in which Anne talks about A.A. Milne

Anne here, and in case you're feeling a touch of Mondayitis, here's a little something to cheer you up.

'What day is it?'
'It's today,' squeaked Piglet.
'My favorite day,' said Pooh.

And why am I quoting Winnie the Pooh, when I should be talking about something historical? Well, it's almost historical. The other day we wenches were chatting about our anniversary — it's our 6th anniversary next week, and Susan suggested the title "Now We Are Six,"  which is the title of an AA Milne book of poetry for children. This in turn sparked a discussion about much loved books from childhood, and we discovered some of us were passionate AA Milne fans and others had grown up without him. 

AA Milne? He was an English writer and playwright born in 1882 whose writing for children — his poems, and particularly his stories about Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and others— became classics.

I guess the poems are less well known than Winnie the Pooh, so let's start with them. They're wonderful poems for reciting aloud — satisfyingly rhythmical and they rhyme, which as any child knows, a good poem should! 

I had them read to me as a child, often, and I still know many of them by heart. And snatches of them pop up at the oddest times. This one, for instance, had generations of children leaping from square to square on the footpath, because you mustn't ever tread on the lines because then the bears can get you.

The whole poem is here:  Lines and Squares

Here's one that shows how bullies should be dealt with — Bad Sir Brian Botany.

There are more poems here.

And if you like bread with butter... or prefer marmalade, this one is for you. But I have to say, I prefer reading the poems with the drawings.

Many of you will be familiar with the Disney version of Winnie the Pooh, in film and cartoon. But if you haven't read the original stories, especially those with the original line drawings by E.H. Shepard, you're in for a treat. E.H. Shepard was a staff cartoonist for the magazine PUNCH and because of these charming little drawings for children his name will live forever.

I'm not going to get into the argument which is better, the Disney Pooh or the original — both are very sweet and I've found people usually get attached to the first version of Pooh they met. But the Disney versions are not the same as the originals, and if you're someone who likes the clever use of language, and the subtlety and delicacy of line drawings, try reading Winnie The Pooh in the original.

They were written in the 1920's by A.A Milne for his son, Christopher Robin. At the time, Milne was a very successful playwright, and he had no idea his serious works would, in the end, be completely overshadowed by his children's poetry and the stories about a bear, a boy and their friends and their adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood.

It's based on the real forest where Christopher Robin played — Ashdown Forest in East Sussex in southwest England. It's still beautiful and these days tourists visit it because of the books, and they stand on this bridge and look down into the stream and play the game called Poohsticks. (You'll have to read the story.) The beautiful pic below is by Paula Pullinger.

Quote: You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.

The characters in the stories were based on Christopher Milne's real toys but for the drawings of Winnie the Pooh, E.H. Shepard used his own son's teddy bear, Growler. Christopher Robin's toys are pictured here and you can see that his teddy is not the model for Pooh Bear. Sadly Growler was eaten by a dog.

The books have sweetness, innocence, humor and also great wisdom. How's this for an example of what modern gurus call "mindfulness" or living in the moment?

'When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,' said Piglet at last, 'what's the first thing you say to yourself?'
'What's for breakfast?' said Pooh. 'What do you say, Piglet?'
'I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today,' said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. 'It's the same thing,' he said.

When I was discussing these books with some others who hadn't ever read them, the comment was made, "Oh, by the time I'd heard of them I was too old for them, and I don't have children, so I never read them."

The thing is, these books are not just for children. One of the secrets of the books' great popularity is that they're just as entertaining to read as an adult, I think.It's the humor, and the characterization. And the little gems of wisdom. For instance, these four quotes on love ...

'How do you spell 'love'?' Piglet asked.
'You don't spell it...you feel it,' said Pooh.

'Sometimes,' said Pooh, 'the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.'

Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude. 

'If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.' 

My brother took a copy of The House at Pooh Corner and Winnie the Pooh with him when he went to university. My brother wasn't the literary type: he was a hunter and a bushwalker and a rock climber. He was living in a residential college at the time and got stirred by a few of his mates for having kids' books on his shelf. He read a few bits out. They laughed. They ended up borrowing the books.

It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like 'What about lunch?' 

'People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.'

'Oh Tigger, where are your manners?'
'I don’t know, but I bet they’re having more fun than I am.'

