annotated source 02/01

Milne, A.A. "Essays by A.A. Milne." Quotidiana. Ed. Patrick Madden. Nov 2007. Web. <http://essays.quotidiana.org/milne/>

I couldn't find a book collection of Milne's essays, but luckily Quotidiana.org has a healthy number of Milne essays online. Milne is another British essayist I am interested in studying. You probably know him as the author of the Winnie the Pooh books, but he was also an essayist, novelist, playwright, and journalist. Milne also has a quite unique, charming voice that pervades his essays. He also has fantastically beautiful sentences (e.g. "In their lily-leaved pool, sunk deep in the old flagged terrace, upon whose borders the blackbird whistles his early-morning song, they remind me of sundials and lavender and old delightful things.") Stylistically speaking, he does remind me a bit of GK Chesterton, but I don't know how well that comparison will hold up once I've spent more time studying them both. Milne also deals with mundane, everyday subjects, and because of this he becomes another example of a quotidian essayist who finds delight in the everyday. For example, he has an essay called "Goldfish," in which he meditates on a goldfish, beginning with this: "Let us talk about--well, anything you will. Goldfish, for instance." and then ends with "Which is all I want to say about goldfish." This is a perfect example of his essaying on the smallest, least "important" subjects. From these examples I have provided, you could also pick out another aspect of Milne's writing that I hope to emulate in my own writing: a conversational tone. The way he says "let's talk about goldfish," and "well, that's about all I have to say about goldfish" immediately invites the reader into the conversation, and Milne continues to be engaging and witty throughout. In short, Milne is another essayist in the pool of British (Londoner) essayists that I will enjoy studying while in England, and he will be fun to imitate in style.

Which is all I want to say about AA Milne.