Biography List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography Presented by Alyssa Stedman A.E. Stallings – From Love of Fairytales to Renowned Poet Biography “But I’ll say it, because it’s embedded in everything I’ve read. The tales that start with once and end with ever-after, all, all of the stories are about going to bed” (thehypertexts.com). List of Works These words from A.E. Stallings poem, “Another Bedtime Story”, can really explain her personality and style of writing. A.E. Stallings was born on July 2, 1968 in Decatur, Georgia under the name Alicia Elsbeth Stallings (Murchison 1). Her father, William M. Stallings, was a professor at Georgia State and her mother was a librarian (Byrne 1). Stallings grew up in a literary environment surrounded by books (“A.E. Stallings” 2). She became interested in writing and poetry at an early age and knew that anyone could become a writer. Stallings was very fascinated with fairy tales. Her favorites were the original versions that had violent endings because she believed they made children feel safer when the bad guy was locked up at the end of the story. Stallings’ parents believed that children should be treated as if they have no gender. She and her sister were exposed to both carpentry workbenches and dolls when they were young. They also could have been considered tomboys because of the fact they could gut a fish by the age of 4 (Murchison 4). In 1999, Stallings moved to Athens, Greece where she currently lives with her husband John Psaropoulos and her two children, Jason (6) and Atalanta (1) (Byrne 1). Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography Biography List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography Although Stallings was interested in writing at an early age, she did not actually start until her high school years. Stallings attended Briarcliff High School, where she received a great education. Her AP English teacher, Mary Mecom, was a very influential figure in her writing skills. A few of the poems Stallings wrote in Mary Mecom’s class were even published in magazines such as Seventeen (Murchison 6). After high school, she attended the University of Georgia where she was an English and music major. Soon after, she took a Latin class taught by Dr. Harris. Stallings enjoyed the class so much that she changed her major to Latin (Murchison 5). After University of Georgia, Stallings moved to London for a year where she worked at the Institute of Classical Studies as a canteen manager. She was then encouraged to attend Oxford University where she studied Latin and Greek. Stallings has won many awards for her poetry. She won the Richard Wilbur Award for her first book, Archaic Smile, and she received 2008’s Poets Prize for her second book, Hapax. Other awards she has won include: the Benjamin H. Danks Prize, James Dickey Award, Pushcart Prize, Eunice Tietjens Prize and Nemerov Sonnet Award (“A.E. Stallings” 1). When she was young, Stallings was very interested in T.S. Elliot. She loved the rhythm in his poems and the energy it took to understand them. Stallings was also influenced by her favorite form writing poet, A.E. Housman and many others, such as Richard Wilbur and Seamus Heaney. Stallings enjoyed how Seamus Heaney could write in formal, but also do free verse. She states that free verse poetry takes a lot of discipline and skill to write. Stallings admires poets who have the discipline to switch from formal poetry to free verse (Murchison 12). Stallings takes these techniques and uses them in her own poetry. Biography List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography A.E. Stallings enjoys writing through a persona, something that isn’t personal or mythical, but more a combination of the two. She searches for a different point of view to make her poems more interesting (Murchison 2). Stallings writings could be considered formal poetry, but she bends the rules slightly. One of her interviewers stated that she can “make a formal poem conversational” (Murchison 9). She uses metaphors and similes, as she is supposed to in formal poetry, but she also uses regular meter and rhyme because she feels they make the poems more memorable. Stallings feels free to write however she chooses (Murchison 10). Her attitude towards poetry has left a huge mark on writing. She shows people the rules of poetry do not always have to be followed; it is more about what comes out on the paper. It doesn’t take a lot of thinking and editing, it’s from the heart. Stallings’ unique style of writing and her willingness to be different can be summarized in the words of another famous poet, Robert Frost. “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference” (Amandashome.com). Biography List of Works As Translator The Nature of Things (2007) by Titus Lucretius Carus Poetry Archaic Smile: Poems (1999) Hapax (2006) Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography “A Lament for the Dead Pets of Our Childhood” “Actaeon” “Another Lullaby for Insomniacs” “Apotropaic” “Arrowhead Hunting” “Blackbird Etude” “Chairs” “Containment” “Drinking Song” “Eurydice's Footnote” “Evil Eye” “Extinction of Silence” More Works “Failure” “Fairy-tale Logic” “Fear of Happiness” “A Postcard from Greece” Something has come between us— It will not sleep. Every night it rises like a fish Out of the deep. Biography List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography It cries with a human voice, It aches to be fed. Every night we heave it weeping Into our bed, With its heavy head lolled back, Its limbs hanging down, Like a mer-creature fetched up From the weeds