SOURCE: "An Epic in Arcadia: The Pastoral World of The Wind in the Willows," in Children's Literature: Annual of the Modern Language Association Seminar on Children's Literature and The Children's Literature Association, Vol. 4, 1975, pp. 80-90.

In the following essay, Poss examines pastoral themes in The Wind in the Willows.

Throughout Kenneth Grahame's two collections of short stories, The Golden Age and Dream Days, his narrator writes fondly of the romantic characters that he, his brothers, and his sisters read about during their childhood. The children liked to choose roles and act out the Arthurian romances, and on the particular day described below, Harold, the youngest boy, seized the occasion of his oldest brother's absence to be Sir Lancelot. Charlotte insisted on being Tristram, and the narrator, who was more inclined that day to dream than to act, accepted a subordinate role without protest:

"I don't care," I said...