There are also some wonderful life lessons. Christopher Robin says this to Pooh:

'If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together... there is something you must always remember. You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart... I'll always be with you.'

In fact, if you put all four books together — the two volumes of poetry and the two collections of stories, you pretty much have a recipe to live by.

For instance, this certainly covers how I feel about my writing sometimes:
'I don't see much sense in that,' said Rabbit.
'No,' said Pooh humbly, 'there isn't. But there was going to be when I began it. It's just that something happened to it along the way.' 

AA Milne even has something to say about being tubby — read this poem and you'll find yourself smiling at the end.

A bear, however hard he tries,

Grows tubby without exercise.
Our Teddy Bear is short and fat,
Which is not to be wondered at;
He gets what exercise he can
By falling off the ottoman,
But generally he seems to lack
The energy to clamber back. (read the rest here)

And if you're the academic type, there are even treatises on Winnie the Pooh -- mostly they're very funny spoofs on academic writing. I have this one that I bought many years ago when I was at university. It's still in print today: The Pooh Perplex. The full subtitle is: In Which It is Discovered that the True Meaning of the Pooh Stories is Not as Simple as is Usually Believed, but for Proper Elucidation Requires the Combined Efforts of Several Academicians of Varying Critical Persuasions.

So what about you — are you a devotee of Winnie the Pooh? Do you have a favorite A.A. Milne character or poem? And who did you meet first — the E.H. Shepard versions or the Disney ones? Or have you never read Winnie the Pooh? If you haven't there's a treat in store for you. 

And do you know the next line? James James Morrison Morrison Wetherby George Dupree...

Comments

[Marion]

I'm fifty nine years old and can still never walk on the lines without a sneaking suspicion a bear will get me. I firmly believe James James Morrison's mother walked on a line.

Thank you, Anne, for making me smile.

[Anne Gracie]

Marion, do you know, I hadn't ever thought of that before — James James Morrison's mother stepped on a line and a bear got her! Of course! It's obvious now I come to think of it.
And for those who don't know what we're talking about, go here:
http://allpoetry.com/poem/8518977-Disobedience-by-A.A._Milne

[Janga]

Your post is a lovely way to start the day, Anne. Thank you. I first met Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood through the E. H. Shepard illustrations, but after two generations reared on the Disney books and movies, I love that version too.

I kept two quotes from Milne on my wall through many years of teaching: the first for me to keep in mind when reading student essays--“When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.” And the second as advice for my students--“Poetry and Hums aren't things which you get, they're things which get you. And all you can do is go where they can find you.”

I also have "The House at Pooh Corner" by Loggins and Messina on a playlist and The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff on my keeper shelf,salutary reading for an academic.

And I do indeed know the next line to the poem. :)

[Laura Vivanco]

And do you know the next line? James James Morrison Morrison Wetherby George Dupree...

took great care of his mother, though he was only three.

And then there's a bit about how she must never go down to the end of town without consulting me. But I'm not sure I've remembered it word for word. I wondered if maybe she'd run off with a lover, like Nancy Mitford's character, The Bolter.

James James Morrison's mother stepped on a line and a bear got her!

Ah, well, the two theories might be compatible if we take a brief excursion via Jenny Crusie's Welcome to Temptation in which the hero introduces the heroine

to sexual and textual pleasures. His sexual invitation to Sophie, for example, arises from a twist he gives to an old Appalachian song, the first “text” (aside from himself) that he brings to the story. The song’s lyric about a woman wandering the mountains in search of a new lover sounds at first like a lovely fantasy to Sophie. But when Phin reveals that Julie Ann, the heroine of the song, meets a bear in the woods and becomes a ghost, Sophie immediately rejects the “romance” of the song. The “bear” in those lovely woods is like the river’s “fish stink”—reality intruding on fantasy to destroy it. Phin, the bookstore owner, quickly shows Sophie the power that an experienced reader actually has over the text at hand. Without missing a beat, he rewrites the end of Julie Ann’s story, telling Sophie, “Okay, she’s not dead. The bear ate her, and she came her brains out” (93). (from “The Heroine as Reader, the Reader as Heroine: Jennifer Crusie’s Welcome to Temptation” by Kate Moore and Eric Murphy Selinger)

[Judy]

I was at first devoted to Eeyore because I loved horses. Then I grew to love Piglet's sweet innocence and sunny disposition. I still use things like "a very blustery day" and "tut tut looks like rain." Funny how some of the lines slip into conversation. I was raised with both the book and the Disney version. Can you hear "I'm just a little black rain cloud, hovering under the honey tree..."? Yep.

