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What the Bee Knows: Reflections on Myth, Symbol and Story
"The Sphinx, the Pyramids, the stone temples are, all of them, ultimately, as flimsy as London Bridge; our cities but tents set up in the cosmos. We pass. But what the bee knows, the wisdom that sustains our passing life—however much we deny or ignore it—that for ever remains."
—P. L. Travers
—P. L. Travers
303 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
About the author
P.L. Travers
98 books745 followersPamela Lyndon Travers was an Australian novelist, actress and journalist, popularly remembered for her series of children's novels about mystical nanny Mary Poppins.
She was born to bank manager Travers Robert Goff and Margaret Agnes. Her father died when she was seven, and although "epileptic seizure delirium" was given as the cause of death, Travers herself "always believed the underlying cause was sustained, heavy drinking".
Travers began to publish her poems while still a teenager and wrote for The Bulletin and Triad while also gaining a reputation as an actress. She toured Australia and New Zealand with a Shakespearean touring company before leaving for England in 1924. There she dedicated herself to writing under the pen name P. L. Travers.
In 1925 while in Ireland, Travers met the poet George William Russell who, as editor of The Irish Statesman, accepted some of her poems for publication. Through Russell, Travers met William Butler Yeats and other Irish poets who fostered her interest in and knowledge of world mythology. Later, the mystic Gurdjieff would have a great effect on her, as would also have on several other literary figures.
The 1934 publication of Mary Poppins was Travers' first literary success.Five sequels followed, as well as a collection of other novels, poetry collections and works of non-fiction.
The Disney musical adaptation was released in 1964. Primarily based on the first novel in what was then a sequence of four books, it also lifted elements from the sequel Mary Poppins Comes Back. Although Travers was an adviser to the production she disapproved of the dilution of the harsher aspects of Mary Poppins's character, felt ambivalent about the music and disliked the use of animation to such an extent that she ruled out any further adaptations of the later Mary Poppins novels. At the film's star-studded premiere, she reportedly approached Disney and told him that the animated sequence had to go. Disney responded by saying "Pamela, the ship has sailed." and walked away. Travers would never again agree to another Poppins/Disney adaptation, though Disney made several attempts to persuade her to change her mind.
So fervent was Travers' dislike of the Walt Disney adaptation and the way she felt she had been treated during the production, that well into her 90s, when she was approached by producer Cameron Mackintosh to do the stage musical, she only acquiesced upon the condition that only English born writers (and specifically no Americans) and no one from the film production were to be directly involved with the creative process of the stage musical. This specifically excluded the Sherman Brothers from writing additional songs for the production even though they were still very prolific. Original songs and other aspects from the 1964 film were allowed to be incorporated into the production however. These points were stipulated in her last will and testament.
Travers was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1977. She died in London in 1996.
Although Travers never married, she adopted a boy when she was in her late 30s.
She was born to bank manager Travers Robert Goff and Margaret Agnes. Her father died when she was seven, and although "epileptic seizure delirium" was given as the cause of death, Travers herself "always believed the underlying cause was sustained, heavy drinking".
Travers began to publish her poems while still a teenager and wrote for The Bulletin and Triad while also gaining a reputation as an actress. She toured Australia and New Zealand with a Shakespearean touring company before leaving for England in 1924. There she dedicated herself to writing under the pen name P. L. Travers.
In 1925 while in Ireland, Travers met the poet George William Russell who, as editor of The Irish Statesman, accepted some of her poems for publication. Through Russell, Travers met William Butler Yeats and other Irish poets who fostered her interest in and knowledge of world mythology. Later, the mystic Gurdjieff would have a great effect on her, as would also have on several other literary figures.
The 1934 publication of Mary Poppins was Travers' first literary success.Five sequels followed, as well as a collection of other novels, poetry collections and works of non-fiction.
The Disney musical adaptation was released in 1964. Primarily based on the first novel in what was then a sequence of four books, it also lifted elements from the sequel Mary Poppins Comes Back. Although Travers was an adviser to the production she disapproved of the dilution of the harsher aspects of Mary Poppins's character, felt ambivalent about the music and disliked the use of animation to such an extent that she ruled out any further adaptations of the later Mary Poppins novels. At the film's star-studded premiere, she reportedly approached Disney and told him that the animated sequence had to go. Disney responded by saying "Pamela, the ship has sailed." and walked away. Travers would never again agree to another Poppins/Disney adaptation, though Disney made several attempts to persuade her to change her mind.
