I read the poem, “Fairy-tale Logic” by A.E. Stallings. This poem caught my attention because of its meaning and my realist mindset. The speaker in this poem speaks with sensibility. In the first line he begins with, “Fairy-tales are full of impossible tasks.” When I first read this I actually laughed. It is as if the writer is a comedian writing how preposterous a Fairy-tale is, all dreams and fantasy.
Within the lines that follow, he expresses how ridiculous tasks are in a Fairy-tale world such as, “Gathering the chin hair of a man eating goat,” or “Tiptoeing up to a dragon where it basks.” Who would ever brave a goat that would eat a man? Who would come anywhere near a dragon and put themselves in danger let alone, “Snatch its bone?” The speaker uses these examples to express the reality of how silly fairy-tales are.
When the poem reaches the second stanza, the speakers voice changes. He becomes more serious, as the comedic voice begins to fade. There is more he wants to express, something with more meaning and depth. In the first line of the second stanza the speaker says, “You have to fight magic with magic.” In the previous stanza he gives examples of things that are silly but not impossible. How would one, “Fight magic with magic?” This is an inconceivable notion.
As the speaker approaches the ending I see what he is trying to speak. In his last couple lines he says, “The will to do whatever must be done: Marry a monster. Hand over your first born son.” The speaker is talking about conforming to the world and what everyone wants you to do. From the time you are young and through adulthood, peer pressure is a continual cycle. From following the crowd to living up to expectations, we as humans have all been through pressure to keep up with the “Jones’.”
Works Cited
Stallings, A.E. “Fairy-tale Logic.” Poetryfoundation.org. Poetry, 2010. Web. 9 September 2011.
This is a great site with devotions and I have a link for February 27th. One of my favorite Verses, Romans 12:2 "Do not be conformed to this world."
http://books.google.com/books?id=1P2HIPWfjIIC&pg=RA1-PA27&lpg=RA1-PA27&dq=conforming+to+the+world+joyce+meyer&source=bl&ots=-HlibI0nq8&sig=YNqaWDa7CEOQm1nxK5hfdEv8Z3k&hl=en&ei=Ff5rTrfzGMHmiALw2OC7Dg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
Picture Source: http://frenchtwiist.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/everything-but-a-fairytale-ending/
Hi Reanna,
ReplyDeleteGreat post on this poem! I didn't see anything in the poem initially that was silly or leading one to conform to the world, but after I read your post, it made sense to think of it like that especially reading the last few lines. I also wanted to thank you for the bible verse which was so well put and so necessary for the youth and young people of today. Keep up the good work and God Bless you!
P.J.
Good Job! I also chose to write on this poem. However, I never made the connection about one haveing to conform to the world, but you explain it well and it makes a lot of sense. I too thought that the writer had a sort of comedic voice in the first stanza, and a realistic (in a fairy tale sense)in the second stanza. You did a very good job of using lines from the poem to back-up your claims and statements. Very nice writing!
ReplyDeleteGreat Post. I read the poem Fairy-tale Logic and thought it was an interesting poem and easy to understand because it was written in simple language. I don’t think the speaker was talking about conforming to the world with the last couple of lines though. With the lines “Fight magic with magic” I think it means to fight the impossibility of a task with more impossibility like the poem mentions an invisible cloak. Obviously an invisible cloak doesn’t exist because it’s impossible.
ReplyDeleteSo uhh I need this for school so what's the theme of the poem? Thanks
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