KidLit Forum

The narrators of this poem are Lizzie and Laura. They give us this poem as a lesson to their children. When I first read it, it suddenly came across my mind the biblical simbolism. Laura’s temptation to the forbidden fruit reminds me of Eve. Also the appearance of the goblins (as rats, snails, cats) resemble the Devil. Lizzie seems to have God’s position. She fears the goblins and suggests her sister to do the same. But eventually Laura can’ resist temptation, she is caught in a spell, she hears only the coo of doves, goes to the goblins and eats the forbidden fruit. She pays a lock of hair for the fruit. Because of this she is intoxicated. She can’t find peace, she is restfull, looses her youth and vigor. It seems that for this only one sin.....she attracts all the humanity sins.She can’t buy more fruits, she no longer see the goblins nor hear their calls. Here comes the ’rescue’ of Lizzie. Because she fears that her sister will die soon, Lizzie is capable of the greatest sacriffice. Even if she fears the goblins, she is capable to risk, go there and ask for more fruit. Lizzie knows the price, takes in her purse a silver penny to use if necessary. She has to endure a lot of suffering (the goblins beat her, forced her to eat the fruit) but it was not in vain. When she returns home, Laura takes the juice from her face and the following day awakens as a new person, healthy and beautiful. Lizie seems to act as Jesus when giving his blood for humanity and rescues us from the sin of eating from the forbidden fruit.

The idea of purity is underlined when Lizzie opposed resistance, and is compared with a lily,and a royal virgin town, because she remained "untouched" although they made her/tried to force her to taste the forbidden fruit. This thing looks like the temptation of Jesus in the dessert by satan when he didn't eat for fourty days. "One may lead a horse to water/ Twenty cannot make him drink".

But when Lizzie gets back to Laura, the way she calls her to "kiss,love,hug,suck her juises/Squeezed from goblin fruit" for her, or "to make much" of her, then the fact that Laura "kissed and kissed and kissed her" sounded a bit lesbianic to me. But maybe this shows the fact that young girls/people make mistakes in their youth, and somebody saves them, and helps them to get better and pass through that difficult moment in their lives, so they can tell the story to their children and learn from it....or maybe not, because Laura could have learned from the "experience of Jeanie" but she didn't,because she was tempted and wanted to have her own mistakes....!!!!!

The question is: Why does Lizzie use a coin to buy the fruit, while Laura used a lock of her hair?
Laura was easily convinced to buy a forbidden fruit and the price payed was less for her. In my opinion the hair gives also a sexual feature to this FT. Finally because of her resistance the Goblins gave her the coin back, and Lizzie was very glad because she got her money back. In conclusion money had an important role in Aestheticist FT.

Throughout the poem Lizzie remains pure.
When she sees that Laura is wasting away, Lizzie manages to save her sister's life:
"For your sake I have braved the glen
And had to do with goblin merchant men.”.
So she is capable of self-sacrifice, a heroic gesture.

Another interesting thing in this poem is the presence of that invitation...calling... "Come buy, come buy". I would identify a leitmotif in such a repeatable chorus.
Only the maids can hear that "cry" while woman or men cannot. This tells us again that this narrative poem is about temptation, as my colleague said, but it is also about having that incredible power to abstain, to stay away even if the invitation sounds great.

Not only they tempted her...but when she asked her penny back they became evil: "Elbowed and jostled her/ Clawed with their nails/ Barking, mewing, hissing, mocking,/ Tore her gown and soiled her stocking/ Twitched her hair out by the roots/ Stamped upon her tender feet./ Held her hands and squeezed their fruits/ Against her mouth to make her eat." This way they tortured her for not wanting to feast with them,and enjoy the taste of their forbidden fruit.

We could say that the goblin is just like the snake from the bible, who convinced Eve to commit a sin. In both cases it is about a fruit.

What an interesting comparison, Ileana!

And young ladies are taught to resist the temptations!