As for being too old, BAH! I took children's lit when I was in my 30s, and read Anne of Green Gables for the first time and loved it, along with a lot of other books I'd missed growing up, including "Wind in the Willow" and "The Secret Garden." Never too old for good books.

[Patricia Rice]

I never had the opportunity to read Pooh as a child, although I read abbreviated versions to my kids. But I've known the Chad Mitchell version of James, James since adolescence, and my husband and I quite frequently break into the verse for inane reasons. You're right, Milne has a lot of life applications! Thanks for the terrific post.

Eeyore

[Susan/DC]

When I moved from Arizona to Massachusetts for college, I encountered serious, persistent snow for the first time in my life. I used to walk to class repeating to myself the lines from Pooh:

"The more it snows (tiddly pom)
The more it goes (tiddly pom)
The more it goes (tiddly pom)
On snowing.

And nobody knows (tiddly pom)
How cold my toes (tiddly pom)
How cold my toes (tiddly pom)
Are growing.

[Lilian Darcy]

What a wonderful blog! I grew up on the stories and poems like you did, Anne, and we still have those same tattered volumes somewhere. I want to go and find them right now! I can still remember much of "James James Morrison Morrison" and "They're Changing Guard at Buckingham Palace."

I was also lucky enough to perform in a theatrical version twice - once playing Kanga and the next time Eeyore. The show ran for several weeks and was very successful. We used quite a few of the songs and poems. The set was a children's nursery, specially made so that the furniture was all giant-size compared to the characters.

Oh, you really have brought some wonderful memories for anyone who loves A.A. Milne. Thank you!

[Imelda Evans]

I have a book called the Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet, so I guess that writer didn't think they were just for children.

And I have played Poohsticks on every troll-bridge I have come across (mixing my childhood influences) and I DO like a little bit of butter to my bread!

Thanks for reminding us of Pooh-bear, Anne.

[Mary Jo Putney]

I surrender,Anne! I've ordered THE HOUSE ON POOH CORNER. With the E. H. Shepherd illustrations. *G* And based on your quotes, I'll sure enjoy it, indeed I will!

[Nicole Hurley-Moore]

Thanks Anne for such a lovely post. My favourite poem was King John's Christmas.

- King John was not a good man -
He had his little ways.
And sometimes no one spoke to him
For days and days and days ...

[Anne Gracie]

Mary Jo, I'm very tempted to say "My work is done." LOL
But I won't. *G*

It's lovely to hear all the Pooh favorite bits. Janga, I love your quotes for students. I have a few for adult literacy students, too.

Judy, AA Milne had a wonderful quote about The Wind in the Willows — something about it being a test of character, that when you were reading Wind in the Willows, it wasn't you judging the book, the book would judge you.

[Anne Gracie]

I just found the quote:
“One does not argue about The Wind in the Willows. The young man gives it to the girl with whom he is in love, and, if she does not like it, asks her to return his letters. The older man tries it on his nephew, and alters his will accordingly. The book is a test of character. We can't criticize it, because it is criticizing us. But I must give you one word of warning. When you sit down to it, don't be so ridiculous as to suppose that you are sitting in judgment on my taste, or on the art of Kenneth Grahame. You are merely sitting in judgment on yourself. You may be worthy: I don't know, But it is you who are on trial.”
― A.A. Milne
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/25456

[Anne Gracie]

Susan/DC I was muttering that Hum to myself last night, as the evenings are getting chilly here and my toes were getting cold. We don't get snow here, but toes still get cold.
When I was a kid, My dad used to do the tiddlypoms in a Very Deep Growly Bear Voice.

This post has reminded me how much AA Milne is stuffed in my head.
I still say, if I'm in a gloomy way and am asked how I am, "Not very how," — forgetting it was straight from Eeyore.

And a friend emailed me this morning to say when she was in her 20's she and a bunch of friends used to send each other birthday cards with hipy papy bthdth thuda (or letters to that effect) which is straight out of Winnie the Pooh.

[Susan King]

Oh what a lovely, lovely post! Thank you, Anne, for bringing back some wonderful memories and for clarifying so beautifully why I loved the Pooh and love him still (did I have three kids so I could read Winnie the Pooh again and again and yet again? Perhaps a little bit, Bear!).

