'From My Window' in Teachers World

[Anita Bensoussane]

Enid plays "knights and ladies" this week, inspired by a visit to Tintagel. Even as an adult she was able to immerse herself fully in the world of make-believe, so it's no wonder that her stories and characters seem extraordinarily real. I love the final line of her article, which sees her putting on her 'vulnerable armour of "grown-upness"' and returning reluctantly to reality:

I flung off my sword and breast-plate with a sigh, put on my vulnerable armour of "grown-upness," and descended once again by the little rocky path from the thrilling heights of romance to the level plain of the practical.

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[Kate Mary]

I loved the line "it seemed a terrible desecration to poke the dining-room fire, for the poker was not a poker, but nothing less than the marvellous sword Excalibur ". Enid had a wonderful imagination and how fortunate we were that she shared it with us through her fiction. A super column this week.

[Courtenay]

Brilliant! And note that Enid has absolutely no qualms about imaginatively becoming King Arthur, with "shining sword and glittering helmet" and "majestically haughty" attitude, and not so much as a nod to the notion that girls should be meek and ladylike and not try to play roles that should belong to the boys. And they say this woman was "sexist and homophobic"!!!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I've read Enid Blyton's column 'On Little Things' before and I love the emphasis she puts on appreciating the little things in life that can bring joy and reflection but are so often overlooked:

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[Kate Mary]

Eyes and No-Eyes by Arabella Buckley is available online, it looks rather sweet with lovely colour plates. I might give it a read.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Eyes and No Eyes is very readable and informative and the illustrations are attractive, Kate. I mentioned it in my article on The Naughtiest Girl is a Monitor for Journal 44, Spring 2011:

Arabella Buckley is a marvellous name for a haughty, doll-like girl but it was also the name of an author with whose work Enid Blyton was familiar. Arabella Buckley, also known as Mrs. Fisher after her marriage, wrote science and nature books to be used in schools. I own her Eyes and No Eyes, a nature book divided into six sections – 1) Wild Life in Woods and Fields, 2) By Pond and River, 3) Plant Life in Field and Garden, 4) Birds of the Air, 5) Trees and Shrubs and 6) Insect Life. My copy dates from 1910 but an internet search informs me that it was originally published in either 1902 or 1903 and that at some stage the six sections were published separately. The book begins by introducing us to three friends, Peter, Peggy and Paul, who walk to school together every day and observe the natural world around them. The volume – or at least some sections of it – is supposedly Paul’s account of their discoveries. There is a preface by Arabella Buckley in which she informs teachers that she has “tried to make each lesson the groundwork for oral teaching, in the course of which the children should be encouraged to observe, to bring in specimens, and to ask questions.” Blyton’s own nature-writing for children also puts the focus on children observing and discovering things for themselves out in the countryside, and often revolves around siblings going on nature rambles. Enid Blyton read Eyes and No Eyes, as we know from her ‘From My Window’ article “On Little Things”, published in Teachers World magazine, Issue 984, September 5th 1923...

...Blyton even used the title ‘Eyes and No-Eyes’ for one of her own short stories, first published in The Enid Blyton Pennant Series, number 9, 1950. The story is about two brothers whose teacher refers to them as ‘Eyes’ and ‘No-Eyes’, because one is alert and notices things while the other is dull and unobservant.

In his article ‘Loose Ends’ (Journal 42, Summer 2010), David Chambers reports on some Blyton family connections and postulates that Arabella Buckley (Mrs. Fisher) might have been part of Enid Blyton’s extended family: “Bertha and Sidney Blyton (siblings of Enid’s father Thomas) were staying with their aunt Sarah Jane Fisher in 1871... Intriguingly Bertha Hamilton Blyton became Bertha Buckley by marriage so there were Fishers and Buckleys in the family. Which raises the question as to whether it was just coincidence Enid was given a book on natural history by Arabella Buckley (Mrs. Fisher)?” Fascinating stuff. Incidentally, Eyes and No Eyes is liberally illustrated by Mr. A.Fairfax Muckley and no doubt Enid, with her love of language, would have delighted in the rhyming of Muckley and Buckley.

[Anita Bensoussane]

This week's 'From My Window' is interesting as Enid Blyton muses further on 'Eyes' and 'No-Eyes' in response to a comment on last week's piece. She concludes that "'No-Eyes', seeing only the big things, misses that feeling of personal love which 'Eyes' is conscious of all the time for the small and endearing things" - for the things that "make life for ever surprising and delightful."

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[Kate Mary]

I quite agree with the 'someone's' definition of Eyes and No Eyes. I like to think I'm in the Eyes category as I love to see flowers in front gardens, roadside weeds, insects etc. when out walking. Incidentally I'm thoroughly enjoying the book Eyes and No-Eyes, I can see it was an influence on Enid's natural history books especially The Nature Lovers' Book.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I like it when Enid Blyton discusses trends, inventions and developments. It makes me feel as though I've travelled back in time! This week she tells us about a Wonders of Science Exhibition being organised in Surbiton (at the time of writing - September 1923 - Enid Blyton lived very close to Surbiton as she was teaching at her little school at Southernhay in Hook). I had to look up "optophone" as I hadn't heard of one before - and I wonder what an early 1920s "emotionometer" was like! Fascinating stuff!

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[number 6]

Fabulous link, Anita. Like you, I was struggling to think what an 'Optophone' was before I looked it up!

[Kate Mary]

I also had to look up Optophone and Emotionometer (it reads one's emotional temperature apparently). I'm always learning something new from Enid Blyton.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I first read this week's column ('Before Breakfast') almost five years ago. It's delightful and I wrote on the forums at the time:

Enid captures the magical feeling that you get if you go out early in the morning when all is quiet and the world is just beginning to wake. Great remark that having a longer shadow makes you feel taller! And yes - there is a blue-toned, misty stillness about a garden at that time of day, with the dew and gossamer lending an air of enchantment. As Enid says, "The world seems very new" and "There are adventures about."

The spell is broken by the breakfast gong and Enid goes inside glowing, conscious of having experienced something special which others have missed. But I think there would have been stern words if Cookie had gone merrily wandering around the garden instead of preparing breakfast for the folk at Southernhay!

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[Kate Mary]

It's a beautiful column this week, Enid's journalism at its best.

[Lenoir]

I know what she means about the early morning feeling.
Specifically the other day (Friday), when I went out and had a few moments outside before going off to work and the sun was about to come up. It was cool and fresh after the previous day's heat.
It was even better today after a fall of morning rain brought out the smells that she mentions (but maybe not quite as good as it was in her garden!).

[Daisy]

A lovely atmospheric letter. And they say Enid uses simple language which doesn't improve vocabularies? "Indescribable" follows swiftly on the heels of "inordinate" and they are not the only two longish words which may not feature in a child's vocabulary!