English Children's Literature week 3

ÀWilliam blake

William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic works have been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". His visual artistry led one contemporary art critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". In 2002, Blake was placed at number 38 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. Although he lived in London his entire life (except for three years spent in Felpham), he produced a diverse and symbolically rich œuvre, which embraced the imagination as "the body of God" or "human existence itself".

öThe Tyger

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,

In the forests of the night;

What immortal hand or eye,

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? what dread grasp,

Dare its deadly terrors clasp!

When the stars threw down their spears

And water'd heaven with their tears:

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright,

In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye,

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

"The Tyger" is a poem by the English poet William Blake published in 1794 as part of the Songs of Experience collection. Literary critic Alfred Kazin calls it "the most famous of his poems,"[1] and The Cambridge Companion to William Blake says it is "the most anthologized poem in English."[2] It is one of Blake's most reinterpreted and arranged works.

ÀWinnie-the-Pooh

Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne. The first collection of stories about the character was the book Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), and this was followed by The House at Pooh Corner (1928). Milne also included a poem about the bear in the children's verse book When We Were Very Young (1924) and many more in Now We Are Six (1927). All four volumes were illustrated by E. H. Shepard.

ö A. A. Milne

Alan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work. Milne served in both World Wars, joining the British Army in World War I, and was a captain of the British Home Guard in World War II.

öWhich Character Are You? Winnie the Pooh

öRumpelstiltskin

Rumpelstiltskin (sometimes spelled as Rumplestiltskin) is a fairy tale popularly associated with Germany. The tale was one collected by the Brothers Grimm in the 1812 edition of Children's and Household Tales. According to researchers at Durham University and the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, the story originated around 4,000 years ago.

À Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes (/ˈʃɜːrlɒk ˈhoʊmz/) is a fictional private detective created by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Known as a "consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for a proficiency with observation, forensic science, and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard.

                  ´ Inspiration for the character

                          Edgar Allan Poe's C. Auguste Dupin is generally acknowledged as the first detective                          in fiction and served as the prototype for many that were created later, including                                    Holmes. Conan Doyle once wrote, "Each [of Poe's detective stories] is a root from                               which a whole literature has developed... Where was the detective story until Poe                                 breathed the breath of life into it?"

                        Conan Doyle repeatedly said that Holmes was inspired by the real-life figure of Joseph                       Bell, a surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, whom Doyle met in 1877 and had                      worked for as a clerk. Like Holmes, Bell was noted for drawing broad conclusions from                       minute observations. However, he later wrote to Doyle: "You are yourself Sherlock                              Holmes and well you know it".Sir Henry Littlejohn, Chair of Medical Jurisprudence at                         the University of Edinburgh Medical School, is also cited as an inspiration for Holmes.                       Littlejohn, who was also Police Surgeon and Medical Officer of Health in Edinburgh,                         provided Doyle with a link between medical investigation and the detection of crime.

                      Other inspirations have been considered. One is thought to be Francis "Tanky" Smith, a                       policeman and master of disguise who went on to become Leicester's first private                                  detective. Another might be Maximilien Heller, by French author Henry Cauvain. It is                         not known if Conan Doyle read Maximilien Heller, but in this 1871 novel (sixteen years                      before the first adventure of Sherlock Holmes), Henry Cauvain imagined a depressed,                           anti-social, polymath, cat-loving, and opium-smoking Paris-based detective.