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The Meaning of “Urban Legend”
An urban legend is typically told as a true story. These stories are not true at all, but often have a factual basis. They may begin with a real incident, but they may entirely fictional. They share similarities with tall stories.
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The Oral Origin Of Fairytales
The era in which oral folktales became written fairytales was also the era in which children’s literature as a whole began to develop. How did oral tales change once they became written-down stories? First, the main audience shifted, notably, from the peasant class to the monied classes. Main characters were previously adults; now they were […]
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Rumpelstiltskin Analysis
The tale of Rumpelstiltskin asks a moral question: Who is the worst of the three men? The lying father who gives away his own daughter, the greedy King who threatens death, or the proto-men’s rights activist dwarf? Or is it the daughter herself? This is my all-time favourite fairy tale because it’s so twisted. It’s […]
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Allegory Equals Extreme Metaphor
Allegory means, among many other things, that the characters, worlds, actions and objects in a work of fiction are highly metaphorical. That doesn’t mean they aren’t unique or created by the writer. It means the symbols have references that echo against previous symbols, often deep in the audience’s mind. Allegorical also means ‘applicable to our […]
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What is a parable?
A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. Fables are different. Fables feature animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whereas parables have human characters.