| dc.description.abstract | This paper analyses the pastoral characteristics of the landscape in
Milne’s The World of Pooh, and in addition explores the relationships between the
characters and their natural environment. This investigation was done using the method of
comparative analysis of the texts and some illustrations of the Pooh-stories, and significant
viewpoints of critics. The analysis shows that a lot of general characteristics of the pastoral
are found in Milne’s work, such as the simple life, the shepherd and his flock, the emphasis
on leisure and pleasure, and the rural and temperate landscape. However, it is also made clear
that there comes an end to Christopher Robin’s pastoral life. Furthermore, taking an ecocritical
perspective, the Pooh-stories provide both an anthropocentric and an ecocentric world,
and mock the possession of nature by human beings. In addition, in The World of Pooh Milne
embodies the eco-critical value of dwelling in the countryside as opposed to living in a city
and the praise of nature in its own right. It must be said, however, that the stories provide both
arguments against and arguments for the aforementioned findings, and that critics, too,
sometimes seem to contradict each other. | |
