Response to a Poem

     As I was scrolling through the list of poems, the title of a specific one caught my eye. It was “Fairy-Tale Logic” by A.E. Stallings. I have never been very enthusiastic about reading fairy tales but to me the title meant that I would never have to read another fairy tale again. As I began to read the poem I was drawn into the tone of the poem and how it changes.

     The poet sums up all the meanings of fairy tales and translates it into real life. The meaning of all these fairy tales is that people often ask us to do tasks we believe are impossible to accomplish but we already have the ability to complete them, we just have to be willing to complete the task. The poet sums this up best in the second paragraph were she explains that, “You have to believe That you have something impossible up your sleeve” (A.E. Stallings lines 9-10). This means that we have the tools and the abilities to deal with difficult problems already. We can also see his meaning at the end of the second paragraph when she states, “The will to do whatever must be done: Mary a monster. Hand over your first born son” (A.E Stallings lines 13-14). In these two lines she explains that now we know we have the ability to complete an impossible task we just have to have the will to do what ever it takes to get the job done.

     The tone in the first half of the poem is pessimistic. She doesn't believe any of these fairy tale missions are at all possible. In the second half of the poem he changes his tone from pessimistic to optimistic. She now believes that the task are indeed possible and that everyone has the ability to complete them hiding up there sleeve.

Here is the link to the poem