Dreaming Frankenstein by Liz Lochhead

Dreaming Frankenstein by Liz Lochhead is one of her earliest collections of poems from 1984. There are a few fairy tale influenced poems in the collection. She was recently made the national poet of Scotland, essentially the poet laureate. From the BBC:

Liz Lochhead has been confirmed as the new Scots Makar, or national poet.

The 63-year-old follows on from Edwin Morgan who died, aged 90, last August. He had held the post since it was created in 2004.

Ms Lochhead, originally from North Lanarkshire, is a widely recognised poet, author, translator, playwright, stage performer and broadcaster.

She also recently wrote the script for a play adaptation of Beauty and the Beast which you can read about here.

However, for today, I will share one of her most often assigned fairy tale poems, Rapunzstiltskin. This is copyrighted and is offered as a preview from her book. I've embedded it in an image to make copying and pasting much more difficult although it appears in several places around the web along with many essays and discussions of this fascinating smash-up of two well-known fairy tales into a statement on sexual politics.

The Elves and the Shoemaker Article

Every week the Faerie Magazine website features an archived article from back issues. This week's article happens to be one of mine from Autumn 2008. It's about The Elves and the Shoemaker. To be honest, it's not one of my best articles, but it is about a very short, not much discussed fairy tale that yet remains part of our pop culture reference. Just a few months ago it was reference on The Big Bang Theory and I lose count of the other times it is alluded to. I didn't have much to work with but was determined to write about this little tale taht isn't even packaged by itself by the Grimms; it's combined with two other tales.

Here's a link to the article. It will only be around for a week or so...

You can also read the annotated tale on SurLaLune.

The Red Shoes at Tales of Faerie

Kristin at Tales of Faerie posted yesterday about The Red Shoes: The Red Shoes: Encouraging judging or discouraging materialism? This fairy tale isn't discussed as often but remains a favorite and touch point for many women. Kristin addresses some of those issues with a personal essay.

Here's the first few paragraphs:

"The Red Shoes" by Hans Christian Andersen is a fairly standard tale in which a girl is punished for vainly wearing red shoes. After going from poverty to a more comfortable situation, Karen wears her new red shoes to inappropriate situations; one day, she goes dancing and the shoes won't stop dancing. Her feet must be cut off before she can regain control, and after that she becomes a penitant Christian, sworn to simplicity.

Andersen obviously felt quite strongly about red shoes. And while most would agree that vanity can go too far, the punishment far outweighs the crime. While red shoes themselves aren't quite as taboo anymore, the concept of judging people by what they choose to wear is still very prevalent (hello, popular TLC show "What not to Wear"). Read the rest...

Guy Spoils the Pictures

Guy Spoils the Pictures, 29 more images after the break...

Continue Reading.......

The Juniper Tree: And Other Tales from Grimm

The Juniper Tree: And Other Tales from Grimm translated by Lore Segal and Randall Jarrell and illustrated by Maurice Sendak is these days considered a classic. Catinka Knoth reminded me of that other Jarrell fairy tale connection on her Facebook comment for my post on Jarrell's fairy tale poetry. So I thought why not? Let's post that one today.

This is the collection I like to recommend to those wanting a more obscure collection of Grimms tales--not that this book is obscure, but that many of the tales within are not the "greatest hits" and many of the greatest hits are missing. There are enough of them to satisfy those who want the greatest hits though. But this means we get some illustrations for tales that are not so often illustrated by a wonderful illustrator.

Here's the official book description:

A one-volume hardcover edition for the 30th anniversary

Originally published as a two-volume set thirty years ago, The Juniper Tree is distinguished first by the selection of stories. Lore Segal and Maurice Sendak have jointly culled 27 from the 210 in the complete collection, and their contents page presents a fascinating critical statement. The translations are another distinguishing quality of the Segal/Sendak edition. Both translators have been painstakingly faithful to the German texts; they have not cut, “retold,” or bowdlerized. In addition, Segal and Jarrell bring to their renderings of Grimm the grace and precision that are characteristic of their own original prose. This must-have edition for every home library is jacketed and cloth-bound and has a bookmark ribbon.