So fervent was Travers' dislike of the Walt Disney adaptation and the way she felt she had been treated during the production, that well into her 90s, when she was approached by producer Cameron Mackintosh to do the stage musical, she only acquiesced upon the condition that only English born writers (and specifically no Americans) and no one from the film production were to be directly involved with the creative process of the stage musical. This specifically excluded the Sherman Brothers from writing additional songs for the production even though they were still very prolific. Original songs and other aspects from the 1964 film were allowed to be incorporated into the production however. These points were stipulated in her last will and testament.
Travers was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1977. She died in London in 1996.
Although Travers never married, she adopted a boy when she was in her late 30s.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 14, 2015
Years ago, when I was in my own dark wood wandering and could not find my way, serendipity sent What the Bee Knows: Reflections On Myth, Symbol and Story my way. I immersed myself in P.L. Travers feminine-centered retelling of Greek myths, her essays, poems and interviews. Her essay titled, Re-Stroying the Adult, set me on a path of reading the timeless epics such as: The Mabinogion, The Mahabharata and the Eddas along with the myths of the Greeks and the Norse and widow tales from Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, etc. It was good advice; for "Myth, by design, makes it clear that we are meant to be something more than our own personal history. It places us-and it is not a comfortable position-squarely between the opposing forces that keep us, and the world, in balance. Somewhere along the path, having discovered that I could live this balance, I found my way through to renewed life.
My copy of What the Bee Knows is showing the wear of years of dipping in and out to spend time with a woman who's deep connection to what endures always nourishes me. Some of her best work, of which I wish there was much more, are her retellings of myth from the woman's point of view. Leda's Lament and Five Women are alone worth the price of the book. Consider the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice from Eurydice's point-of-view . Her deserved anger oat Orpheus is palpable "Could you not trust yourself Orpheus. Or, if not yourself, the me in you, and know my footfall to be your heart beat...Did your blood not tell you that I would follow?" knowing all the while that the tale of Orpheus and his loss will be told down through the ages "but of what that lost bride has lost, the world will take no note." P.L. Travers does note. So now, will we.
My copy of What the Bee Knows is showing the wear of years of dipping in and out to spend time with a woman who's deep connection to what endures always nourishes me. Some of her best work, of which I wish there was much more, are her retellings of myth from the woman's point of view. Leda's Lament and Five Women are alone worth the price of the book. Consider the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice from Eurydice's point-of-view . Her deserved anger oat Orpheus is palpable "Could you not trust yourself Orpheus. Or, if not yourself, the me in you, and know my footfall to be your heart beat...Did your blood not tell you that I would follow?" knowing all the while that the tale of Orpheus and his loss will be told down through the ages "but of what that lost bride has lost, the world will take no note." P.L. Travers does note. So now, will we.
November 22, 2016
What the Bee Knows, Reflections on Myth, Symbol and Story is the book which Pamela L. Travers (the author of Mary Poppins) was willing to discuss with her biographer, Valerie Lawson. Unfortunately, this discussion never took place.
The book is a collection of literary, and somewhat spiritual, essays most of which were written for and published in Parabola, The Magazine of Myth and Tradition, founded in the 1970’s by a friend of Pamela’s, D.M. Dooling.
The focus of the magazine was (and still is) mythology and spirituality. Most of the writings compiled in What the Bee Knows were composed during the "crone” stage of Pamela's life. She was 77 years old in 1976 when she wrote The World of the Hero for the inaugural issue of Parabola.
I was expecting to read a scholarly work. To my surprise, this collection of literary essays revealed itself to be of a different nature; not at all scholarly in a traditional sense. I experienced this book as a sort of encoded personal soul diary.
In these writings, Pamela L. Travers explores mythical themes with poetical virtuosity and occasionally opens up and recollects events from her childhood, something that she was extremely reluctant to do in the earlier stages of her life.
This can be an interesting read for someone who is versed in mythology or is obsessed as I am with Pamela L. Travers. But if you do not fall into one of these categories I doubt you’ll appreciate it.
The book is a collection of literary, and somewhat spiritual, essays most of which were written for and published in Parabola, The Magazine of Myth and Tradition, founded in the 1970’s by a friend of Pamela’s, D.M. Dooling.
The focus of the magazine was (and still is) mythology and spirituality. Most of the writings compiled in What the Bee Knows were composed during the "crone” stage of Pamela's life. She was 77 years old in 1976 when she wrote The World of the Hero for the inaugural issue of Parabola.
