Fruit

This is an obvious one image for "Goblin Market." After all, the poem is about eating fruit and then wanting for more. The poem opens with a list of 29 different kinds of fruit (yes, we counted). What are you supposed to do with that kind of variety? The level of detail in the poem is often overwhelming, and it's hard to take in all at once. So what's all the fruit doing in the poem? Is it just about temptation? Or does it do something else? That's part of the fun of the poem – it keeps you guessing.

• Lines 9: The goblins use a metaphor to describe the fuzz on their fresh peaches that makes the peaches seem like human faces, with "cheeks."
• Lines 43-45: In these lines, Laura talks about the "hungry thirsty roots" of the fruit trees feeding on some unknown soil.
• Line 406-407: Here, the intense imagery of the goblins trying to force-feed their fruits to Lizzie underscores the violence of the scene.
• Lines 415-417: Lizzie is compared to an "orange-tree" being pollinated by "wasp and bee[s]" through an elaborate simile. Does this sound kind of sexual to you? It is probably supposed to.