A presentation on Arthur Ransome's children's classic, Swallows and Amazons, first published in 1930, for the History of Youth Literature paper through San Jose State University (part of my Masters in Library and Information Studies).

1. Swallows and Amazons
a children’s classic by Arthur Ransome
Presentation by Laura Caygill

2. Why Swallows and Amazons?
#94 on our Top 100 The first in a series of
Children’s novels list 12 books
First published 1930 Written by Arthur
by Jonathan Cape, Ransome, journalist &
London winner of the first
Carnegie Medal for
Adapted for radio, the sixth book in the
television, feature film series, Pigeon Post (see
& stage (see Roger Arthur Ransome,
Wardale, 2010, p.39) 1976)
My edition: Ransome, Arthur (2001). Swallows and Amazons: Illustrated by the
author with help from Miss Nancy Blackett. Random House Children’s Books,
London.

3. “‘Roger, aged seven, and no longer the youngest of the
family, ran in wide zigzags, to and fro, across the steep
field that sloped p from the lake to Holly Howe, the farm
where they were staying for part of the summer
holidays.’
So begins Swallows and Amazons, the first of the series of
twelve books that changed British children’s literature,
affected a whole generation’s view of holidays, helped to
create the national image of the English Lake District,
and added Arthur Ransome’s name to the select list of
classic British children’s authors.”
(Peter Hunt, 1992, p. 13)

4. Overview of the story
The Walker children set sail aboard their boat
“Swallow” to a Lake District island where they come
across the Blackett sisters, who man “The Amazon”.
Together they spend the summer playing at being
pirates, dealing with natives and meeting savages,
survive a storm, and after declaring war on former
pirate Captain Flint, make peace and find treasure. All
before arriving safely home for tea.
Note that, except the wonderful map shown on the next slide, illustrations
did not appear alongside the text until the second edition, and it was not
until after Pigeon Post was published in 1932, that these were replaced by the
author’s illustrations (with help from the fictional Miss Nancy Blackett, of
course) in all the books. (See Hugh Shelley, 1968, pp. 49-51 for more on
illustrations.)

5. Wardale, 2010, p.48. Can you see the savages’ tent and the native settlements?

6. Who’s who: the sailors
The Swallow The Amazon
(The Walkers) (The Blacketts)
Captain John Captain Nancy
First Mate Susan First Mate Peggy
Able-seaman Titty
Boy Roger

7. Who’s who: pirates,
natives and savages
The (former) pirate: The natives: Mother
Captain Flint (Mr Jim (aka Queen Elizabeth
Turner, Nancy and or Man Friday),
Peggy’s uncle and Nurse, Mr and Mrs
local houseboat Dixon (who provide
resident) the Swallow’s crew
with fresh milk, eggs,
The savages: Old Billy butter etc)
and Young Billy
(charcoal burners)

8. Historical context
First published in 1930 (i.e. between WWI
and WWII, British Empire)
The concept of childhood was not
disrupted by the concept of “teenage”
years until into the 1950s in England
(Dulcie Pettigrew, 2009, pp.10-11)
“Makin
Owes much to Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Clifford
g the sh
ips pape
Webb’s rs”, one
Island and Richard Jeffries’ Bevis (see illustrat of
second e ions fro
dition o m the
Alexandra Phillips, 2011 for a great Amazon f Swallow
s (Ward s and
ale, 2010
overview of pirate literature and Peter , p.43)
Hunt, 2009, for more on Swallows and
Amazons’ place in literary history)

9. Reception
Positive Negative
Well written children, turned Too childish and a little bit
into heroes that reflect their silly
age
Too long and slow-moving
Creation of an enthralling
world Overly techincal (too many
sailing terms!)
great “projection of the pirate
fantasy into the Lakeland Portraying an overly
Landscape” (A.N. Wilson, idealistic sense of life at the
2010, p. 5) time
Realistic setting and Outdated, twee and
characters empirialistic