I was expecting to read a scholarly work. To my surprise, this collection of literary essays revealed itself to be of a different nature; not at all scholarly in a traditional sense. I experienced this book as a sort of encoded personal soul diary.
In these writings, Pamela L. Travers explores mythical themes with poetical virtuosity and occasionally opens up and recollects events from her childhood, something that she was extremely reluctant to do in the earlier stages of her life.
This can be an interesting read for someone who is versed in mythology or is obsessed as I am with Pamela L. Travers. But if you do not fall into one of these categories I doubt you’ll appreciate it.
December 15, 2011
This is a collection of spiritual essays by P.L. Travers, an author I only knew previously as the writer of Mary Poppins. This book was mentioned in passing in another book I was reading recently about labyrinths, as there is a wonderful essay included here on Travers' experience walking the labyrinth at Chartres, years before it became regularly accessible.
I thought this was a fabulous read. The back of the book describes it as "a honeycomb of essays pointing to the truth-of-things handed down in the great popular stories of cultures around the world". And that is what it felt like, a honeycomb of brief essays covering a range of esoteric, myth-based and biographical themes.
Full Review
I thought this was a fabulous read. The back of the book describes it as "a honeycomb of essays pointing to the truth-of-things handed down in the great popular stories of cultures around the world". And that is what it felt like, a honeycomb of brief essays covering a range of esoteric, myth-based and biographical themes.
Full Review
July 22, 2022
I read this book because it had been recommended by Goodreads friend, Lawrence, and I’m very glad that I did. While I didn’t enjoy all of the essays, the ones that I did were exceptional. I’d had no idea that P.L. Travers, the author of the Mary Poppins books, was so knowledgeable about mythology and fairy tales. I enjoyed Lina’s review where she suggests that the book is a kind of personal “encoded soul diary” and I agree with her when she suggests that it is a book that will only appeal to those who have a fondness for myth or a fondness for the author.
December 9, 2019
La Sapienza Segreta della Api è una sorta di piccolo saggio che racchiude una serie di testi di conferenze e articoli pubblicati su Parabola e su altri giornali tra la seconda metà degli anni Sessanta e gli anni Ottanta.
Si tratta di riflessioni sulla base di uno specifico tema (terra e spirito, eroe, bambino, tristezza, pellegrinaggio, ecc.), attraverso le quali l’autrice guida il lettore in una sorta di percorso incantato. Si parla di miti, di fiabe nel loro “primitivo” aspetto più oscuro, non fiabe per bambini prettamente edulcorate nei secoli successivi – e in particolare con la realizzazione dei film Disney – ma testi oscuri, spesso terribili, angoscianti, quali le reali fiabe sono, in modo particolare quelle dei Fratelli Grimm.
Si parla di folklore, di credenze spirituali, di lezioni dei maestri del Crepuscolo Celtico – il movimento letterario che, a partire dagli anni Ottanta dell’Ottocento, contribuì a una riscoperta, rivalutazione e reinterpretazione della cultura folklorica irlandese – come Yeats e AE – George Russell – che hanno molto influenzato la scrittura e il pensiero critico della Travers, di filosofia zen, degli insegnamenti di Gurdjieff di cui era seguace, di astrologia esoterica, di Shakespeare, William Blake, John Keats e la tradizione romantica, ci sono riferimenti a Tolkien, a fiabe/miti/leggende di varie parti del mondo con parallelismi molto interessanti, studi antropologici, e diversi altri argomenti.
Nelle vesti di una Sacerdotessa sacra capace di avvertire le parole delle api, la loro sapienza segreta, la Travers ci guida nel cercare di comprendere e svelare i messaggi misterici, i simboli nascosti nei testi della tradizione – miti e fiabe -.
Come davanti a una sorta di specchio fatato riesce in qualche modo ad analizzare e vedere se stessa, e allo stesso tempo connettersi a una chiave più universale. Perché è proprio attraverso questa analisi, questo viaggio filosofico tra i miti e le fiabe, che si può compiere un viaggio anche nell’anima, in se stessi.
[La Recensione continua sul blog: https://unavaligiariccadisogni.wordpr...]
