"Fame is a fickle food"

Fame is a fickle food
Emily Dickinson
1659

Fame is a fickle food
Upon a shifting plate
Whose table once a
Guest but not
The second time is set.

Whose crumbs the crows inspect
And with ironic caw
Flap past it to the
Farmer’s Corn—
Men eat of it and die.



To me this peom means that when a person becomes famous, they are only given one chance. It is then taken for granted and people become too conceeded. In the poem, we the fans, are the crows mentioned in the sixth line and we are "inspecting" what happens when fame becomes your plate of food. In the last two lines, "Flap past it to the farmers corn- men eat of it and die" means that it is like a contagious disease that seems to kill when it is taken in the wrong hands.

I really liked and enjoyed reading this poem above. I have posted it above, for your qown sake. I ecspecially liked the title because it sounded pretty catchy. It made me think "wow, I wonder what this is about?". So go on and read it. I hope you will love it just as much as I do.