Early critics of Emily Dickinson’s poetry mistook
for simplemindedness the surface of artlessness that
in fact she constructed with such.Blank: astonishment, craft, cunning, innocence, naïveté, vexation
2 Explanations
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Melody Altschuler
I thought from the wording of the question it is saying that the critics thought she was being simpleminded when really she was being artless.
The family mistook for heavy rain the pounding sound on the roof, which was actually hail.
So we know that the family heard a loud sound on the roof of their house, and mistook it for heavy rain. That is, they mistakenly thought it was heavy rain. But it was actually hail.
So if we say "mistook for x the y," that's the same as saying "mistook y for x."
2 Explanations