Re: Winnie the Pooh Saga turns 100 years old today (CBC
news)
Many know that the beloved children’s story character Winnie
the Pooh was named after a real life bear-cub rescued by Lieutenant Harry Colebourn, a Canadian vet with the
Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps.
The bear was named Winnipeg Bear in honour of Colebourn’s hometown, and
the name was later shortened to Winnie. Winnie travelled with Colbourne from Canada to
England, and was later donated to the London Zoo, where he become the
inspiration for author A.A. Milne’s famous character.
Many admirers of A.A. Milne’s work do not realize the full
significance of the fact that Winnie the bear travelled with Canadian soldiers
on their way to war in 1914. And many do
not realize the full significance A.A. Milne’s own war experiences as an
officer. And if we look to Edmund
Blunden’s classic memoir, Undertones of
War (1928) we find Milne’s inspiration for the famous “The More it Snows (Tiddley-Pom)”
song which appears in The House at Pooh
Corner (1928).
Blunden describes the rhythm of the machine gun fire in the
early years of the war (either German or Allied) as: “Ri-tiddley-i-ti … Pom
POM”.[1] In the chapter “In which a house is built at
Pooh Corner for Eeyore” Pooh sings the lyrics about the snow, and Piglet
provides the “Tiddley-Pom”. True to the
fashion of World War One, Pooh is the officer, and Piglet is the officer’s
loyal servant – or batman. And it is
worth venturing that when Pooh sings of “cold … toes”, he is likely honouring
the great ailment of trench foot, the result of standing in mud and water for
too long.
Who would have known that Winnie the Pooh stems directly
from a war that began 100 years ago this month.
No comments:
Post a Comment