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Saturday, January 4, 2014

Hipy papy bthuthday to A.A. Milne

“I might have known,”
  said Eeyore. 
“After all, one can’t complain. 
  I have my friends. Somebody
  spoke to me only yesterday.
  And was it last week or the week before
  that Rabbit bumped into me and
  said ‘Bother!’?
  The Social Round. Always something going on.” 
―A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Winnie-the-Pooh
and Eeyore, too
were more than just part
of my childhood.
They brightened my life
when I was an Eeyore
and made me laugh
when I felt like Pooh.

Of course, Pooh didn't always feel great, did he? He had his moments, as I did.

"I don’t feel very much like Pooh today," said Pooh.
"There there," said Piglet. "I’ll bring you tea and honey until you do." 

But even Eeyore
had a birthday party.
Whereat a good time
was had by all,
except, quite
possibly, Eeyore.




"What I like doing best is Nothing."
"How do you do Nothing?" asked Pooh after he had wondered for a long time.
"Well, it's when people call out at you just as you're going off to do it, 'What are you going to do, Christopher Robin?' and you say, 'Oh, Nothing,' and then you go and do it. It means just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering."
"Oh!" said Pooh. 



None of it would have happened
(of course)
if it hadn't been for a boy
named Christopher Robin,
whose father, A.A. Milne,
a writer who had written
in several styles
and more than one genre,
started to tell him stories
about his bear, Winnie-the-Pooh,
and his other toy animals,
Piglet, Eeyore, Rabbit, Owl,
Tigger, Kanga, Baby Roo,
all of rabbit's relatives,
and a Heffalump. Truly.

“Some people care too much. I think it's called love.” 

A.A. Milne
1882-1956
It is January now, the birth month of three well-known fantasy writers, one of whom is A.A. Milne, and the other two of whom are Lewis Carroll and J.R.R Tolkein. At the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, Kerry has asked Toads and contributors to consider one of these writers, and my first choice—in fact, my only choice—is the man who put Winnie-the-Pooh into my life, long before Walt Disney took Pooh and changed him. I've always loved Pooh, in the old books, with the old drawings by E.H. Shepard, whose pencil sketches were, to me, perfectly perfect. I am thrilled that I had read Milne's books many times before he died in 1956. I imagined, at the age of 10, that he somehow knew I was a dedicated fan. Happy Birthday, Mr. Milne.

14 comments:

Pealogic said...

I love your modern take on Pooh. Is he on facebook, or is that too passé for Pooh. Happy pooh sticks to you
Pea

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
This is delightful Kay! We share the love of these writings - I have an equal love of Tolkein, but of course those came into life much later. Pooh, once in, never leaves!! YAM xx

jabblog said...

Lovely, Kay. I think Disney despoiled Winnie the Pooh - nothing could match E. H. Shepard's drawings.

Scarlet said...

Winnie the pooh was prominent in my children growing up years ~ Enjoyed your take Kay ~ Happy Sunday ~

Fireblossom said...

I'm probably deficient somehow, because I was never really a Pooh fan, particularly. Dr. Seuss, however, I loved!

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed reading this, Kay.

brudberg said...

Oh we all have those moments when we identify with one or too of the animals.. I was always told I looked like Christopher Robin as a kid... and my name means Bear.. so such an important book

hedgewitch said...

I had Pooh read to me by a pregnant neighbor-lady on the steps of our tenement. I have to say, like so many other wonderful, lovingly-created books that are designed to address that lonely often hard world which is childhood, it made a profound impression on me of the essential goodness of life. I will always be grateful to Milne for that. This is charming, and real, Kay.

Kerry O'Connor said...

I think I am a bit of an Eeyore myself these days - but beware my inner Tigger!

It is such a life-long gift, to have these stories of our youths resonate for a lifetime. Now, when I read the quotes from Winnie-the-Pooh, they strike me as some of the greatest wisdom I have ever read.

Kay L. Davies said...

An interjection here: I'm loving the comments, my friends, and totally agree about the goodness and wisdom of life coming across in the Pooh stories.
Luv, K

Susie Clevenger said...

This is great...of late I have felt like Eeyore...sigh. I need a fit of giggles. :)

Phil Slade said...

Hi Kay. You have such a great knowledge of literature.

And now our grandchildren love the A A Minle characters too. No wonder really, they are such gentle lovable creatures. You might be in Iceland when we are in Lanzarote?

Kay said...

This sure brings back memories. We loved Winnie and his friends.

Helen said...

My children loved listening to me read Pooh stories ... like Shay, they also clamored for a bit of Dr. Seuss.

Powell River Books said...

When I was in college, my freshman English class was almost totally devoted to analyzing Winnie-the-Poo. I'm not sure it was the best use of our time, but we did come up with lots of interpretations. The teacher liked the wildest ones best. - Margy