Si tratta di riflessioni sulla base di uno specifico tema (terra e spirito, eroe, bambino, tristezza, pellegrinaggio, ecc.), attraverso le quali l’autrice guida il lettore in una sorta di percorso incantato. Si parla di miti, di fiabe nel loro “primitivo” aspetto più oscuro, non fiabe per bambini prettamente edulcorate nei secoli successivi – e in particolare con la realizzazione dei film Disney – ma testi oscuri, spesso terribili, angoscianti, quali le reali fiabe sono, in modo particolare quelle dei Fratelli Grimm.
Si parla di folklore, di credenze spirituali, di lezioni dei maestri del Crepuscolo Celtico – il movimento letterario che, a partire dagli anni Ottanta dell’Ottocento, contribuì a una riscoperta, rivalutazione e reinterpretazione della cultura folklorica irlandese – come Yeats e AE – George Russell – che hanno molto influenzato la scrittura e il pensiero critico della Travers, di filosofia zen, degli insegnamenti di Gurdjieff di cui era seguace, di astrologia esoterica, di Shakespeare, William Blake, John Keats e la tradizione romantica, ci sono riferimenti a Tolkien, a fiabe/miti/leggende di varie parti del mondo con parallelismi molto interessanti, studi antropologici, e diversi altri argomenti.
Nelle vesti di una Sacerdotessa sacra capace di avvertire le parole delle api, la loro sapienza segreta, la Travers ci guida nel cercare di comprendere e svelare i messaggi misterici, i simboli nascosti nei testi della tradizione – miti e fiabe -.
Come davanti a una sorta di specchio fatato riesce in qualche modo ad analizzare e vedere se stessa, e allo stesso tempo connettersi a una chiave più universale. Perché è proprio attraverso questa analisi, questo viaggio filosofico tra i miti e le fiabe, che si può compiere un viaggio anche nell’anima, in se stessi.
[La Recensione continua sul blog: https://unavaligiariccadisogni.wordpr...]
January 27, 2023
I've been reading on these essays for over six months. Some of them I read many times, and I am always pleased at how beautifully written they are. P. L. Travers, the fine but somewhat ambiguous person who wrote Mary Poppins had a clever mind.
I really loved these essays, some I marked a great deal. Travers wrote them for Parabola Magazine, late in her life, long after Mary Poppins, Disney, and all that. They are all themed around myth, symbol, and the power of storytelling. What the Bee Knows is one of my favorites and I printed it off for my writing wall.
I will always be grateful to the person who recommended these essays to me. Very unique. Highly recommended and way better than by some more popular writers we see today. Clever. Very clever and insightful. Thoughtful. Highly recommended. Loved this book.
I really loved these essays, some I marked a great deal. Travers wrote them for Parabola Magazine, late in her life, long after Mary Poppins, Disney, and all that. They are all themed around myth, symbol, and the power of storytelling. What the Bee Knows is one of my favorites and I printed it off for my writing wall.
I will always be grateful to the person who recommended these essays to me. Very unique. Highly recommended and way better than by some more popular writers we see today. Clever. Very clever and insightful. Thoughtful. Highly recommended. Loved this book.
January 1, 2014
I'm reading this book by randomly jumping between the essays. They are FULL of inspiration for writers. I find myself writing down a million notes for future stories. PL Travers knows what the bees know and she shares her secrets to discover this with each reader. 100% rec!
May 25, 2017
good for scholarship but not an entertaining or captivating read
May 7, 2020
Like most collections of essays, this one has some essays that I thought were fascinating, and some I thought were really boring. There are some especially good ones about fairy tales/myths and recurring themes (like the three brothers, the "sleeping" character [characters who are asleep under a spell, for example], and wicked fairy-type characters).
It's also interesting how some themes (again, the three brothers, for example) come up again and again in Travers' writing. She not only has an essay specifically about the three brothers trope, but she refers to it in a number of other essays.
The strange thing is that as I was reading some of the essays in this collection, I felt like they had been copied word-for-word in Mary Poppins, She Wrote. I don't know if that was true, but I kept having deja vu through some of them: I knew they were at least referenced in the Travers biography, but I felt like I repeatedly knew what was coming up. It made me wonder how much of these essays were directly quoted, or only slightly changed, in the other book.
It's also interesting how some themes (again, the three brothers, for example) come up again and again in Travers' writing. She not only has an essay specifically about the three brothers trope, but she refers to it in a number of other essays.
