Cinderella Poem

Cinderella poem version by Anne Sexton Cinderella although is based on the fairy tale written by Grimm brothers present a totally different version and point of view about traditions and roles presented in the second one. Cinderella originally is one of the most famous fairy tales, and Grimm’s version is one of the well-known of this story. Those German Brothers: Jacob And Wilhmen Grimm presents stories adapted from traditional oral story, which has origin in the Ancients cultures like Greece and Rome. These stories have specially emphasized in children public, this fact was evidenced when Grimm brothers after its first publication in 1812, changed aspects like sexual references in order to give stories an appropriate contain for children. Whereas the Anne Sexton’s version of Cinderella clearly is aimed to adult audience, owing to her critics and comments contrasting fairy tales with reality, this author re-interpreted the fairy tale with irony connect it to present culture.
For years, fairy tales has been used to transmit cultural, historical and social roles and values. Cinderella story is one of them, due to shows the patient and humble girl who never rebel despite of her stepmother’s tyranny. And as a final reward she reach a totally life change. Undoubtedly this role has been encouraged generation by generation, through oral tradition, and actually it is an ideal woman for society. On other hand, Sexton in her poem exalts this kind of roles imposed by society and make a critic of them in order to show a clearly difference between the ideal and the reality of people, most exactly of women in this century. She questions those traditional values and roles for women, and promote they do not follow this kind of rules in real life, and they do not feel bad if women do not fit in that mold, instead they live life free of social prejudices.
Finally, to point out a last difference of both Cinderella’s versions, the structure of every text is evidently one. Grimm Brothers’ version is a story; it is written in paragraphs, every one of them is connected and follows the previous situation, all of these sections are about a unique story. On other hand, Anne Sexton writes her version as a poem, in prose. In every single stanza the author states different situations, stories and examples which reinforce their message. Evidently, in the poem, fairy tale’s representative phrases as: happily ever after are criticized because it does not necessary represent the women’s real life and situations.