Monday, May 10, 2010

The Prince of Pompadoodle

When I talked with Walt Kelly all those many years ago, a subject that echoes clearly in my mind was his emphasis on the importance of fairy tales to burgeoning minds. With a twinkle in his eye, he bade me to never forsake the tales, as most adults tend to do. He talked of the tales as wonderment that sought to reveal knowledge of the ways of humankind.

Fairy tales may be described in any number of ways*, and by any definition, Walt Kelly's life work was essentially one long fairy tale—including the day to day fables and stories of Pogo and the swampland characters, and of course the Adventures of Peter Wheat, and the scores of traditional fairy tales in his whirled of comic books.

There were times, as below, that he merged his whirleds in an effort to teach us something.

Indeed—Kelly's style, point of view and sense of humor tied all of his work together in a whirled of wonderment that sought to reveal the ways of humankind.





* Think of Kelly as you read of the essence of fairy tales here.

8 comments:

  1. "The Prince of Pompadoodle" is my favorite of Kelly's verse creations. An excellent cautionary tale in these days of uncertainty. Thank you for sharing it with the world.

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  2. I've missed this poem for decades. I'm thrilled to be able to read it again. Badge

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  3. Poor Prince of Pompadoodle.

    (I love that word "Pompadoodle".)



    "With a twinkle in his eye, he bade me to never forsake the tales, as most adults tend to do. He talked of the tales as wonderment that sought to reveal knowledge of the ways of humankind. "

    This, to me, seems to be a great piece of insight into his soul. There's some good wisdom there.

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  4. Got nearly all of the original Pogo books, including this one. Boy, would Kelly have a fun time in today's political circus.

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  5. How nice, on remembering the Prince after all these years to have this memento pop up.

    Thank you very much.

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  6. And now we have the Prince of Pompeo-doodle

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  7. And now you have a label/tag for "Prince of Pompadoodle." I'm just about to borrow one of your scans again, which (in this case) is my MARK OF APPROVAL.

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  8. ps: That round window with the octothorp in it looks just like a window frequently seen in the graveyard headquarters of Denny Colt, aka The Spirit.

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