Blueberry Girl: by Neil Gaiman

BLUEBERRY GIRL
By Neil Gaiman
About the Author:

Neil Gaiman, in full Neil Richard Gaiman, (born November 10, 1960, Portchester,
Hampshire, England), is a British writer who earned critical praise and popular success with
richly imagined fantasy tales that frequently featured a darkly humorous tone.
Gaiman grew up in Sussex and attended Whitgift School in Croydon. Upon graduating, he
worked as a freelance journalist before earning his first author credit for a paperback biography
of the pop music group Duran Duran in 1984. It was about that time that he met artist Dave
McKean, and the two collaborated on the graphic novel Violent Cases (1987). The work
established them as rising stars in the comic world, and soon the two were noticed by publishers
on both sides of the Atlantic. They submitted story and art treatments to DC Comics, and the
result was Black Orchid (1988), a miniseries that helped establish the atmosphere for the DC
renaissance of the late 1980s. The success of Black Orchid showed that a market existed for dark
mature stories written for an adult audience. That became even clearer with the launch of The
Sandman in 1989.
Gaiman also topped best-seller lists with his novels Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett,
1990), Neverwhere (1996), Stardust (1999; film 2007), and American Gods (2001) and with his
children’s book Coraline (2002; film 2009). He revisited the Sandman characters in 2003 with
Endless Nights, an anthology that had the distinction of being the first graphic novel to earn a
place on The New York Times best-seller list for hardcover fiction.
In 2009 Gaiman received the Newbery Medal for his distinguished contribution to
literature for children for The Graveyard Book (2008), the macabre yet sweet tale of an orphan
raised by a cemetery full of ghosts. In the ostensibly adult novel The Ocean at the End of the
Lane (2013), a man reflects on a series of supernatural traumas sustained during his childhood.
Gaiman returned to the Sandman mythos for the first time in a decade with The Sandman:
Overture (2013–15). Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances (2015) was a collection
of brief tales, many of which referenced or sprung from the work of other authors and artists. In
2017 Gaiman offered a novel interpretation of Norse myths in Norse Mythology, while Bryan
Fuller and Michael Green brought a lush, critically acclaimed adaptation of American Gods to
the Starz cable network. Gaiman later adapted Good Omens as a miniseries that premiered on
Amazon in 2019.
The Literary Text:
Blueberry Girl
Ladies of Light & Ladies of Darkness,

& Ladies of Never-You-Mind,
this is a prayer for a Blueberry Girl.
First, May you ladies be kind.
Keep her from spindles and sleeps at sixteen;

Let her stay waking and wise.
Nightmares at three, or bad husbands at thirty;
These will not trouble her eyes.
Dull days at forty, false friends at fifteen;

Let her have brave days and truth.
Let her go places that we’ve never been;
Trust and delight in her youth.
Ladies of Grace, and Ladies of Favour,

and Ladies of Merciful Night,
this is a prayer for a Blueberry Girl,
Grant her your clearness of sight.
Words can be worrisome, people complex;

Motives and manners unclear.
Grant her the wisdom to choose her path right,
Free from unkindness and fear.
Let her tell stories, and dance in the rain,

Somersault, tumble, and run;
Her joys must be high as her sorrows are deep,
Let her grow like a weed in the sun.
Ladies of Paradox, Ladies of Measure,

Ladies of Shadows-That-Fall;
this is a prayer for a Blueberry Girl,
Words written clear on a wall.
Help her to help herself, help her to stand,

Help her to lose, and to find.
Teach her we’re only as big as our dreams,
show her that fortune is blind.
Truth is a thing she must find for herself,

precious, and rare as a pearl;
Give her all these, and a little bit more,
Gifts for a Blueberry Girl.
Assessment Task:
Answer the following items comprehensively and clearly in 5–10 sentences only. Each
item is worth 20 points.
(Note: The Course Facilitator will give a separate instruction regarding submission of
answers.)
1. Why was the poem entitled Blueberry Girl?
2. Why do you think does the Blueberry Girl need “clearness of sight”?
3. What do the lines “Words can be worrisome, people complex; Motives and manners
unclear.” Mean?
4. What does the eight stanzas of the poem mean?
5. In what ways could this poem be applicable to boys/men?
References:
 https://apoemaday.tumblr.com/post/614308689901436929/blueberry-girl
 https://www.britannica.com/biography/Neil-Gaiman
Instructions and Format:
1. Your answers must be submitted in a WORD format (.docx), following the mechanics below:
a. Paper size: A4
b. Font type: Times New Roman
c. Font Size: 12-point
d. Margin: 1-inch (all sides)
e. Spacing: Single
f. Alignment: Justified
g. Proper Spacing after new paragraph must be observed
2. File name must be YEAR/SECTION – FAMILY NAME format (e.g., 2A-GARCIA, 2B-
FLORES)
3. Three (3) points will be deducted from the score for every deviation from the given format.
4. Once sent, the file will be considered as the final submission and no modification will be
allowed.
5. Answers submitted beyond the deadline will have demerits of five (5) points.
Prepared by:
SHANNA KY OPINA
Course Facilitator

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BLUEBERRY GIRL

About the Author:

The Literary Text:

Ladies of Light & Ladies of Darkness,

Keep her from spindles and sleeps at sixteen;

Dull days at forty, false friends at fifteen;

Ladies of Grace, and Ladies of Favour,

Words can be worrisome, people complex;

Let her tell stories, and dance in the rain,

Ladies of Paradox, Ladies of Measure,

Help her to help herself, help her to stand,

Truth is a thing she must find for herself,

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