10. The good:
“So many reviewers and critics have praised the books primarily for their plots that people forget that
the distinction of Arthur Ransome as a writer for children lies not in telling ‘rattling good yarns’ ... but
in his ability to write about children who were not only credible, attractive individuals... but also
personalities with whom at least a million children have been able to identify themselves.”
Shelley (1968, p. 21)
“Most critics note the attractiveness of Ransome’s innovatory use of holidays as a focus; the freedom
of the children he represents; the security of family that underpins their freedom; the relationship
between imagination and reality he traces; and the book’s powerful sense of place. “
Sara Haslam (2009, p. 173)
The not so good:
“What I should have conceded to the critics, however, was that there were very great longueurs... and
that the pleasure of reading Ransome consisted in savouring the world he conjures up, the relations
between the children, their jokey references to pirates, their pemmican picnics and so on.”
Wilson (2010, p.5)

11. Issues and themes
“Ransome’s stories reveal issues of class, gender, and
race but they are not “issue” stories. Their realism is
mixed with fantasy just as their settings are both real and
fantastic. The elusiveness of this mixture is seductive,
ensuring that interest in the stories and their settings
continues into the twenty-first century. Although fewer
children read them today, all of Arthur Ransome’s stories
for children remain in print, and the Arthur Ransome
Society (TARS) flourishes, with both adult and child
membership. There is an especial interest in finding the
reality about the locations and people behind the stories.”
Pettigrew (2009, p.19)

12. Empire and colonialism
Swallows and Amazons is very much of
its time in terms of middle class Britain
in the late 1920s and 1930s, and can be a
little confronting to the modern reader
(natives and savages, anyone?!)
“It was a naturalized idea at the time that the
peoples of the world should be grouped into
those, like the British, who perceived
themselves as superior and separate from other
peoples, and those who were native to the lands
the British had explored and conquered. One
result of Empire was that natives were seen by “Making the sh
ips papers”, as
Europeans as childlike. In Arthur Ransome’s drawn by Arth
ur Ransome,
books, in which the children act out adventures (2001, p. 11)
apart from their adult carers, they place
themselves as superior to the adults.”
Pettigrew (2009, p.12)

13. Fantasy or Reality?
Critics are divided on whether the books in the series are
fantasy or realistic, and if both, which ones fall into
which category. Those who view Ransome’s work in a
positive light tend to say the real and imaginary is
expertly woven together. I tend to agree.
I enjoyed this comment from Dulcie Pettigrew
(2009, p.3):
“There are endless weeks of sunshine, usually only
spoiled by rain toward the end of the holiday, a
state of affairs that any-one who is familiar with the
English Lake District knows must be pure fantasy.”

14. Children alone?
“One of children’s literature’s truisms is that it is necessary to get rid of parents early on in a story if the child
characters concerned are going to be able to experience really exciting adventures. Like many other received
ideas in this field, it is not strictly accurate... But for those heady adventure stories where children regularly
perform feats way beyond their skills and maturity, not having parents around to voice their inevitable
objections certainly does make it easier for a writer when it comes to the willing suspension of reader
disbelief.”
Nicholas Tucker (2006, p.189)
Swallows and Amazons appeared during a period awash with stories of children
going it alone with great success (indeed, as Tucker says, this illusion wasn’t
toppled until William Golding’s Lord of the Flies in 1954). But are the children in
Ransome’s tale really alone on the island? It has been said that Mother’s visits and
Captain Flint’s presence means they are not alone, but critics have also argued that
the adults in these situations behave more like children, and so don’t represent
adult figures at all. Indeed it can be said that the children take on the roles of the
adults (see Pettigrew, 2009, for a good discussion).

15. Backward or Feminist?
“What is most striking now about Arthur Ransome's 1930s classic is how conformist
the children are. John's greatest ambition is to make his father proud; Susan is her
mother's representative on earth. Their honouring marks the story as a period piece”
Kate Kellaway in a recent review of a stage adaptation of Swallows and Amazons in
The Observer (Kate Kellaway, 2012).
But do the children in Swallows and Amazons represent old-fashioned
gender stereotypes or do they quash them? After all, Susan is an expert
sailor as well as the cook of the crew (a modern day working woman!),
Titty is an innnocent girl who likes playing with Mother, but she is also
the one who captures The Amazon all by herself. And Nancy Blackett
is undoubtedly a triumph of a pirate! Indeed, Ransome seems to
throw more action the girls’ way than the boys’.

