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Bears & Beasts Poetry Prompt: Fairytale Beasts

By Heather Eure 4 Comments

fairytale beasts poetry promptFairytales communicate through beasts and wild creatures in order to explore common experiences. As old as literature itself, the articulate, anthropomorphized beasts portrayed in stories are a tradition of childhood. Fairytales with beasts and animal fables are traced to ancient Greece, India, and Egypt. Aesop used ants, crows, ravens, monkeys, donkeys, and lions to bring to light the foolishness of the human condition.

The world of “wild” romance within fairy tales is also extensive. Beastly bridegrooms can take the figure of animals that would be considered threatening, such as bears, wolves, pigs, and wait for it— warthogs. Yes, you read it correctly. Author Walter Crane chose such a creature as the basis of his rich illustrations for Beauty and the Beast.

The crux of the story is that the outward appearance conceals the inner man and a decisive moment will reverse the beast’s fate and restore him to his original, princely self.

Try It: Fairytale Beasts Poetry

Use your wildest imagination and build a beast with a backstory. Who is he (or she)? What happened to change their appearance? What needs to happen to return them to their original form? Is there romance involved? Describe the unusual features of your beast and write a poem about their life and the lessons learned.

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Featured Poem

Thanks to everyone who participated in last week’s poetry prompt. Here is a poem from Laura we enjoyed:

Fear a furry foe?
Maybe in the wild. Here, child:
hold a fuzzy friend.

—by Laura Lynn Brown

Photo by Ronnie McDonald. Creative Commons via Flickr.

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How to Write a Poem 283 highHow to Write a Poem uses images like the buzz, the switch, the wave—from the Billy Collins poem “Introduction to Poetry”—to guide writers into new ways of writing poems. Excellent teaching tool. Anthology and prompts included.

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Heather Eure
Heather Eure
Heather Eure has served as the Poetry Editor for the late Burnside Collective and Special Projects Editor for us at Tweetspeak Poetry. Her poems have appeared at Every Day Poems. Her wit has appeared just about everywhere she's ever showed up, and if you're lucky you were there to hear it.
Heather Eure
Latest posts by Heather Eure (see all)
  • Poetry Prompt: Misunderstood Lion - March 19, 2018
  • Animate: Lions & Lambs Poetry Prompt - March 12, 2018
  • Poetry Prompt: Behind the Velvet Rope - February 26, 2018

Filed Under: Bears & Beasts, Blog, poetry prompt, poetry teaching resources, writer's group resources, writing prompt

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Comments

  1. Brandon Dubois Ezzard says

    October 24, 2017 at 10:56 am

    There’s an animal in all of us,
    To find it, play hide-and-seek.
    “You can run, you can hide,” it says,
    “But you can’t hide from me.”
    I have a tale which has two tails,
    This tale of the Cherokee.
    Some say it’s fact, some say it’s fiction,
    But a figment of our beliefs,
    See, there is a good wolf and a bad wolf, which
    Constantly compete.
    Will the good wolf or the bad wolf live?
    Well, depends on which one you feed.
    But which one will it be?
    Well, it depends on what it eats.
    One feeds off negativity,
    One lives off positive energy.

    It’s in the food that we eat,
    It’s in the air that we breathe,
    It’s the lies in our fantasy,
    It’s the truth in our reality,
    It dictates how we think,
    It’s the way that we speak,
    It’s the blood that we bleed,
    And the water we drink,
    It is all of these things.

    You do what you do so one suffers defeat
    As it does what it must to achieve victory.

    It knows how you think,
    For it knows everything,
    or so it would have you think,
    for the spirit is willing,
    but the flesh is weak,
    therefore forsake any delusion-of-grandeur goat
    and cleave to being one of His sheep.

    Reply
  2. Shannon Mayhew says

    October 27, 2017 at 11:18 am

    I sat down to play with this intriguing prompt, but some sort of spell has turned my poem into something else! I must have Halloween on my mind. And I’ve been reading Shel Silverstein with my kids. So, apologies for straying from the full intention of the prompt. Maybe I will create a true fairy tale beast too, but for now, here is some trickery for you. 🙂

    Trickery

    “Do your chores!” my dad says
    but he’d better beware…
    A witch has bewitched me
    and now I’m a bear!

    To help mom with dinner
    is the right thing to do,
    but a grouchy gray ghost
    turned me into a gnu!

    My brother would like me
    to help stack the blocks,
    but a feisty lil’ fairy
    has made me a fox!

    To finish my homework
    would be just divine,
    But a spellbinding sprite
    turned me into a swine!

    So this is my story–
    A tale sad but true,
    But I must say good-bye now
    and find something to do.

    Reply
    • Katie says

      October 27, 2017 at 3:46 pm

      Shannon, What fun! So enjoyed this:) Could be the makings of a great children’s book!

      Reply
    • Kaiya Rose says

      October 27, 2017 at 3:51 pm

      I love this poem! Definitely reminds me of Shel Silverstein. But I have to ask: what did you do to make all these magical beings want to curse you? 😉

      Reply

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