The Raven And Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe

The Raven and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
My copy published 1992
Source: bought it for my son

Everyone knows the poem "The Raven" and probably several of Poe's many stories.  I had never read any of Poe's other poems prior to reading this book.  Not surprisingly, there's not a happy one in the bunch. Poe's life was difficult and filled with the lose of loved ones, many of the deaths being memorialized in his poetry. 

There were only a couple of poems that I liked in this collection; I far prefer Poe's stories to his poetry.  The relentless sadness, the strange cadence of some of the poems, and the similarity between so many of the poems all served to make this slim volume one I had to fight to get through.  This one pretty much sums up so many of them and so much more succintly:

"Deep In Earth"
Deep in earth my love is lying
And I must weep alone.

I read this collection as part of the Gilmore Girls Challenge.  I can't tell you how much I wish Rory would have read "The Tell-Tale Heart" instead of "The Raven!"

Sunday Salon - December 5

Happy December!  Do you all have a good start on the holiday preparations?  My goal is to try to get the house decorated today and start making cookie doughs.  Shopping has already begun and the Christmas cards are started.

I decided this week to continue hosting the Gilmore Girls Reading Challenge for another year.  I have to admit that I've sort of failed at my own challenge: I had a specific list of books that I wanted to read for it, but I've had to resort to reading entirely different books in hopes of reaching my goal of 20 books off the list.  I still want to read all of those books that I didn't get to so this is the best way to encourage myself to do so.  I've made some changes to the challenge this year--instead of 5, 10 and 20 books to read for the different levels, next year the three levels will be 4, 6 and 10 books.  Next year you'll also be able to substitute in some movie adaptations to try to reach that goal as well.


I had a couple of squeal moments Friday thanks to my first Fairy Tale Fridays in which I referenced the Omaha Lit Fest, Tim Schaffert and Kate Bernheimer.  I opened my email Friday evening to discover emails from both Schaffert and Bernheimer!  Schaffert left a comment saying that "The Little Mermaid" is not only his favorite fairy tale but also his favorite short story.  I remember him mentioning that at the Lit Fest; it was also his starting off point for the fairy tale he contributed to "My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me."  You'll be hearing more about that story later.

Bernheimer wrote to say that she does have a definition of fairy tales: "they are works of art with a fairy-tale feel, the "affect" of fairy tales."  She also directed me to some essays that she's written about fairy tales which are fascinating.  I'll be talking about them this week on Friday.

 Finally, happy birthday to my sister tomorrow!  I won't say how old she is, mostly because I'm hoping that she'll keep quiet about how old I am!

Checking off the "You've Got Mail" Challenge

With my recent frenzy of reading children's books, I've reached my goal for the "You've Got Mail" Challenge.  I love that movie so much, though, I was really tempted to keep the picture on my blog just to bring a smile to my face every time I saw it.  I read:

Maurice Sendak: Pierre: A Cautionary Tale Told In Five Chapters And A Prologue
                           Where The Wild Things Are
Ludwig Bemelman: Madline
                              Madeline And The Gypsies
                              Madeline And The Bad Hat
                              Madeline's Rescue
                              Madeline In America
E. B. White: Stuart Little
                   Charlotte's Web
L.M. Montgomery: Anne Of Green Gables
Kay Thompson: Eloise
Lewis Carroll: Alice's Adventures In Wonderland
Roald Dahl: James And The Giant Peach
Shel Silverstein: Where The Sidewalk Ends
Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey

I'd actually only planned on reading 10 books for the challenge but those Madeline books just sucked me in!

Fairy Tale Fridays - Just Exactly What Is A Fairy Tale?

The American Heritage Dictionary defines "fairy tale" as "a fanciful tale of legendary deeds and creatures, usually intended for children."  Wikipedia says that they "typically feature folkloric characters fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, giants or gnomes and usually magic or enchantment.  Often the story will involve a far-fetched sequence of events."

Fairy tales rarely make reference to religion or any actual people, places or events and unlike folklore, they were generally never believed to be based on truth. One site I found says that fairy tales were not originally intended for children due to their bawdy and violent nature.  On the other hand, other sites say they were first intended as stories for children. 

Interestingly, when I was at the Omaha Lit Fest this fall none of the panelists could actually give a concise definition of "fairy tale."  Not Timothy Schaffert who teaches about and writes fairy tales.  Not Keven Brockmeier who writes fairy tales.  Not Kate Bernheimer who compiled the book "My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me," writes fairy tales and is the editor of three fairy tale anthologies.  Schaffert said "I just know one when I read one."  My plan of attack, then, will be to take the guess work out by picking up books that tell me they are fairy tales. Bernheimer did say that fairy tales have everyday magic and an absence of depth in the characters.  She also added that they are tales of survival of the weakest despite great brutality.

The Grimm Brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm, are perhaps the most famous tellers of fairy tales.  They first started collecting the tales as a way to preserve their Germanic heritage.  Once they say how popular the tales were with young people, they started to soften them up a bit but never to the point where they completely lost their appeal for adults.  Here's one version of "Little Red Riding Hood" that retains more of its violence.

Are you interested in reading some of those fairy tales you remember from childhood?  Project Gutenberg has an ebook version of "Favorite Fairy Tales."  These are probably the adaptations you remember reading--just enough violence and threat to make them scary but not so graphic.  

I see I'm not the only one who's become infatuated with fairy tales lately.  The New York Symphony recently put on a reading of the new fairy tales in Kate Bernheimer's recent collection "My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me."  Gregory Maguire, author if Wicked, did the introduction.

Which were your favorite fairy tales growing up?