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Comment
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CoryEllen
Registered User
(12/18/01 4:29:13 pm)
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Poetry again and again
Hello all,
So I'm writing my paper for my Poetry Craft class on the uses of fairy tales in poetry. I figured it was the only poetry-related topic on which I could actually write fifteen pages. It's due tomorrow, and I'll be up all night (so miserably typical) - I would love to hear from y'all on what you think fairy tales can do for poetry - what is their place in the poetic craft, and do you have any particular attachment to poems that use fairy tale structures/themes? All thoughts welcome, and if you're really profound, you just might wind up being quoted in a gen-u-ine MFA paper. Think of the glory.
C-E
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Jess
Unregistered User
(12/18/01 4:42:40 pm)
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poetry and fairy tales
C-E,
I am probably the least capable of adding to this discussion, but one way you could divide this paper is by historical treatment of fairy tales/ folklore in poems. This history is extremely rich - you could start with such things as Arthurian legend, work your way through Tennyson, then hit the modern works of Sexton and Jane Yolen as well as some of the people on this board. You might discuss how the treatment has changed and what direction it is taking. At least it is one way of approaching this topic.
Good luck. Hey, and why not post the completed paper for us somewhere.
Jess
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Jess
Unregistered User
(12/18/01 4:51:17 pm)
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More ideas
You could also expound on the not so subtle differences between fairy tale poetry for children and that meant for the adult reader. Or perhaps you could write about the differences between pure fairy tale poems and those meant used as lyrics. 15 pages - no problem!
Jess
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Heidi
Unregistered User
(12/18/01 5:02:19 pm)
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Poetry
CoryEllen,
The point that always sticks in my mind from Mieder's introduction to "Disenchantments" is how most fairy tale related poetry prior to the 20th century usually retold the tale, but didn't use it for greater interpretation. I have looked for out-of-copyright poetry (i.e. 19th century) to include on SurLaLune, but I am most often disappointed with the quality or the nature of the poem.
I just got Clive Stanson's "Return to Magic" fairy tale retellings in poetry from England yesterday. I haven't had a chance to really look at it, but I am interested in seeing what he did with it all in 1969--if he was interpretative or simply narrative. Unfortunately, I won't get to add the text to my site.
There is a lot of great stuff out there. You could write an entire paper, I would imagine, on just the Frog Prince retellings or Sleeping Beauty poetry. Every time I look at the list of Sleeping Beauty poems on my site, I am simply amazed. It does not correlate with how few picture book interpretations of the story there have actually been.
Heidi
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Heidi
Unregistered User
(12/18/01 5:11:28 pm)
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Zipes (again!)
CoryEllen,
Do you have access to the article on poetry and fairy tales in Zipes' "Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales?" The article in there is about 5 pages long!
Heidi
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janeyolen
Unregistered User
(12/18/01 5:14:17 pm)
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Opinion
Since fairy tales were originally an oral tradition, the connection to poetry is vast. A good analogue for me is folksong. Balladry.
Jane
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Kerrie
Registered User
(12/18/01 8:46:25 pm)
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On a personal level...
Before I knew TWISTING THE GLASS was going to exist, I was standing by the copy machine at work, watching hundreds of pages flying through, and all of a sudden a certain aspect of a fairy tale would pop in my head that I would then expand on. I think the concise nature of fairy tales (at least the versions I grew up knowing) lends to the lyric and concise nature of poetry as well as it lends to a larger expansion, based upon that age old question, "Why?" I think poetry can bring the most minute detail to the front, like the limiting view of a magnifying glass- a little bit bigger, but still small. Also, they lend well to the abstract and variety. I must have 6 or 7 different poems inspired by Little Red Riding Hood- some quite abstract, all of them different. There's so much to pick up on, and with poetry, so much of it can be brought to light at once.
Forest frosts and sugarplum dreams,
Kerrie
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Terri
Registered User
(12/19/01 6:26:37 am)
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Re: On a personal level...
Jess: You keep starting your posts with an apology for how unqualified
to speak you are, followed up by smart, insightful comments. If
you don't stop putting yourself down, we're going to collectively
hit you!
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CoryEllen
Registered User
(12/19/01 6:42:49 am)
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jess-the-magnificent
Terri,
yeah, that'll show her she's worth something, dammit! :-)
Thank you all for these postings. I'm contemplating putting the paper up on the web as Jess-the-Brilliant requested, but I have to say that for this crowd, I don't think there's much new.
C-E
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Terri
Registered User
(12/19/01 7:19:24 am)
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Re: jess-the-magnificent
New or not, it would still be interesting to see it!
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Jess
Unregistered User
(12/19/01 11:58:52 am)
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Magnificent?
Well, thanks guys! It isn't false humility, just I am in awe of the brain power on this page. Add to that for years my collections have consisted of Andrew Lang and a lovely unauthored translation of "Hans Andersens Fairy Tales" handed down from my mother, I do feel somewhat unqualified to speak. I'll try to get over it. In the meantime, just put up with me. A collective hit now and again will do wonders.
Cory-Ellen:
How did the paper turn out and where can we find it? Read my comments under HOMEWORK and you'll know we appreciate your personal take on whatever topic you chose! Oh and go drink some coffee. That'll keep you up for the rest of the day.
Jess
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CoryEllen
Registered User
(12/19/01 8:14:24 pm)
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Jess-the-magnanimous
Paper is done, turned out all right - I wrote about Fairy Tales in contemporary poetry. Gave the historical "fairy tales aren't really the Disney version" spiel for the first bit, and then examined three poems - Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty) by Anne Sexton, Cinderella by Olga Broumas, and Girl Without Hands by Margaret Atwood. I wanted to look at Nathalie Anderson's piece called The Slaking ( www.slc.edu/campbellcorner/pcontest/anderson.html ), too, but I was already 3pp over the limit and decided not to push my luck with the professor's patience.
Helen, Terri and Midori, your articles at the endicott site (Donkeyskin, Fairy Tale Poetry and Sleeping Beauty) were all very helpful, thank you!
The server on which I could put the paper has crashed - server fall down go boom. I would put it up if I had anywhere to do so, but now I don't. I guess I could e-mail it to people if they *really* want :-) It's a PDF file, you need Adobe Acrobat to read it.
Took a two hour nap earlier, now I'm trying to stay awake until bedtime.
C-E
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erzebet
Registered User
(12/20/01 5:06:36 am)
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Re: Jess-the-magnanimous
Cory-Ellen,
I'd be more than happy to make your paper avaliable from my site. I'm working on a section for essays and articles concerning fairy tales and certainly don't want to write them all myself. :)
Either way, I'd like to read what you have written.
Erzebet
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CoryEllen
Registered User
(12/20/01 9:42:01 am)
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site-uation
Hey Erzebet,
that would be great! I can e-mail it to you via attachment. I know I have your e-mail address in my files, but could you just e-mail me at cefaery@yahoo.com to let me know if you want any extra info with the paper or anything?
Thanks so much,
C-E
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