Table of Contents:

The Three Feathers
Hans My Hedgehog
The Story of One Who Set Out to Study Fear
Brother and Sister
Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle
The Twelve Huntsmen
Fitcher's Feathered Bird
The Devil and His Three Golden Hairs
The Fisherman and His Wife
The Master Thief
Brother Gaily
The Goblins
Hansel and Gretel
The Frog King, or Iron Henry
The Poor Miller's Boy and the Little Cat
Fredrickand His Katelizabeth
The Golden Bird
Bearskin
Godfather Death
Many-fur
Rapunzel
Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs
Rabbit's Bride
The Two Journeyman
Ferndinand Faithful and Ferndinand Unfaithful
Mrs. Gertrude
The Juniper Tree

Here are some illustrations. I won't label them so you can play the "which fairy tale?" game:

The Sleeping Beauty: Variation of the Prince by Randall Jarrell

The Complete Poems by Randall Jarrell contains several poems inspired by or at least drawing from fairy tales and folklore. Jarrell returned to Sleeping Beauty more than once as well as Swan Lake, but he also explored Cinderella and common fairy tale motifs in general. To explore his poems, click on the book above and then look inside the book on Amazon. Many of the poems are readable. And you'll see that one of his collections was even titled "Once Upon a Time."

I have to admit to an extra affection for Jarrell since he, like me, was a native Nashvillian. We even share the same high school alma mater and a plaque honoring him stands on the corner of that property. Of course, I was ignorant of his existence at the time, but discovered him through his fairy tale poems when I first browsed through Disenchantments: An Anthology of Modern Fairy Tale Poetry years ago.

From Poets.org:

In 1914, Randall Jarrell was born in Nashville, Tennessee. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Vanderbilt University. From 1937 to 1939 he taught at Kenyon College, where he met John Crowe Ransom and Robert Lowell, and then at the University of Texas.

His first book of poems, Blood for a Stranger, was published in 1942, the same year he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He soon left the Air Corps for the army and worked as a control tower operator, an experience which provided much material for his poetry.

Jarrell's reputation as a poet was established in 1945, while he was still serving in the army, with the publication of his second book, Little Friend, Little Friend, which bitterly and dramatically documents the intense fears and moral struggles of young soldiers. Other volumes followed, all characterized by great technical skill, empathy with the lives of others, and an almost painful sensitivity.

Following the war, Jarrell accepted a teaching position at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, and remained there, except for occasional absences to teach elsewhere, until his death. Even more than for his poems, Jarrell is highly regarded as a peerless literary essayist, and was considered the most astute (and most feared) poetry critic of his generation.

Today I am sharing a screen capture of his poem, "The Sleeping Beauty: Variation of the Prince." It is copyrighted and please honor that by not copying it out or posting it elsewhere. You can buy the entire book with all of his fairy tale influenced poetry or looking for it at your library.

Rue Des Vents: 4 by Arthur Davison Ficke

Rue Des Vents: 4
[Sleeping Beauty]
by Arthur Davison Ficke (1883–1945)

Be wise, be wise, O heart forever seeking
A wine whose fever must the goblet break!
Let now the Sleeping Beauty lie a-sleeping;
Her lips could not speak sweeter did she wake.
Her dreams may last some happy moments still
Before the dawn’s first resonance of grey
Shall stir the east and, growing swiftly, fill
Her soul with joy and terror of the day.
Yet as the Sleeper lifts her quiet eyes
And to my troubled gaze their laughing glow
With loveliness and love of love replies,
I know that she has dreamed more than I know—
And lights outshining wisdom flush and start,
And summer sweeps wild wings across my heart.

from "Rue Des Vents," Sonnets of a Portrait-Painter (1922)