A. A. Milne

[moose gurl]

My grandmother used to read me A. A. Milne's collections of poems when I was younger and I absolutely loved them. To this day, I can still recite many of them. I know that Winnie the Pooh is his more famous work, but has anyone else read and loved his children's poetry?

P.S. My favorites were the ones from When We Were Very Young, such as Buckingham Palace, Happiness, Disobedience, Market Square, Rice Pudding, The Christening, The King's Breakfast, and The Four Friends.

[Weisinheimer]

I love those poems! Let's see, I don't remember most of the titles, but I liked Disobedience, The Engineer, ummm Sneezles?, uh Teddy Bear?. Anyway, yeah, my mom used to read them to me, and I read them when I was older too. They're great. I liked his poems better than the Pooh books.

[Chris22]

I too love A.A. Milne... especially Vespers, Sand Between the Toes and Market Square from the volume "When We Were Very Young".
How would you interpret Jonathan Jo though?

Jonathan Jo
Has a mouth like an "O"
And a wheelbarrow full of surprises;
If you ask for a bat,
Or for something like that,
He has got it, whatever the size is.

If you're wanting a ball,
It's no trouble at all;
Why, the more that you ask for, the merrier -
Like a hoop and a top,
And a watch that won't stop,
And some sweets, and an Aberdeen terrier.

Jonathan Jo
Has a mouth like an "O,"
But this is what makes him so funny:
If you give him a smile,
Only once in a while,
Then he never expects any money!

[prendrelemick]

My mum used to read them to me from a book called 'Now we are six' I loved them.

[Chava]

I read these when I was very young. I remember being chronically dissapointed by, and never understanding "When we were young", but in my defence I was only 6, and it wasn't anyhting like the rest of the Milne I had read.
Today though, I have come to love Milne in every possible way. And his poems are just another wonder from his rich treasure chest of prose. Simply wonderful.

[kasie]

Yes, they were read and re-read to me as a child. It became a ritual to recite 'What's the matter with Mary Jane?' whenever we had rice pudding for dinner because I hated the stuff! It was always known as Lovely Rice Pudding and my mother and I would dissolve into giggles at it, to the mystification of anyone else in the kitchen. And blue was always A Beautiful Blue, quoting 'Vespers'.

Does anyone know the musical settings of the poems? 'They're Changing Guards (at Buckingham Palace)' is the best known of them, but 'Vespers' is my favourite.

I was disconcerted that a (long past) boyfriend didn't know any Milne poems: I declared him 'not properly brought up'. He was disgusted at my assessment - but time proved me right....

[Lynne Fees]

I too love A.A. Milne... especially Vespers, Sand Between the Toes and Market Square from the volume "When We Were Very Young".
How would you interpret Jonathan Jo though?

Jonathan Jo
Has a mouth like an "O"
And a wheelbarrow full of surprises;
If you ask for a bat,
Or for something like that,
He has got it, whatever the size is.

If you're wanting a ball,
It's no trouble at all;
Why, the more that you ask for, the merrier -
Like a hoop and a top,
And a watch that won't stop,
And some sweets, and an Aberdeen terrier.

Jonathan Jo
Has a mouth like an "O,"
But this is what makes him so funny:
If you give him a smile,
Only once in a while,
Then he never expects any money!

I would call him a kindly neighbor. I had one like that when I was little.