The strange thing is that as I was reading some of the essays in this collection, I felt like they had been copied word-for-word in Mary Poppins, She Wrote. I don't know if that was true, but I kept having deja vu through some of them: I knew they were at least referenced in the Travers biography, but I felt like I repeatedly knew what was coming up. It made me wonder how much of these essays were directly quoted, or only slightly changed, in the other book.
February 1, 2008
I am an incredibly huge fan of the Mary Poppins series (the books, although I do enjoy the songs from the movie as well). Since this book is by the same author, I purchased a copy hoping to gain more insight into how she viewed things. It was a fun read and did give me more insight into where Marry Poppins came from. Because the book was out of print and was rather difficult to get, I gave my copy to my friend Kirk who married my friend Adele before they returned to Adele's homeland of Ireland to live (Kirk was making a career out of studying such things).
May 25, 2020
Unless you have an academic reason to read it, I'd avoid it.
January 17, 2026
Very, very interesting collection of essays on myth and story by Paula 'Mary Poppins' Travers. Be warned, this book is no joke, and can be pretty impenetrable. Also, to get much out of it requires a pretty strong working knowledge of myth and fairy tale.
It was too much. At just 300 pages, it felt like twice that. But there was a lot of stuff worth reading, in here. This book presents the inner workings of a mind that really seems to understand story on a very deep level. I recommend it to anyone with more than a passing interest in myth.
This book would make a very interesting companion to Frazer's The Golden Bough. What it does for religion, What the Bee Knows does for childrens' stories. And the two so often have common roots.
It was too much. At just 300 pages, it felt like twice that. But there was a lot of stuff worth reading, in here. This book presents the inner workings of a mind that really seems to understand story on a very deep level. I recommend it to anyone with more than a passing interest in myth.
This book would make a very interesting companion to Frazer's The Golden Bough. What it does for religion, What the Bee Knows does for childrens' stories. And the two so often have common roots.
June 9, 2023
I had high hope for this one and I am thoroughly disappointed. I bristle at the breezy generalisations, the sweeping 'everyone knows' that point back to an era of entitlement where the upper classes would hector and lecture the grateful rabble beneath their feet, little caring about actual facts but assuming that their own opinions gave validity to their every thought and assumption.
June 8, 2020
This book captured my attention and held me from first page to last. It's the uncommon nonfiction book that you finish with the same regret as finishing a really good fiction book-- what? No more? But I want more!
March 30, 2012
I expected this book to be something that it's not. Something scholarly, with theories about the histories of myth and symbol and their roles in shaping narrative. Or something writerly, with meditations on craft and the way mythological archetypes might influence the stories one tells. Instead it is neither, or perhaps it's something in between. It is a collection of short essays that do touch on myths and symbols but really add up to a sort of manifesto in support of living an authentic and holistic life. P.L. Travers is sometimes a bit narrow and a bit dated in her ideas of what that sort of life might look like, but she's also a witty, erudite, and opinionated companion. Reading the book is a bit like sitting next to a smart and slightly eccentric old lady at a dinner party. I brought it with me to a writing residency because I thought it might provide me with concrete information and ideas to apply to my writing; instead it has helped me do some important thinking about the places in which I am rigid and over-controlled in my approach to my life and my writing, and how to work on loosening in those places. It felt like a bit of wonderful literary serendipity to find this book so helpful at just the moment I needed it, and in a way I didn't even know I needed.
Read
December 24, 2009And by "I'm finished," I really meant that "I could not finish." I thought, as a book about myth and symbol, it would be a book I would enjoy, but I just could not get past the first three chapters. I found it far too fanciful writing for a non-fiction subject. Or something. The point is that I could not get into it, and therefore, did not finish it.
August 20, 2022
È un bellissimo saggio. Di mio non l’avrei mai preso perché non pensavo fosse il mio genere, quindi è stato un regalo per la laurea ma devo dire che mi è piaciuto molto, ho apprezzato da morire il suo modo di scrivere e l’atmosfera di fiaba irlandese che traspare dalle pagine. Lo rileggerei volentieri
June 24, 2014
Some of the essays were just so-so, but some had real insight into the symbolism and hidden meaning in various forms of storytelling.
December 20, 2020
« Se ci fosse qualcosa che avrei ora bisogno di conoscere, sarà un’ape nel suo volo a portarmi la notizia »
( L’appeso, la dodicesima carta dei tarocchi )
( L’appeso, la dodicesima carta dei tarocchi )
November 14, 2021
Che personalità pazzesca, la mamma di Mary Poppins. Straordinaria.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews