The World of Pooh: A Green Study

Abstract

This paper analyses the pastoral characteristics of the landscape in Milne’s The World of Pooh, and in addition explores the relationships between the characters and their natural environment. This investigation was done using the method of comparative analysis of the texts and some illustrations of the Pooh-stories, and significant viewpoints of critics. The analysis shows that a lot of general characteristics of the pastoral are found in Milne’s work, such as the simple life, the shepherd and his flock, the emphasis on leisure and pleasure, and the rural and temperate landscape. However, it is also made clear that there comes an end to Christopher Robin’s pastoral life. Furthermore, taking an ecocritical perspective, the Pooh-stories provide both an anthropocentric and an ecocentric world, and mock the possession of nature by human beings. In addition, in The World of Pooh Milne embodies the eco-critical value of dwelling in the countryside as opposed to living in a city and the praise of nature in its own right. It must be said, however, that the stories provide both arguments against and arguments for the aforementioned findings, and that critics, too, sometimes seem to contradict each other.