Pooh the Transcendentalist

It is very unlikely that A. A. Milne had read Henry David Thoreau’s Transcendental writings or followed them when he was writing Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner. It is also unlikely that Milne in writing simple stories for his son ever intended to create a guidebook for living the perfect Transcendental life. Winnie the Pooh is a character who is never exactly right, exactly wrong, or exactly sure of his stance on any level of existence(Arbaugh-Twitty 1). Pooh lives by simple means and by simple rules, and his lifestyle can be contrasted with the lifestyles of his friends Rabbit, Tigger, Piglet, Owl, and Eeyore. Winnie the Pooh is a Transcendentalist and is an impeccable example for anyone who wants to live a happy and harmonious life with him or herself and nature, free from needless worry and materialism.
Thoreau, just like Pooh, lived alone in the woods with quite a few friends not far but not overly close. He lived frugally; he ate only what he caught or grew for himself, built his own home, and spent his spare time walking about the forest and studying nature and gaining insight. Pooh never realizes that he is gaining insight, and he may not actually be doing so, but it doesn’t really matter because either way he is innocent and free from complication unlike his friends(Arbaugh-Twitty 1). Pooh is content as long as he visits his friends every so often, has food to eat, and something to hum to entertain himself. Pooh doesn’t worry about planting a garden and gaining materialistic success like his friend Rabbit, nor does he worry about the endless pursuit of useless knowledge like Owl, constant pessimism and depression like Eeyore, or Piglet’s nervous insecurity that comes from not having a grasp on his true self(Arbaugh-Twitty 1).
Confucius once said “to know that we know what we know and that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge”(Thorough 9). Pooh is referred to as “A Bear of Very Little Brain”(Milne 50); and yet his clear and simple thought process gives his plans much more success than Rabbit’s and Owl’s more complicated ideas. Pooh doesn’t have much knowledge at all; however it is Pooh who usually ends up on top(Hoff, Pooh 16). When Eeyore loses his tail Pooh goes out and finds it. First he goes to Owl who babbles on about “customary procedure”(Milne 50) and confuses Pooh with his extensive knowledge of nothing. When Pooh finally goes outside to begin searching with Owl’s plan, he notices that Owl’s bell-rope is actually Eeyore’s tail. Pooh’s naive brilliance always seems to take him farther than Owl’s intelligent ignorance(Arbaugh-Twitty 2). Thoreau had strong dislike for people who have extensive knowledge and yet have no common sense to use it. Useless knowledge is like a luxury that has no place in the natural, spiritual, and intelligent world of the forest. Owl lives in luxurious knowledge, but his spirituality is no where near Pooh’s. Pooh is poor in knowledge but rich in wisdom. Owl is a member of what Thoreau calls “that seemingly wealthy but most terribly impoverished class of all”(Arbaugh-Twitty 14).
Eeyore’s knowledge is for the sake of complaining about something(Hoff, Pooh 16). He is a pessimist and is a constant dark cloud over everyone else’s sunny day. He is constantly pondering and contemplating and the only answers that he finds are negative. “Sometimes he [thinks] sadly to himself, ‘why?’ and sometimes he [thinks] ‘wherefore?’ and sometimes he [thinks] ‘inasmuch as which?’- and sometimes he [doesn’t] quite know what he [is] thinking about”(Milne 45). His constant dark depression is a direct result of his constant thinking about and questioning everything. Eeyore’s attitude toward life gets in the way of wisdom and happiness and prevents any sort of real accomplishment(Hoff, Pooh 16).
In The House at Pooh Corner Rabbit’s cousin Small gets lost and Rabbit spends a large amount of time coming up with search plans. Rabbit’s knowledge is for the sake of appearing clever(Hoff, Pooh 16). He is constantly planning clever and complicated plans, but his schemes never seem to do much good. Pooh comes up with a much simpler plan. His plan isn’t actually successful, but while daydreaming he inadvertently finds Small. Instead of wasting time thinking about the different ways of doing something Pooh just does it. This goes along perfectly with Thoreau’s idea that “[a person] should not play life, or study it merely..., but earnestly live it from beginning to end” (Hoff, Pooh 48). Pooh finds Small with no help from Rabbit’s extravagant planning. If the search had been left to Rabbit and his organization, Small might never have been found.
Pooh’s attitude toward life, like Thoreau’s, seems trivial, immature, and slightly unrealistic, but however childlike and simplistic it is, it is incredibly successful. While in the woods Thoreau and Pooh both live lives free of want. Their lives are full of simple joys, grand thoughts, and lots of friends. Some of Pooh’s friends can even be compared to Thoreau’s, and others can be compared to different groups in society. Owl, the great thinker and genius who never fully expresses himself is Ralph Waldo Emerson. Eeyore, the dark and pessimistic cloud over the peaceful forest who has given up on the world is Hawthorne or Melville(Arbaugh-Twitty 3). Rabbit is similar to the materialistic society which is constantly working and cannot even comprehend of simply doing nothing.
Piglet represents the people who are torn between the worlds of Pooh and Rabbit and are not quite sure where the ideal lies. Piglet is attracted to the natural and more spiritual world of Pooh but he also feels that he should be busy working like Rabbit. More than anything in the world Piglet wants to do what is right, but at the same time he longs for security which is only achieved by constant work and worry(Hoff, Piglet 26). Influenced by Owl’s brain and Eeyore’s pessimism Piglet is confused and a bit lost and ends up going back and forth between each world. Without the constant anxiety Piglet’s life could be the perfect combination of materialism that is necessary to survive in the modern day and the natural spirituality that is a part of every person(Arbaugh-Twitty 4). Piglet is able to embrace the fact that he is very small and use it for the good of others(Hoff, Piglet 50). He accepts that he is not quite as clever as Rabbit or Owl or as simple as Pooh. He simply tries to do the best that he can with what he has, living in a nice medium between the Transcendentalism of Pooh and the materialism of Rabbit.
Pooh never condemns anyone or anything and neither does Thoreau. Thoreau merely points out faults in society, says why he doesn’t agree with them, and offers an alternative solution. He teaches moderation, tolerance, and acceptance. Walden is not so much a handbook to living the perfect Transcendental life as it is a suggestion for an alternative to the materialistic lifestyle(Arbaugh-Twitty 5). Thoreau recognizes that this lifestyle is not for everyone, and the forest needs Rabbits and Owls and Eeyores just as much as it needs Poohs. Winnie the Pooh, like Thoreau, never condemns Rabbit, Owl, or Eeyore; he merely wonders why they are the way they are. He accepts them and their lifestyles and continues living his own life they way that he wants.
The parallels between Winnie the Pooh and Thoreau are unclear at times and yet somehow still strong. Henry David Thoreau’s Walden is timeless, still avidly read over a hundred years after it was written, just as is Winnie The Pooh. Transcendentalism is built upon nature, honesty, simplicity, and love and respect for the self and friends. No one is a closer representation of the Transcendental ideal than Winnie the Pooh(Arbaugh-Twitty 6). Pooh knows many truths that will never come from Owl’s or Rabbit’s brain simply because their minds are filled with self-absorption and materialism. Pooh and the Transcendentalists could change the world if only the Owls and Rabbits of the world would stop studying, working, and worrying long enough to think about what matters and listen to the innate truths that are lying in nature and hidden within the mind behind mounds of materialistic clutter.