16. What I loved:
The food! They drink Despite the make-believe
“Jamaican rum” (lemonade) Ransome deals with real fears
& dine on fresh scrambled children have (e.g. being
eggs, & have numerous away from Mum, being
picnics & feasts alone) & real situations they
encounter (being part of a
The conversational language team, making new friends)
used by the children and their
mother and their effortless
pretend language
Excerpt from Chapter V: The First Night on the Island, p.56
“But what have you done with your ship?” asked mother. “Where is the
Swallow?”
“Allawallacallacacuklacaowlacaculla,” said Titty. “That means that we can’t
possibly tell you because you are a native... a nice native of course.”
“Burroborromjeeboomding,” said mother. “That means that I don’t care
where she is so long as she is all right.”

17. What I didn’t:
The gender roles (regardless While I love how playful the
of whether they were not the character of Mother is, I can’t
sole part of a character), e.g. imagine any Mum letting
Susan taking on the role of four of her children camp on
cook and seamstress (and an island for days at a time,
when she isn’t around during which they make
Mother popping over to the friends with kids and a
island to whip Titty up some hermit-like man she doesn’t
pemmican patties). know!
It’s hard not to feel affronted
by the liberal peppering of
“natives” and “savages”
throughout the text.

18. Overall impressions
I found Swallows and Amazons A much loved book still
to be a joy to read and a sought out by parents for
rightful classic their children, Swallows and
Amazons is in my opinion one
It would be great for reading from the canon of
aloud to kids before bed significance, although it
(although some of the dated holds a strongly sentimental
dialogue might need some place in the hearts of many.
explanation!)
“...as a children’s writer working in one particular literary tradition,
Ransome has nothing to apologize for, and it is as a children’s writer of
this type that he should always be judged.”
(Tucker, 2009, p.192)

19. References
Haslam, Sara (2009). Introduction. In H. Montgomery & N.J. Watson (Eds.) Children’s Literature: Classic
Texts and Contemporary Trends. (pp. 173-177) Palgrave MacMillan, Hampshire.
Hunt, Peter (1992). Approaching Arthur Ransome. Jonathan Cape, London.
Hunt, Peter (2009). The Lake District Novels. in H. Montgomery & N.J. Watson (Eds.) Children’s Literature:
Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. (pp. 178-187) Palgrave MacMillan, Hampshire.
Kellaway, Kate (January 8, 2012). Swallows and Amazons. The Observer. Retreived August 6 from http://
www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/jan/08/swallows-amazons-vaudeville-theatre-review
Pettigrew, Dulcie (2009). Swallows and Amazons Explored: A Reassessment of Arthur Ransome's Books
for Children. New Review of Children's Literature and Librarianship, 15:1, 1-20.
Phillips, Alexandra (2011). The Changing Portrayal of Pirates in Children's Literature. New Review of
Children's Literature and Librarianship, 17:1, 36-56.
Ransome, Arthur (1976). The Autobiography of Arthur Ransome. (Rupert Hart-Davies, ed.) Jonathan Cape,
London.
Ransome, Arthur (2001). Swallows and Amazons: Illustrated by the Author with help from Miss Nancy Blackett.
Random House Children’s Books, London.
Shelley, Hugh (1968). Arthur Ransome. Bodley Head, London.
Tucker, Nicholas (2005). Missing Parents in the Family Story. New Review of Children's Literature and
Librarianship, 11:2, 189-193.
Tucker, Nicholas (2009). Arthur Ransome and Problems of Literary Assessment. In H. Montgomery & N.J.
Watson (Eds.) Children’s Literature: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. (pp.188-193) Palgrave MacMillan,
Hampshire.
Wardale, Roger (2010). Arthur Ransome, master storyteller. Great Northern Books, Ilkley.
Wilson, A.N (2010). Forward - 1. In Roger Wardale. Arthur Ransome, master storyteller. Great Northern
Books, Ilkley.