'From My Window' in Teachers World

[Anita Bensoussane]

The 'From My Window' pieces are aimed mainly at adults. I suppose it's fair to say that Enid chooses simpler language on the whole when writing for children, though she still includes some challenging vocabulary (e.g. 'ornithologist', 'cataract', 'stentorian', 'lugubrious'...) and her work isn't at all bland as some critics have claimed. Short, simple words can be just as evocative as longer ones ('jolly' sounds wonderfully joyful, for example). Also, Enid Blyton has a feel for rhythm and comic timing - not to mention a love of alliteration and onomatopoeia - so her writing is full of life and flows beautifully.

[Anita Bensoussane]

A stirring piece about a drab London day with "unmitigatedly morose" faces all around, and the transforming power of a shared pleasure which makes people forget themselves for a while, such as a Punch and Judy show:

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... e&perid=81" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Kate Mary]

It must be a while since Punch and Judy shows were on the streets of London, they're probably not PC these days.

[Anita Bensoussane]

This week, Enid gives us a thoughtful and amusing account of a walk with a girl aged four. The two of them are still picking blackberries in October, whereas most of the blackberries where I live were fully ripe in August this year - and some even earlier:

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... e&perid=83" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I like the poem 'Thursday' which appeared in the previous issue of Teachers World, though I don't agree that it's a "horrid" day. A colleague at my old workplace used to call Thursday "Friday eve"!

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... e&perid=82" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Boatbuilder]

This week, Enid gives us a thoughtful and amusing account of a walk with a girl aged four. The two of them are still picking blackberries in October, whereas most of the blackberries where I live were fully ripe in August this year - and some even earlier:

I think that demonstrates just how much the seasons have changed since Enid's days, Anita.

[Kate Mary]

Who was Pamela I wonder? The Thompson children at Southernhay were all boys. I love the poem 'Thursday' and the gorgeous illustration by Phyllis Chase, she is I think, my favourite Blyton illustrator.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I love Enid Blyton's "faces" game! This piece is similar to the one about the Punch and Judy Show a fortnight ago, though this time it's the pleasure of watching workmen mend the road with exciting-looking machines, pipes and tar that restores "the wonder, the charm, the 'pleasingness' of a person's face."

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... e&perid=84" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Kate Mary]

I played a similar game when I was a child, usually with my cousin Angela, she would take cars of one colour and I another and we would see who could spot the most. Never tried it with top hats or faces though.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I used to play a similar game with my sister on car journeys - we'd look out for dogs, Volkswagen Beetles, telephone boxes, etc. Enid's "faces" game is on a different level though and is really quite poignant.

[Anita Bensoussane]

On 19th September Enid Blyton told us about a Wonders of Science Exhibition that was being organised in Surbiton (at the time of writing she lived very close to Surbiton as she was teaching at her little school at Southernhay in Hook).

This week she writes that she has visited the exhibition both with children and without, and that she got far more out of it when she went with children as they asked such a lot of interested and intelligent questions. As she says in her final paragraph: "It is delightful to renew the sense of wonder which most of us lose when we grow up. It is even more delightful to see it springing buoyant and fresh in children."

Find-Outers fans will note that "invisible inks" featured in the exhibition!

Incidentally, one of the words Enid Blyton uses in her column isn't known to Google - "trematascope".

It's fascinating to be given a glimpse of the latest developments and wonders of 1923! Many thanks for making these articles available, Tony!

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... e&perid=85" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Courtenay]

Wow, how fascinating, although the tortoise's heart sounds a bit macabre — but that's a great point Enid makes of how it brought out the children's deeper questions on "What is being alive?"

[Kate Mary]

I would loved to have seen that exhibition, but reading Enid's report on it is the next best thing. I enjoyed the Fairy Proverbs story too.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Enid Blyton muses upon how autumn makes us feel, whether melancholic or exhilarated or both at once. Her writing has a poetic quality and I particularly like her description of the air as "crisp and pungent, like the taste of a fresh-picked apple." I saw a lot of bracken today in full autumn colour and it did indeed "fling a golden glory over the countryside."

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... e&perid=86" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Courtenay]

What an absolutely gorgeous piece by Enid! I love autumn too — there is a sense of sadness in it sometimes, but also excitement and wonderful beauty. We don't have so many deciduous trees in Australia, where I grew up — all our native species are evergreen, so there's no huge transformation in the whole landscape from season to season as there is here. Moving to Britain and seeing the seasons change has been a wonderful discovery of "Oh, so THAT's what all these poets are on about!!"

[pete9012S]

Enid Blyton muses upon how autumn makes us feel, whether melancholic or exhilarated or both at once...

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... e&perid=86" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Most interesting Anita. Thank you.

I'm one who falls into both camps. I love the cosy feeling of lighting our coal/log fire as the nights draw in and I re-read read books like Five Get Into A Fix again and also winter stories by Dickens etc etc.
Oooh and the mince pies with a piping hot mug of tea help those long, cold nights too.


I also remind myself that in a few weeks or so it will be the shortest day of the year on Sunday December 22nd and then the nights will start (imperceptibly at first) to get lighter as we happily head towards another Spring!