The cyclical nature of things—of time, of nature, and indeed of manmade things is the subject of Rudyard Kipling’s (1865–1936) ‘Cities and Thrones and Powers’, which also reflects on how then does one live life, with this knowledge that it must eventually end. This poem formed part of his collection, Puck of Pook’s Hill (1906),…
Adventures of Our Own Making: A Morning Dream by Eleanor Farjeon
Imaginary friends, cops and robbers, make believe—as children, our games, whether with friends or on our own, relied so much on our imaginations (do they as much these days, one wonders, with phones, tablets, and gadgets the chief sources of play and entertainment?) In literature too, Alice’s adventure in wonderland or for that matter through…
Winding Down
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Nature moves cyclically--everything that starts also comes to an end. A moment, an hour, a day. As the sun rises each morning bringing with it new hope, a fresh start, every evening too, it sets, and then comes the time when all creatures and us humans too (at least we…
Squares, Bears, and Some Gentle Fun #Poetry #AAMilne
Bears--cute teddy bears to scary grizzlies--often make an appearance in children's stories--from Goldilocks who came upon the three bears' house in the forest (subject of a topsy turvy version by Roald Dahl) to Baloo in the Jungle Book, to Winnie-the-Pooh, and their relationship with 'literary children' has been described as rather 'ambivalent'.* Some are friendly…
The Grass is always Greener… #Poetry #FrancesCornford
From Danish Fairy and Folk Talesvia Wikimedia commonshttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Danish_fairy_and_folk_tales_-_a_collection_of_popular_stories_and_fairy_tales_(1899)_(14741908066).jpg 'The Princess and the Gypsies' by Frances Cornford tells of a conversation between a princess and some gypsies, narrated in the 'voice' of the Princess. One May morning, the Princess decides to lay down her crown 'And live no more like a queen', and so, still dressed…
Three Little Pigs–with a Twist!
The Pig Carrying the StrawSource: Leonard Leslie Brooke [Public domain] via wikimedia commons The Three Little Pigs is of course a tale familiar to us all--the story of ...er... three little pigs who go out into the wide world, in search of 'their fortune', and end up building houses for themselves, each with different material--straw,…
John Gilpin’s Ride of a Lifetime
John GilpinRandolph Caldecott [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons 'The Diverting History of John Gilpin' is a comic ballad written by William Cowper in 1782. This is, I learnt from Wikipedia, based on a real-life wealthy draper from Cheapside in London. Cowper, it seems, heard the story from Lady Anna Austen and was so amused by…
Breakfast Woes #poetry #AAMilne
MarmaladeImage source: Kate [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D How do you like your toast at breakfast? Hot, buttered "cut thick , very brown on both sides, with the butter running through the holes in it in great golden drops, like honey from a honeycomb", like Toad of Toad Hall, or with honey and condensed milk (but…
Stationary Travellers #poetry #Longfellow #books
Source: Pexels We travel--to explore the world, experience new places, sounds, smells, cultures, to see the wonders this world has to offer. We travel for adventure, for excitement, for fun, even relaxation. Travel means all this and more. It means to get up and get going, but for us as readers, we can 'travel' even…
How Jack Began to View the World
By Arthur Rackam via Wikimedia Commons We've been seeing plenty of re-tellings lately, also books that explore the stories of what happens to characters from stories after we've "left" them--Alice some years later, for instance (like the new Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass movies or Ever Alice by H.J. Ramsay, which I…
Literary Potpourri 