“ All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.”
Kenneth Grahame inWind in the Willows.
In his writing, Grahame brought out the awesome beauty of nature, the fortitude and good humour necessary to get through life. His language is vividly descriptive and colourful, all at once.
He was born on March 8, 1859, in Edinburgh, Scotland, and his mother died when he was still young. His father was unable to take care of him and his siblings and sent them off to their grandmother in Berkshire. Their home, “The Mount”, was large but dilapidated, with an attic and a large garden where the children could play. Close by was the Thames and there was sown the seed of his lifelong love for the river and boating. Their uncle, a curate, introduced them to boating. His biographer Peter Green says that it is this setting that inspired the all-time classic Wind in the Willows .
Grahame was an excellent student at St. Edward’s School in Oxford. He excelled in sport and studies. He was Head Boy and captain of the Rugby XV. He won the Sixth Form Prize, the Divinity Prize and the Prize for Latin Prose. He wanted to continue his studies at Oxford University, but money constraints put paid to his plans. Instead, he found employment at the Bank of England. He worked hard, rose through the ranks and retired as the Secretary of the bank in 1908. On his retirement, Grahame returned to Berkshire, back to the idyllic days of his childhood.
Writings
While in his 20s, Grahame had several of his stories published in London periodicals like the St. James Gazette . One of the stories he wrote was about four orphan children and an unnamed narrator. This story may have been autobiographical. Many of these stories were compiled and published as Pagan Papers in 1893. Two years later, came The Golden Age . In 1898, there was Dream Days and this is where The Reluctant Dragon appeared. It is an endearing story of a dragon who dislikes fighting. This was later made into a movie by Disney. In 1898, came The Headswoman . It took another ten years for his masterpiece, The Wind in the Willows to make its appearance. In that time, Grahame became a father. He based the character of Mr. Toad on his son Alastair whom he found wayward and headstrong. The story reaffirms the power of close friends and the courage required to make a difference in the lives of others.
The book was an instant success. But Grahame never attempted a sequel. It continues to be loved by adults and children alike. The Wind in the Willows won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958. His last book was Bertie’s Escapade.
Grahame died in 1932 and is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford. His epitaph, written by his cousin Anthony Hope, also a successful author, reads: “To the beautiful memory of Kenneth Grahame, husband of Elspeth and father of Alastair, who passed the river on the 6th of July, 1932, leaving childhood and literature through him the more blest for all time”.
