"Poisonous Fruit" (A Poem)

Between 1807 and 1850, Elizabeth Turner penned six books of verse: The Cowslip, The Crocus, The Daisy, The Pink, The Rose, and Short Poems. With their accompanying woodcut illustrations, the texts, as Daniel Hahn emphasizes, were intended "to give [young readers] examples of good and bad behavior and its rewards and punishments." Often times, these cautionary tales ended with misfortune. In The Daisy, for example, Miss Helen falls down a well and drowns after carelessly running and ignoring her surroundings. Despite their morbid nature, Turner's works were wildly popular during the time of their publications, gracing the shelves of many nurseries and becoming required reading for children. By the beginning of the twentieth century, however, the somber parables became comedic nostalgia, with The New Child's Guide to Knowledge (1911) parodying Miss Helen's unfortunate fate and E.V. Lucas' introduction to a 1897 collection of Turner's poems labeling the works an amusing series of "stories about bad children." What follows is "Poisonous Fruit," which warns inquisitive children not to eat unfamiliar foods. Akin to The Daisy, the admonitory tale ends with death. 

As Tommy and his sister Jane 
Were walking down a shady lane, 
They saw some berries, bright and red, 
That hung around and overhead. 
And soon the bough they bended down, 
To make the scarlet fruit their own; 
And part they ate, and part in play 
They threw about and flung away. 
But long they had not been at home 
Before poor Jane and little Tom 
Were taken, sick and ill, to bed 
And since, I've heard, they both are dead. 
Alas! had Tommy understood 
That fruit in lanes is seldom good, 
He might have walked with little Jane 
Again along the shady lane. 

Works Referenced 

Hahn, Daniel. The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. 

Turner, Elizabeth. "Poisonous Fruit." Mrs. Turner's Cautionary Stories. London: Grant Richard, 1897. 109-110.