of the drowned. Damp in the tidal dark, it whimpers, Tossing the cover, Separating husband from wife, Lover from lover. It settles in the interstice, It spreads out its arms, While its cool underwater face Sharpens and warms: This is the third thing that makes Father and mother, The fierce love of our fashioning That will have no brother. Biography List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography “The Catch” by A.E. Stallings is a poem with great examples of personification. This poem is about the chores and responsibilities a husband and wife must face when having a child. These responsibilities could cause a lot of conflict between the two people, as explained in the lines “Separating husband from wife / Lover from lover.” The conflicts could be with each other, or internal conflicts within themselves. Although problems could occur, the responsibilities are part of life when having a child. A line from her poem explains that the responsibilities parents must take are only for the best “This is the third thing that makes/ Father and mother”. Although people know the responsibilities could be hard, having a child is a very special gift. It just takes some considering and understanding with each other as husband and wife. As previously stated Stallings’ poem, “The Catch”, uses great personification. Stallings compares the chores and responsibilities that come with having a child to a “mer-creature” from the deep. She explains it by saying “Its limbs hanging down/ Like a mer-creature fetched up/ From the weeds of the drowned.” She also uses the phrase “It cries with a human voice/ It aches to be fed/ Every night we heave it weeping/ Into our bed”. This gives the readers a strong understanding on how overpowering the thoughts of the chores that come with a child can be. Stallings used personification to give readers an easier way to relate to these thoughts, too. Everyone can imagine how hard it is to weigh the options of having a child or not, but it’s very hard to actually understand what it can do to a husband and wife. Stallings does a great job of stating how these responsibilities can creep between them and also gives the reader a visual of what she is writing about. The effect this poem leaves on people is everlasting because it makes them actually think about their own lives and their own decisions to have children. They will not want to rush into anything, because the responsibilities could be too much for them to handle. Stallings use of personification in her poem “The Catch” is very strong and helps to make her poem’s effect even stronger. Biography List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography A.E. Stallings’ poem “Fishing” is about a girl and her father that are standing in the water fishing. This poem is saying that even though the girl may be too old for this, fishing brings the bond between them even closer. I chose this poem because I can easily relate to it when my dad and I do activities that I am not always interested in, but I just enjoy spending time with him. One of the lines that I liked was “She’d rather have been elsewhere, her look told –/ perhaps a year ago, but now too old./ Still, she remembered lessons he had taught her.” I like this line because it explains how even though the girl was not interested in fishing, she still went with her father. Another line I enjoyed was “The invisible line pulled taut that links them both.” This really summed up the entire poem by saying that fishing will always be something that brings this daughter and father closer together, no matter how old she is. Biography List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography The two of them stood in the middle water, The current slipping away, quick and cold, The sun slow at his zenith, sweating gold, Once, in some sullen summer of father and daughter. Maybe he regretted he had brought her— She'd rather have been elsewhere, her look told— Perhaps a year ago, but now too old. Still, she remembered lessons he had taught her: To cast towards shadows, where the sunlight fails And fishes shelter in the undergrowth. And when the unseen strikes, how all else pales Beside the bright-dark struggle, the rainbow wroth, Life and death weighed in the shining scales, The invisible line pulled taut that links them both. Biography List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography Stallings’ poem “The School of Dreams” is about a child who cannot get the answer right. Everything the child tries is marked by red ink which means it is still wrong. I chose this poem because I believe this is how a lot of children feel when they cannot succeed in school work. They feel they are failures, when that isn’t always true. A line that I enjoyed was “The problem still remains/ It isn’t what you think./ Failure’s in your veins,/ Red as any ink.” I liked this line because it explained the mood of the poem very well. The poem is summed up in this last line and leaves people with the feeling of sympathy for the child. Biography List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography It is an afternoon With chalk dust in the light. The dusk is coming soon And the answer is not right. The answer is not right And the bell is going to ring, And red ink, like a blight, Has tainted everything: The leaves upon the trees, The leaves that fall and rest, The light, that by degrees, Is failing in the west, Everything will burn With a shade of shame, Because it is your turn, Because you hear your name, Biography List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography Fairy tales are full of impossible