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ABSTRACT
THE GENERATIVE PRINCIPLE OF THE
LITERARY ART OF J .R.R. TOLKIEN
by
DAVID NEIL FINKELSTEIN
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. Department of English. July, 1969.
The scholarship of J.R.R. Tolkien provides the
crucial basis for his literary art. His work in language and
medieval literature reveals vital concern for the word as the
most profound expression of being. Fantasy is for Tolkien the
sub-creation of a Secondary World, proceeding from the process
whereby articulation gives meaning to life. The fairy-story
operates within a motion between the Primary and Secondary
Worlds. While it deals ultimately with the same reality, its
language contains a new mode of perception. Tolkien's shorter
tales embody the pure and fresh grasp of experience fully
deve10ped in The Lord of the Rings. The joy of Fantasy' s unex-
pected triumph pierces one's own speech analysis of life. The
craft of Tolkien's writing, and his creation of races, exhibit
minute involvement with language's meaning and sound. Tolkien's
aesthetic derives its energy from language in attempting to re-
appraise the deepest sense of the word.
THE GENERATIVE PRINCIPLE OF THE
LITERARY ART OF J.R.R. TOLKIEN
,i -ç ".~'
. 'E .~ .:~
<: y
.... ~.~ ' •. J-< . .
• < . .
THE GENERATIVE PRINCIPLE OF THE
LITERARY ART OF J .R.R. TOLKIEN
by
DAVID NEIL FINKELSTEIN
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
of Master of Arts
Department of English
McGill University
Ju1y 1969
@) David Neil Finke1stein 1970
• CONTENTS
CRAPTER l INTRODUCTION: THE SCHOLAR AND THE ARTIST 1
CRAPTER II THE DEVELOPMENT OF FANTASY 21
CRAPTER III THE 1Q!Y! ~ ~ RINGS: THE TONE OF FANTASY 41
CRAPTER IV !!!! LORD Sl! ~ RINGS: THE CREATION OF INHABlTANTS 58
CHAPTER V Il!! 1Q!Y! ~ THE RINGS: THE CRAFT OF FANTASY 87
•
CRAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION: THE SCHOLAR AND THE ARTIST
• 2
As a scholar, J.R.R. Tolkien has a considerable repu-
tation for his work in language and medieval literature. Tolkien,
the artist, is associated with books of fantasy which concern
dragons, hobbits, elves and wizards. The development of the literary
art would seem to begin with the stance of the scholar. It is this
stance, l would suggest, which provides the crucial direction for
the attempt to come to terms with the nature of Tolkien's creative
process.
In English and Medieval Studies, which was presented
to Tolkien on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, appears W.H.
Auden's! Short ~~ ~ Philologist. Auden senses the importance
of the philologist's minute involvement with language and his deep
interest in how words are formed and how their meanings change.
in Speech, if true, true deeds begin.
If not, there's International Babel,
But Dame Philology is our Queen still, Quick to comfort l Truth-Ioving hearts in their mother-tongue
He makes the connection between truth as a vital quality of speech,
and truth as the essential motive of deed or action. The philolo-
gist who works faithfully and creatively with words becomes capable
of an insight into life's experience through its articulation.
l W.H. Auden, ! Short Ode ~~ Philologist, English
~ Medieval Studies, edited by N. Davis and C.L. Wrenn (London,1962), pp.II-12. Subsequent references will be to this edition.
• Auden's ode begins this volume of essays, and the poem ends with a
reference to Tolkien as just this kind of creative scholar.
No hero is immortal till he dies Nor is a tongue, But a lay of Beowulf's language, too, can be sung, Ignoble, maybe, to the young, Having no monsters and no gore To speak of, yet not without its beauties For those who have learned to hope: a lot of us
are grateful for Wha t J .R.R. Tolkien has done As bard to Anglo~Saxon.
(~Short Ode ~~ Philologist, p.12)
The study of the development of the English language, and of medi-
eval literature makes possible such "beauties/For those who have
learned to hope." Thus for Auden, the motion of Tolkien's scholar-
ship enables him to assume the role of "bard to Anglo-Saxon."
3
The quality of a "creative scholar" emerges distinctly
from Tolkien's various published work in language and literature.
Tolkien contributed the glossary for an anthology of fourteenth cen-
tury literature edited by Kenneth Sisam. In the Introduction, Sisam
refers to Tolkien' s aspect of the book: uI am obliged to ••• Mr.J .R.R.
Tolkien who has undertaken the preparation of the Glossary, the most 2
exacting part of the apparatus." This Middle English vocabulary,
Tolkien notes, is designed to give a ufamiliarity with the ordinary
machinery of expression -- with the precise forma and meanings that
2 Kenneth Sisam, ed., Fourteenth Century Verse and Prose,
2nd ed. (Oxford, 1950), p.xliii.
• 4
3 common words may assume. 1I Tolkien sees su ch fundamental features
of the language as essential to such an introductory anthology.
