Today we have three different takes on the "Rapunzel" fairy tale, looking at the mother's story, Rapunzel's story, and the moment of encounter between the prince and the witch.
The first poem is "Rapunzel's Mother" by Carolyn Williams-Noren, which comes from Literary Mama -- an on-line literary magazine focusing on issues of motherhood. Wiilliams-Noren lives in Minneapolis, and this is her first publication.
The second poem, "Rapunzel" by Rosemary Dun, uses imagery from a number of fairy tales to address Rapunzel's predicament. The poem appeared in Nth Position, the multi-award winning web journal edited by Val Stevenson. Dun's work has previously appeared in several poetry anthologies, including Short Fuse: The Global Anthology of New Fusion Poetry. She lives in Bristol, England. For more information, visit Dun's website.
The third poem, "Rapunzel" by Arlene Ang [scroll down the page], concerns the terrifying moment when the prince climbs into the tower and is blinded by the witch. It comes from Three Candles, a literary webzine from Three Candles Press. Arlene Ang lives in Venice, Italy, where she is a writer, translator, web designer, and edits the Italian page of Poems Niederngasse. Her work has previously appeared in a wide variety of literary journals. For more information, visit Ang's blog.
For other good Rapunzel poems, see the Rapunzel section of Lisa Russ Spaar's collection Glass Town; Rapunzel, Rapunzel by the New Zealand feminist poet Janet Charman; and, of course, Anne Sexton's ground-breaking collection of fairy tale poems, Transformations.
The art in this post is by Frances Macdonald, the Glasgow artist we were discussing earlier this week. Created in 1897, it was inspired by William Morris' poem "Rapunzel," from The Defense of Guenevere and Other Poems. Morris' poem also inspired Rapunzel: An Opera in Six Acts by the American composer Lou Harrison, 1952.
I just posted the full length version of Rapunzel by William Morris on SurLaLune at http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rapunzel/poetry/williammorris.html
Posted by: Heidi Anne Heiner | March 26, 2007 at 07:34 PM