tasks: Gather the chin hairs of a man-eating goat, Or cross a sulphuric lake in a leaky boat, Select the prince from a row of identical masks, Tiptoe up to a dragon where it basks And snatch its bone; count dust specks, mote by mote, Or learn the phone directory by rote. Always it’s impossible what someone asks— You have to fight magic with magic. You have to believe That you have something impossible up your sleeve, The language of snakes, perhaps, an invisible cloak, An army of ants at your beck, or a lethal joke, The will to do whatever must be done: Marry a monster. Hand over your firstborn son. Biography List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography Fairytales are full of impossible tasks: Crossing the mote full of lava, And unveiling the masks, Leaving your family, Searching for the princess in a tower, While your time ticks down every hour. Anything can happen, In this fairytale world, The magic is endless, There’s nothing you can’t do. You have to be stealthy, You have to be smart, Your world is the canvas, Your life is the art. First, the four corners, Then the flat edges. Assemble the lost borders, Walk the dizzy ledges, Biography List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography Hoard one color—try To make it all connected— The water and the deep sky And the sky reflected. Absences align And lock shapes into place, And random forms combine To make a tree, a face. Slowly you restore The fractured world and start To recreate an afternoon before It fell apart: Here is summer, here is blue, Here two lovers kissing, And here the nothingness shows through Where one piece is missing. Biography List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography A soon to be masterpiece, Lays broken on the table, Made for nothing more than entertainment, But right now it’s better than cable As each piece fits together, The enjoyment within you builds The corners and sides, Then work your way to the middle. With every piece, Your picture becomes more complete, First you see grass, And then animal feet! These puzzles are reminders, Of our childhood years, Bringing us back to When we had no fears Each piece holds a memory Of a long time ago, But for now, the soon to be masterpiece Lays broken on the table. Biography List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography I stand in an open field, Plush green grass surrounds me for miles. I look to my left. Past the evergreens, And the weeping willows, Stands a cottage. A cottage surrounded by daisies, A cottage for me. I am led there by the wind, It pulls me along, Whispering to me softly. In this cottage, There is no fear, I am safe from harm. Love surrounds me, Caressing me in its arms. If only I could stay here forever, In this serene palace. But it’s almost morning, And I must wake up. Biography List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography The ball is kicked, It moves through the thick grass, I am ready. The ball flies through the air, It’s coming straight to me, I am fearless. The ball is sprinting, It’s passed to my teammate, I am anxious. Her foot hits the ball, It soars to the back of the net, I am ecstatic. The eighty minutes are up, Victory has been achieved, This is me. Biography List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography This disgusting germ Creeps into me. It never sleeps, It only sucks away my energy. My body tries to fight it, Making me feel worse. Everyone endures it, We just have to work through it. We can’t let this puny germ Bring us down. We are stronger than that. This disgusting germ That has crept into me Will not win. Not this time. Biography List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography A rainy day I sit inside, Not alone, But occupied. I should get up, I should go out, But the weather keeps me in. I’m stuck here with my family, Which isn’t always bad, We sit around the fireplace, And reminisce about the memories we’ve had. This rain does not only water plants, Its water will bring us closer together. It forces us to do things, That we usually just can’t. So as I sit inside this house, I hope that the sun won’t come out. • • • • • • • http://amandashome.com/road.html http://www.thehypertexts.com/A.%20E.%20(Alicia)% 20Stallings%20Poet%20Poetry%20Picture%20Bio.htm http://dreamwalkergroup.com/bio/a/a_e_stallings.ht m http://www.cortlandreview.com/issue/19/stallings1 9.html http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/18/ae-stallingsclassics-leadership-stallings.html http://www.keenzo.com/showproduct.asp?ID=25094 66 http://www.poemtree.com/poems/SchoolOfDreams. htm • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Pictures: http://www.lawyersweekly.ca/index.php?section=article&articleid=869 http://www.stockphotos.it/image.php?img_id=527167&img_type=1 http://www.lilliputplayhomes.com/princess-cottage-playhouse.asp http://www.muralsforkids.com/products/Fairytale-Castle-Canopy-WallMural.html http://wordm7.wordpress.com/2008/04/18/fairytales-realities-andthoughts/castle/ http://thefreshperspective.com/services/our-philosophy http://photos.ibibo.com/photo/2301350/sun-sunset-sunrise-orange-horizon http://free-extras.com/images/clouds-1259.htm http://diaryofagermaphobic.blogspot.com/2009/11/define-me-if-you-can.html http://cybernation.co.za/index.php/2009/10/09/ http://blogs.eveningsun.com/mull/2008/05/rain_rain_didnt_go_away_now_ we.html http://expressyourselfpoetry.wordpress.com/ http://www.lisisoft.com/tools/rain-drops.html http://theshopatvictoriagardens.blogspot.com/2010/07/rain.html http://arlingtonkids.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/939/