Literature Used in Pop Culture

While doing research for a book I came across the 19th century Irish poet William Allingham’s poem "The Fairies" that has famous first four lines:

Up the airy mountain
Down the rushy glen,
We daren’t go a-hunting,
For fear of little men;

As I read these eerie lines a distant memory crept into my mind. Where have I heard the beginnings of Allingham’s poem? Why, the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, of course. The quote from "The Fairies," which is foreshadowing the appearance of the Oompa Loompas, is actually spoken by the Tinker to Charlie at the beginning of the film. I then remembered that in the movie Willy Wonka (wonderfully played by Gene Wilder) used very interesting quotes throughout the entire film. Curious of the origins of the quotes, I conducted research and found a fantastic website.

The Complete Willy Wonka Quotes and Sources lists all of the literary quotes that are used in the 1971 film as well as a giving a brief history of why the screenplay does not follow Roald Dahl’s children's classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in some areas and a fascinating comparison between the appearance of Willy Wonka and a picture of Lewis Carroll.

The website is wonderfully organized. It gives the exact quote and to whom and when it is said in the film then it gives the source from literature. Among the list of authors and works are William Shakespeare, Hilaire Belloc, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, and Lewis Carroll. It’s fantastic! Check it out!

A side note: the author Roald Dahl has an extremely fun website as well!

Happy Birthday Bill!

Today marks the 443rd birthday of William Shakespeare. He was born to John and Mary Shakespeare in Stratford-on-Avon in Warwickshire, England in the year 1564 (which is where he also died in 1616 on April 26th.)

In his lifetime he wrote some 154 Sonnets, 6 poems, 38 plays (broken down to 13 comedies, 10 histories, 10 tragedies, and 5 romances.)

For your reading and exploration pleasure I have discovered this great website Internet Shakespeare Editions by The University of Victoria, which is great for any kind of reseach, and this article “Shakespeare’s Coined Words Now Common Currency” by National Geographic. (Note: the article fails to mention that Shakespeare also coined the word “laughable”.)

Will Power!