_A. A. Milne _
By: Anonymous
Alan Alexander Milne When reminiscing on past memories of favorite books,
cartoons, songs and stuffed animals, many people will think about Winnie the
Pooh. The man behind all of your fun filled childhood adventured with
Christopher Robin and his bear friend Pooh is Alan Alexander Milne, more
commonly known as A. A. Milne. Besides his creation of Winnie the Pooh short
story and poetry books he was a very accomplished man through out his whole
life. He showed great affection to family members, friends, and to his wife
and child. He was also dedicated to his work and set his mind to whatever task
he was facingFamily life for Milne was very unusual, he experienced love
and hate towards different members of his family. On January 18, 1882 in
London, A. A. was born as the youngest son to Sarah Marie and John Van Milne.
(Collier, Nakamura 1685) A. A. and his two older brothers Davis Barrett
(Barry) and Kenneth John (Ken) grew up in the Henley House. This was a school
for boys that his father ran. (WWW) As Milne grew up, he and his brother Ken
became very close although he showed no affection for Barry. This is how
things stayed for the rest of their lives. (WWW) Alan Alexander once said he
and Ken shared “ ‘Equally all belief, all knowledge, all ambition, all hope
and all fears’ ”. (WWW) While this statement symbolizes how close a bond there
was between them he went on to say this about Barry and his relationship, “ ‘
Whoever heard … of two frogs assuming a friendliness which they don’t feel,
simply because they had been eggs in the same spawn. Ridiculous.’ ” (WWW)
Barry and A. A.’s relationship worsened as Alan watched Barry’s wife, Connie,
suffer through Barry’s unfaithfulness. Also, as their father John was dying,
Barry deceitfully convinced him to change his will. This gave Barry the
largest portion of his father’s money. By Barry’s inhumane actions, it took
away precious money needed from grandchildren and Ken’s widowed wife, Maude.
(WWW) Barry never regretted it and he and Alan never spoke one more word to
each other again. A. A. even refused to say anything to Barry while he was on
his deathbed. (WWW) Alan Alexander Milne was always and exceptional student
but writing always dominated his life. In 1893 Alan Alexander attended his
first year at Westminster School which his older brother Ken also attended.
(Collier, Nakamura 1686) Alan was an exceptional student during his first year
at Westminster and became a Queen Scholar after only finishing his first term
of school. (Collier, Nakamura 1686) After this though, he began slacking off
and lacking the exceptional qualities he once had. He decided he knew enough
so he stopped working as hard as he used to. This is when he began focusing
all his efforts on writing for the school newspaper. (Collier, Nakamura 1686)
In 1900 he graduated from Westminster and began Trinity College of Cambridge
University. After graduating from Trinity College he moved back to London and
worked as a free lance journalist. He had articles published in Varity Fair
and Punch magazines. (Collier, Nakamura 1686) In 1905 he completed his first
book Lovers in London. He was very unsatisfied with this publication and
pretended that he never wrote it. One year later he became assistant editor at
Punch magazine. After he became assistant editor he made this comment, “My
real achievement was to be not wholly the wrong person at the right spot at
the right time. (Collier, Nakamura 1686) The reason he said something like
this is because he is very modest about his work and how talented he was. By
what he said in the quote he thought that it was pure luck by him becoming
assistant editor of a major magazine not by ambition and natural talent.