Susan

[Andrea Penrose]

Oh, Anne, you have me smiling ear to ear. This post and our Wenchly talks last week reminded me of just how wonderful Pooh and his friends are. So simple, so sweet, so wise. "Isn't it funny how a bear loves honey, buzz, buzz, buzz. I wonder why he does?"

Now must go out and buy a new set of the books. Somehow, my childhood copies got lost somewhere along the way, but everyone should have Pooh by the bedside.

[Shannon McEwan]

My earliest book memory is my mother reading Winnie the Pooh to me - doing a deep gruff voice for Pooh, and a squeaky voice for piglet.

I tried replicating the experience for my 2 year old - my rendition of piglet is close to my Mum's, but Pooh sounds like a dim cockney bobby. My Eeyore sounds like a drag queen. I can't remember how Mum did Eeyore, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't quite like that.

[Keziah Hill]

James James Morrison Morrison Wetherby George Dupree
Took great care of his mother though he was only three.
James James said to his mother,
"Mother," he said, said he,
"You must never go down to the end of town unless you go down with me!"

Not sure if it's quite right but almost. I think there are other verses but I can't remember them. Something about his mother being lost, stolen or strayed and a reward offered.

AA Milne was a staple in our house.

[Cate S]

Don't you just feel so sorry for those people that have never experienced AA Milne stories!!

[Pageturner]

I love AA Milne. have you read any of his Punch pieces - I collect them and there's several liitle blue cloth-bound books withe the articles gathered together. There's one about a letter box that goes flipperty-flipperty-flipperty-flipperty-flipperty-flipperty-flipperty-flipperty flop and a lovely one about going for a walk on a map. Ann Thwaite wrote a brilliant biography on him. And we used the expression 'last seen wandering vaguely' a lot in our household.

[Anne Gracie]

Shannon, I'm chuckling at your drag queen Eeyore and your dim Cockney bobby Pooh. You do realize your little girl will grow up insisting that Eeyore is supposed to sound like a drag queen, etc. Kids hate change. It's got to be read *just right*.

Keziah, yes indeed:
Kind John put up a notice
Lost Stolen or Strayed
James James Morrison's mother
Seems to have been mislaid.
Last seen wandering vaguely
Quite of her own accord!
She went right down to the end of the town
Forty Shillings reward.

[Anne Gracie]

Cate, I do feel sad for people who didn't grow up with AA Milne stories and poems,— as I said, my head and history are stuffed with them; family sayings culled from the books, little hums that you find yourself reciting at odd moments, and a way of viewing the world that makes you smile — I always think, before I throw out a jar, that could be a Very Useful Pot.

But then there is a kind of envy in the idea of people discovering the world of Pooh and the poems for the very first time. Perhaps it won't be quite as magical, but it should still be fun.

[Anne Gracie]

Pageturner, I haven't read any of AA Milne's Punch pieces — thank you for mentioning them. I'll see if I can find some. That letter box sounds a bit like the poem where Christopher Robin goes hippetty hoppity hippetty hoppity hop. *g*

Thanks also for the reference to the Thwaite biography. I'm off to track it down as soon as I finish this.

Thanks *everyone* for the comments — as always, this has been a great discussion.

[Artemisia]

I found a stair halfway down the stairs and there I sat...usually reading. It was nice there. Till I was chased out by the vacuum.

[Artemisia]

One day I found King John and his Big Red India Rubber Ball in the back of the library poetry shelves. I bought that book. It is done in calligraphy and is just beautiful.

[Anne Gracie]

Artemisia, I often wonder whether my love of sitting on stairs came from — it could well be that poem. But it might also be because I don't have any stairs — most houses in Australia are single story.

That version of King John's Christmas sounds beautiful. I've only seen the version in. . . I think it's Now We Are Six. Thanks for sharing.

[Karin]

I read a lot of the Scholastic & Newbury award-winning books like A Wrinkle in Time, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Pippi Longstocking and also many probably unsuitable things I pulled off my parents bookshelf because I was a precocious reader. At home we had Grimm's fairy tales and a children's encyclopedia set that included classic stories and poetry like The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes(my first taste of romance!)

[deniz]

I just finished reading Milne's The Sunny Side, a collection of his pieces for Punch, and fell even more in love than before. Now I want to read all his writing!