Analysis of A Parody on Sara Henderson Hay’s “Story Hour”

About this poem

Sara Jane Henderson Hay (1936-2005) was an Australian pastoralist author and poet whom I admired greatly, and who became a household name after the publication of her autobiography “From Strength to Strength” published in 1993 about her pastoral life spent building “Bullo River” cattle station in Australia’s Northern Territory. What brings back fondest memory of her for me is her book, “Story Hour,” a compilation of such well known children’s tales as “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “Little Red Riding Hood,” which Sara Henderson Hay puts enchanting spins on, revealing in the process, hidden gems of meaning brought to light through her interpretive lenses, courting us, and inviting us to savor them afresh, like a newly-baked plum pudding ready for hearty consumption. This poem, “A Parody of Sara Henderson Hay’s ‘Story Hour’,” composed in 1986, was written with a two-fold objective: to honor the legacy of Sara Henderson Hay as author and poet, and to forever cherish, honor, celebrate, and pay homage to the tender loving nurturing care my own mother, Leila Evadne Neysmith Folkes, provided me, and who, with her own gift of a poet’s tongue, instilled in me the everlasting love of poetry. Surely, my cup runneth over. more »