poem?
• What might the mushrooms symbolize in this poem?