The protracted corona-lockdown has seen a lot of us - already riven by various internet addictions - spend increasing amounts of time online. One of the more wholesome things I’ve stumbled upon recently has been the Twitter feed of a devotee of A.A. Milne, the famous author and playwright largely known as the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh. Operating from some unknown corner of the world, the account radiates delightful coronavirus-related content like sunbeams which pierce through the squalid, polluted clouds of Twitter.
The nostalgic, sepia-toned nature of E H Shepard’s illustrations makes for very wholesome viewing on its own; when they are accompanied by A.A. Milne’s quotes - which eerily describe the new norms of a world paralysed by coronavirus - it filters the strangeness of these days through a poetic, dreamlike lens. It would probably serve as a good communicative aide to young children in explaining (novel!) concepts such as social distancing, quarantine, and panic buying or hoarding.
The first tweet which caught my attention was this, which depicted Pooh blissfully ‘doing nothing’, a radical concept which our busy world has had to reacquaint itself with in order to (seemingly paradoxically) save humanity. The image was paired with the following quote:
“What I like doing best is Nothing,” said Christopher Robin. “How do you do Nothing?” asked Pooh. “Well, it’s when people call out at you, ‘What are you going to do, Christopher Robin?’ and you say ‘Oh, nothing,’ and then you go and do it.”
Pooh enjoying social distancing and ‘doing Nothing’ in the woods, The House at Pooh Corner, A.A. Milne
In the next illustration, Pooh seems to be drinking in the sunshine on his state-sanctioned daily exercise, pictured with the below quotes:
The sun was so delightfully warm, and the stone, which had been sitting in it for a long time, was so-warm, too, that Pooh had almost decided to go on being Pooh in the middle of the stream for the rest of the morning
Or perhaps he(?) is meditating on the nature of friendship and social connection in an environment where physical contact is impossible:
Pooh began to wonder how Kanga and Roo and Tigger were getting on, because they all lived together in a different part of the Forest. And he thought, “I haven’t seen Roo for a long time, and if I don’t see him today it will be a still longer time.”
Pooh on an island in the stream, The House at Pooh Corner, A.A. Milne
One of my favourite still and quote combinations depicts Pooh hoarding jars of honey, a scene reminiscent of the panic buying and toilet paper hoarding which erupted across Australia and the world in early March:
“This is serious,” said Pooh. “I must have an Escape.”
So he took his largest pot of honey and escaped with it to a broad branch of his tree, and then he climbed down again and escaped with another pot... until there were ten pots of honey...
Pooh hoarding honey, The World of Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne
Below we see Rabbit leaving his warren to look after the young Christopher Robin. This is a fitting metaphor for our health heroes and essential workers (doctors, truckers, grocers, shelf stackers) who head out each day in spite of the health regulations to look after those who depend on them:
He came out of his house and sniffed the warm spring morning as he wondered ... "No, not Kanga's," said Rabbit thoughtfully to himself, as he curled his whiskers ... and trotted off in the other direction, which was the way to Christopher Robin's house. "After all," said Rabbit to himself, "Christopher Robin depends on me.
Rabbit faces the day to help others who depend on him, The House at Pooh Corner, A.A. Milne
We also see everyone’s favourite donkey, Eeyore, rebuke his fellow citizens for not being as enthusiastic about the new public health measures as he is:
Eeyore turned round angrily on the others and said, “Everybody crowds round so in this Forest. There’s no Space. I never saw a more Spreading lot of animals in my life, and all in the wrong places. Can’t you SEE that Christopher Robin wants to be alone? I’m going.”
Not social distancing, The House at Pooh Corner, A.A. Milne
And finally, we see a child enjoying nature with the mindfulness that many of us have started to rediscover, perhaps with the intention to never take simple pleasures and freedoms for granted ‘on the other side’.
And there would I rest, and lie,
My chin in my hands, and gaze
At the dazzle of sand below,
And the green waves curling slow,
And the grey-blue distant haze
Where the sea goes up to the sky...
Contemplating the sublime, The Island, A.A. Milne
Thanks for reading!
Stay safe and stay connected, everyone :)
