A. A. Milne's Life and Accomplishments

In 1910, “after reading Norman Angell's book The Great Illusion, Alan committed himself to pacifism, a cause that he served the rest of his life” (Wheeler). Even before this, Milne’s personality tended to lean in this direction; as exhibited in his childhood, a fundamental characteristic of Milne’s was his hatred of violence and aggression. He also had a strong sense of Puritanism, “partly natural, partly imposed by his Victorian upbringing” (Wheeler). These tendencies affected all of his writing, including the Pooh books, for many of his works carry light-hearted and innocent sense, but also an overwhelming sense of moral justice.

Ironically, it would be Milne’s peace-loving nature that led him to contribute to the war effort. Despite his anti-war sentiment, on the outbreak of World War I, Milne enlisted in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and served in France (“Alan Alexander Milne, Author”). He had acknowledged, “I was a pacifist before 1914, but this (I thought with other fools) was a war to end war” (Autobiography). He had hoped naively by fighting in the war, he would help to end war forever, an achievement he, as a pacifist, aspired toward. Milne was sent to the “Southern Command Signaling School at Wyke Regis for a nine-week course, after which he became a signaling officer” (Milne, J.). The life of a signaling officer was a relatively safe one, even so Milne saw more than enough death and destruction. When he left the front lines on November 8, 1916, owing to a fever he contracted, he returned to England and was put in charge of a company at a signaling school at Fort Southwick; he stayed there until he was released from the army on February 14, 1919 (Milne, J.). Milne had said after he was released, “[I]t makes me almo...

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