Thank you for this wonderful piece that brought back my own childhood in which Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Toad and Ratty were very much alive. I studied the map of the Hundred Acre Wood for hours on end and my father read us the stories over and over again. Thank you, Henry. I agree with you about EH Shephard’s autobiography, really worth a read.
Much appreciated. Thank you. My mother was a great bedtime reader of Pooh and brought to life all its humour and tenderness. For myself I adored those maps in the inside-covers and imagined myself there.
At 43 I still quote Pooh... In fact, recently I was in hospital having treatment that might have made my brain go funny, and the sentence I chose to write in proper ink twice a day to monitor whether this was the case or not was: "Isn't it funny how a bear likes honey?"
A.A. Milne still brings me great pleasure, and so do many such writers of great childhood places. I therefore don’t fully share your sentiments, Henry, that “it is a world which is packed up” and is only mist in the fog. There are times when the tracts from A.A. Milne still make me laugh out loud, and his characters remain fully genuine to me. So, posh to your tosh on this point. I am ever so grateful that the Hundred Acre Wood has enchanted so many generations— and continues to do so, even as I’m much older. If you haven’t lost that spark in life to be a trifle silly and able to laugh alongside Milne’s splendid world of misunderstood characters— Milne is still one of my favorites in this genre!
Makes such warm-hearted reading, I went straight to my bookshelf and reread some of my favourite stories again. Eeyore is for me far away one of the best of characters in children's stories, now as well as when he was written into Pooh corner
Absolutely lovely and thorough analysis of this masterpiece of / for childhood. thank you! "We are left with something more important: bits of poetry and books of tales that understand the great quest of childhood, the start of the journey of life, as something innocent, reserved, delightful, and worth remembering"
Delightful and astute. Milne also wrote a really good comic novel for slightly older children of about 9 called Once on a Time, which has a prince, a princess, a pair of seven league boots, two quarrelling kings, a serving girl heroine and a beguiling, self aware female baddie who keeps a diary in ( I think) violet ink. Any girl who reads it will start a diary of her own.
Oddly enough I recently bought a copy of one of Milne's adult novels, Two People. I haven't read it yet, though my wife has. (Her reaction was, pretty much, "Meh".)
I had rather little contact with Winnie the Pooh as a child -- I'm not quite sure why. I also didn't read The Wind in the Willows until I was an adult! (And my mother had been an elementary school teacher, and had a Masters in Children's Literature!) But I read the stories over and over again to my children when they were the right age.
“In the first eight weeks of publication, Milne’s first children’s poems, When We Were Young, sold forty-four thousand copies. “
Finding sentences like this one is reason enough to keep coming around this neighborhood.
https://commonreader.substack.com/p/aa-milnes-crossword-puzzle-heart?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=86wz4x
What a charming piece. Thank you for making my day.
Charming is the word. Absolutely right.
Thank you for this wonderful piece that brought back my own childhood in which Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Toad and Ratty were very much alive. I studied the map of the Hundred Acre Wood for hours on end and my father read us the stories over and over again. Thank you, Henry. I agree with you about EH Shephard’s autobiography, really worth a read.
What a beautiful piece!
Lovely! Who wouldn't want to spend all day sitting on a warm stone in the middle of a stream....
Much appreciated. Thank you. My mother was a great bedtime reader of Pooh and brought to life all its humour and tenderness. For myself I adored those maps in the inside-covers and imagined myself there.
I so enjoyed this. Great writing.
At 43 I still quote Pooh... In fact, recently I was in hospital having treatment that might have made my brain go funny, and the sentence I chose to write in proper ink twice a day to monitor whether this was the case or not was: "Isn't it funny how a bear likes honey?"
Lovely, enlightening article; thank you.
A.A. Milne still brings me great pleasure, and so do many such writers of great childhood places. I therefore don’t fully share your sentiments, Henry, that “it is a world which is packed up” and is only mist in the fog. There are times when the tracts from A.A. Milne still make me laugh out loud, and his characters remain fully genuine to me. So, posh to your tosh on this point. I am ever so grateful that the Hundred Acre Wood has enchanted so many generations— and continues to do so, even as I’m much older. If you haven’t lost that spark in life to be a trifle silly and able to laugh alongside Milne’s splendid world of misunderstood characters— Milne is still one of my favorites in this genre!
Makes such warm-hearted reading, I went straight to my bookshelf and reread some of my favourite stories again. Eeyore is for me far away one of the best of characters in children's stories, now as well as when he was written into Pooh corner
Absolutely lovely and thorough analysis of this masterpiece of / for childhood. thank you! "We are left with something more important: bits of poetry and books of tales that understand the great quest of childhood, the start of the journey of life, as something innocent, reserved, delightful, and worth remembering"
Delightful and astute. Milne also wrote a really good comic novel for slightly older children of about 9 called Once on a Time, which has a prince, a princess, a pair of seven league boots, two quarrelling kings, a serving girl heroine and a beguiling, self aware female baddie who keeps a diary in ( I think) violet ink. Any girl who reads it will start a diary of her own.
Oddly enough I recently bought a copy of one of Milne's adult novels, Two People. I haven't read it yet, though my wife has. (Her reaction was, pretty much, "Meh".)
I had rather little contact with Winnie the Pooh as a child -- I'm not quite sure why. I also didn't read The Wind in the Willows until I was an adult! (And my mother had been an elementary school teacher, and had a Masters in Children's Literature!) But I read the stories over and over again to my children when they were the right age.
I recommend to anyone the one I which Roo gets kidnapped. Not so warm hearted but very very funny
Lovely.
What a great post Henry! There was so much I didn't know about Milne - thank you!!