Poetry Collection: Now We Are Six

Overview
Published in 1927 and illustrated by E. H. Shepard, A. A. Milne’s Now We Are Six is a companion volume to When We Were Very Young and a poetic counterpart to the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. It gathers playful, musical verses that capture the inner life of a child standing on the threshold of greater independence. While the poems are stand-alone pieces, they are unified by a consistent voice, often that of Christopher Robin, whose curiosity, mischief, and kindness stitch the collection together. Occasional appearances by Winnie-the-Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood lend familiar warmth, but the book’s focus is broader: it maps the landscape of childhood itself, from solitary daydreams to shared adventures, from private anxieties to shining bursts of confidence.

Themes
Milne’s central theme is the bittersweet business of growing up. The title signals a milestone: turning six feels momentous, yet still close to the dreamlike logic of earlier years. The poems explore the porous border between imagination and reality, how a chair can become a fort, a rainy day a voyage, an empty hallway a place where one’s “Binker” (an imaginary friend) lives. Friendship and loyalty appear in gentle, everyday forms, notably in verses where Pooh and Christopher Robin journey together. Vulnerability is rendered with humor and tenderness, “Sneezles,” for instance, plays illness for laughs while recognizing a child’s fear of adult fuss. There are moral shadings without scolding: desire, jealousy, and contrition are treated as natural weather passing over a child’s mind. Milne also attends to time and season, long afternoons, bedtime hushes, the tilt of light, that give childhood its particular texture.

Style and Voice
The collection’s charm lies in its nimble rhythms and exact ear for how children speak and think. Milne writes in jaunty, song-like meters with tight rhymes, internal echoes, and refrains that invite memorization and recitation. The language is clear and concrete, hospitable to young readers, yet it often carries a wink for adults, revealing how children reason with startling literalness and inventive logic. Shepard’s spare, expressive drawings extend the jokes and moods without overpowering the verse, anchoring fanciful moments in a recognizable domestic and woodland world. The result is a blend of nursery-rhyme simplicity and literary finesse that feels effortless, even as it is meticulously crafted.

Characters and Notable Pieces
Christopher Robin is the gathering point for the book’s speakers, sometimes narrating directly, sometimes implied. Familiar figures appear briefly: Pooh walks at his side in “Us Two,” a tender celebration of steadfast companionship. “Binker” captures the seriousness with which a child invests in an unseen friend, dignifying make-believe as a real relationship. “Sneezles” makes a minor ailment into a theatrical event, satirizing adult remedies while reassuring the child listener. In “King John’s Christmas,” Milne marries comedy and pathos, sketching a not-very-good king whose desperate wish for a single toy earns a small redemption. Across such pieces, Milne dignifies the stakes of childhood, promises, secrets, and small braveries, without sentimentality.

Legacy
Now We Are Six helped cement Milne’s reputation as a master of children’s verse and deepened the cultural life of Pooh and Christopher Robin beyond the prose tales. Its poems have been widely recited, quoted, and anthologized, shaping expectations of what modern children’s poetry can do: respect a child’s intelligence, cherish play, and admit a quiet melancholy. Nearly a century on, the collection remains buoyant and humane, offering both children and adults a mirror to the wonder, worries, and wit of being six, and the timelessness within that age.