The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh Themes

The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh Themes

Language and Communication

In Winnie-the-Pooh, communication and language are two very different things. That is, communication does not always require language, and language doesn't always communicate anything. That's why w...

Friendship

Winnie-the-Pooh tackles the difficult task of talking about friendship even though all the characters are imaginary friends. Yikes. What this means, though, is that Milne can explore many different...

Foolishness and Folly

For the most part, Foolishness and Folly are the source of humor in the Winnie-the-Pooh books. Who doesn't like some good slapstick, after all? Milne makes these traits oddly and profoundly endeari...

Life, Consciousness, and Existence

Amazingly, Winnie-the-Pooh includes a ton of amazing philosophical moments. And we here at Shmoop are certainly not the first ones to consider this. Along with all Pooh's David Carradine Kung Fu mo...

Innocence and Youth

Winnie-the-Pooh has its own interpretation of what youth is all about. For the most part, Milne attributes a whole lot of purity, innocence, and sentimentality to his son's childhood. In Winnie-the...

Coming of Age

It's not until The House at Pooh Corner that the coming of age theme arrives in full force. And Milne lets us know this from the very start. Of course, this is not your typical coming of age story,...

Art and Culture

It's hard to ignore how Winnie-the-Pooh depicts what art, particularly poetry and song, is supposed to be about. And especially the process by which it is made. Milne has given us a protagonist in...

Education

In Winnie-the-Pooh, Milne has a pretty suspicious view of formal education. Just think about it. Christopher Robin's journey from the innocent, youthful world of the Forest to the world beyond it i...