Dear Friends,
As I prepare to teach new courses this spring, I revisited last year’s three-part series on Poems from the Bible, Greek Myths, and Fairy Tales.
Today, I thought I would share the replay of my 2-hour craft class on Writing Poems from Fairy Tales. I hope that it helps you discover new poets and poems and that you write something you might not otherwise have written.
Fairy tales begin in the ancient oral tradition. Many originated as oral stories passed down over generations, told around the hearth or in communal settings. They served as entertainment, moral instruction, and a means of preserving cultural heritage. They often reflected the values, traditions, beliefs, and fears of a society. It doesn’t take long to see that fairy tales use fantastical worlds, creatures, and archetypal characters to address anxieties and uncomfortable truths.
In this craft class, we begin with a brief history of the tradition (folk tales from volk, of the people) to the “adaptations” by Disney and others. We then examine the idea of archetypes and how they show up in literature before turning to poems by A.E. Stallings, Louise Glück, Anne Sexton, Carol Ann Duffy, and others.
Of course, there’s also a multi-step generative prompt for you to write your own poem based on a fairy tale.
I would love to see what you write, so please do share any notes, insights, and writing that comes out of the sessions in the comments!
xM