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/ˈɜːlkɪŋ/ · noun
(European folklore) In German literature and modern folklore, a malicious elf or spirit who preys on children..
This line, and indeed the whole passage (lines 653-664), allude to the well-known poem by Goethe about the erlking, hoary enchanter of the elf-haunted alderwood, who falls in love with the delicate little boy of a belated traveler.
So easy for one young son to be swallowed up in a world teeming with Erlkings, real and imagined.
He was in the forest looking to see the trees / But none were there / He found a girl / She found the erlking
By now, he seems less a cartoon character than some contemporary Erlking, the malicious spirit made famous by Goethe (and Schubert) but found originally in a Danish ballad.
Use erlking when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Erlking means (European folklore) In German literature and modern folklore, a malicious elf or spirit who preys on children..
The closest synonym depends on the sentence and intended sense.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
This line, and indeed the whole passage (lines 653-664), allude to the well-known poem by Goethe about the erlking, hoary enchanter of the elf-haunted alderwood, who falls in love with the delicate little boy of a belated traveler.
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