Although he had already been assistant editor for four years he only became
famous in 1910. (Collier, Nakamura 1687) His articles became very popular
among readers. He wrote about insight’s into a child’s mind. This is what led
him to writing children’s books later on in his life. He also wrote about
sports but what made him most famous were his stories about a fictional family
he created named the Rabbit’s. (WWW) The Rabbit’s were a middle class family
that had different problems in each story. In the endings though, the problems
were resolved and there was a happy ending. (WWW) From what was written it
seems as though it is like an old fashioned version of the Brady Bunch Not
only is A. A. dedicated to his work, he also puts his life at risk for the
good of his country. Milne stayed assistant editor of Punch until 1914 when
World War I broke out. Alan wanted to be a part of it and help his country. He
felt that it was a “war against war”. (WWW) On February 10, 1915 he
volunteered to fight in the war. For A. A. nothing much happened for him until
August of 1915. Alan was sent to the Southern Command Signaling School at Wyke
Regis for a nine week course. (WWW) During these two months he wrote his first
play, Wurtzel Flummery. This was he first published piece of work that he was
proud of. In 1916 he was sent to France to become a signaling officer. For
Alan Alexander being a signaling officer was relatively safe but he still saw
enough death and destruction then he ever could’ve imagined. (WWW) On 1916 he
had to leave his job in the was and go back to London because he had a bad
fever. After he recovered he was put in charge of a new signaling school and
stayed there until he was released from the army on February 14, 1919. (WWW)
Milne’s wife and child began his immeasurable amount of success. They had
great love for one another and Milne adventually began writing books plotted
around family events. Before Milne went to war he met a woman named Dorothy de
Selincourt. She and Alan met at a coming out dance and they spent much of
their time together. In 1913 they were wed. (WWW) Dorothy and Alan were
perfect for each other but she didn’t get along very well with his brother Ken
and Ken’s wife Maude. Whenever A. A. went to visit his family he would go
alone. (WWW) In the 1920’s, Alan and Dorothy had a son. They named him
Christopher Robin. (Christopher being his dad’s choice, Robin being his
mother’s.) Although his real name was Christopher Robin, his nickname was
Billy Moon. This name “Moon” originated when Christopher was very young and
tried to pronounce his last name. (WWW) On Christopher’s first birthday he
received a teddy bear named Winnie the Pooh that was as big as he was. Over
the years he got many other stuffed animals. Dorothy would sit with
Christopher and give them all names and personalities. (Collier, Nakamura
1688) Some animals that Christopher had were Pooh, Piglet, Tiger, Eeyore,
Kanga, and Roo. The settings of the stories that made up Winnie the Pooh and
The House at Pooh Corner is the Hundred Acre Wood. (Berger 665) By the time
Christopher was three years old A. A. was writing books about his only child.
(Collier, Nakamura 1688) During the war there was a very high demand for
Milne’s children’s books. There was so much trouble that there were problems
getting enough paper to keep them in print. Even after the war sales kept
increasing because he became so popular with children and adults. (WWW) By
1948, thirteen different plays by him had been produced. In the same year
Christopher began to resent his father because of the famous books that gave
fame to his name. This is also when Christopher met his cousin Lesley for the
first time. They fell in love, married, and ran away together. (WWW) Dorothy
Milne was very surprised and upset by this not only because Christopher’s new
wife was also her niece but also because Dorothy hated her niece’s father, her
brother. Alan was very disappointed as well. Alan’s last book was published in
1952 and finally Christopher Robin began to get over his resentment towards
his father and the Pooh books. He said, “ ‘There was an intermediate period
where any reference to Pooh was infuriating; but now such a nice, comfortable
feeling envelopes him that I can almost regard him impersonally as the
creation of one of my favorite authors.’ ” (WWW) Christopher began to come to
terms with his father once again just in the nick of time. In October of that
same year Alan Alexander had a stroke which left him close to death for his
remaining three years. On January 31, 1956 he past away. At the service held
for him Dorothy and Christopher barely talked and those few words that were
exchanged between the two of the were also there last to each other although
Dorothy lived for 15 more years. After his father’s death, Christopher forgave
him and he too became a writer. (WWW) Alan Alexander Milne was a great
influence on society then and society today. His books have continued to be
best sellers and people all over the world love and cherish the cuddly bear,
Winnie the Pooh. Throughout his life he was a role model and leader for his
colleagues, friends and his family. Even though through out his life he
experienced bad relationships, he managed to overcome them and go on in his
exceptional life. What made him a different wrote then many was that he didn’t
just think of his job as work, he truly loved what he did and wouldn’t give it
up for anything.
Word Count: 1633
| 