The prefatory note explains that the inclusion of brief etymologi-
cal references is intended to encourage the study of phonology and
the analysis of vocabulary. Thus the glossary con tains the normal
though brief allusions to Icelandic, Middle Dutch, Old French, Old
Norse, etc. One senses the intimacy with language and the process
thrüugh which language develops exhibiteà by a scholar in the con-
struction of a vocabulary. In such work, it would seem to be far
more than merely a question of giving the modern English equivalents.
Tolkien and E.V. Gordon combined to produce an edition
of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight. The Preface sets out the aims
of the book as being to provide a readable text of the poem, and to
include the necessary apparatus for its study. The emphasis again
is on coming to a precise understanding of the language of the poem.
Such a process is considered to be the fundamental phase in grasping
the meaning of the literature and the nature of the artiste The book
therefore contains an Introduction which deals with such topics as
the manuscript, the history of the legend, the author and the date of
the poem, and the dialecte There are detailed notes on the poem, and
on its metre, and a language section which covers spelling, phono 1 o &Y. ,
3 J.R.R. Tolkien, ! Middle English Vocabulary, 2nd ed.
(Oxford, 1950), p.2.
• 5
Scandinavian and French elements, and grammar. The Glossary is very
similar to the one in Sisam's anthology, designed with the same kind
of motives.
That habit of mind which regards the profoundest mean
ing of language as its first principle, is exhibited consistently by
Tolkien. For two years, beginning in 1919, Tolkien worked on The
Oxford English Dictionary, assisting in its revision. This kind of
painstaking activity is apparent in his editing of the English text
of the Ancrene Riwle from MS. Corpus Christi College Cambridge 402.
In his introductcry note, Tolkien reveals the intensive study in
volved in such a task. The text is heavily footnoted with various
material on its scribe, language and style of writing. The fine at
tention to the minutest characteristics distinguishes Tolkien's
editing.
The Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture of 1936 which
Tolkien delivered, contains some of his best work as a scholar. The
lecture, Beowulf: The Monsters and The Critics, is orientated again
toward an examination of the poem based on a thorough appreciation of
its language and content. Tolkien considers that "Beowulfiana is,
while rich in many departments, specially poor in one. It is poor in
criticism, criticism that is directed to the understanding of a poem
• 6
4 as a poem." He maintains that the style of the poem is fully
suited to its theme, and that the greatness of the poem lies in the
total harmony of its language, structure and theme. His examination
is a sensitive probe of the actual facets of this harmony. Rather
than detracting from the tone of the work, as many critics have men-
tioned, the monsters are for Tolkien an essential element of its
unity. For they are a real and striking manifestation of the severe
trials awaiting man aIl 'through life. From his study cornes a glimpse
of the poem's agonizing depiction of man's struggle in this hostile
world. Tolkien's close analysis of the inner workings of the poem
evokes atone which parallels the one that he considers to emerge
from it. His mode of writing reflects a creative and vital impulse
which makes criticism a living and new dimension of the art being
scrutinized. This is illustrated in his description of the poem as
the work of "a learned man writing of old times, who looking back on
the heroism and sorrow feels in them something permanent and some-
thing symbolical" (Beowulf, p.269). The insight would seem to
capture the sense in which the poem is a statement on the universal
harshness of man's lot in this world. The lecture concludes with a
remark on the relevancy today of such a theme: "If the funeral of
Beowulf moved once like the echo of an ancient dirge, far-off and
hopeless, it is to us as a memory brought over the hills, an echo
4 J .R.R. Tolkien, "Beowulf: The Monsters and the
Critics", Proceedings of ~ British Academy, XXII (1936) , p.245. Subsequent references will be to this edition.
• 7
of an echo" (Beowulf, p.278). This depiction of the poem as a
unified and ancient expression of the nature of the human condition,
conveys the sense of sadness and of remote beauty which is inherent
in the work.- To1kien's criticism wou1d seem to assert the import-
ance of beginning with the poetry, its meaning and sound, and then
proceeding to formula te one's critica1 stance.
To1kien's verse rendering of the 01d Eng1ish fragment,
The Batt1e of Ma1don a110ws one to view c1ose1y this coincidence of
scho1ar and artist which wou1d seem to emerge from much of his
critica1 work. The fragment tells of Beorhtnoth's defence against
the Vikings in 991 during the reign of AEthe1red II. Beorhtnoth
unwise1y permitted the enemy to cross the ford which separated the
two forces and the Vikings were grim1y victorious. Beorhtnoth and
a11 his persona1 bodyguard defended to the 1ast, and a11 were
fina11y slain. To1kien's ana1ysis of the fragment fixes on two
crucial passages. He agrees with those who emphasize the words of
one of the bodyguard, an old retainer, Beorhtwo1d: '~i11 sha11 be
the sterner, heart the bo1der, spirit the greater as our strength 5
1essens." Yet he asserts that such an ancient and ritua1istic
expression of courage is not the total expression of the theme of
the poetry. Rather one must consider as we11 the words, "then the
5 J.R.R.To1kien, "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth
Beorhthe1m's Son", Essays and Studies, VI(1953) , p.3. Subsequent references will be to this edition.
8
earl in his overmastering pride actually yielded ground to the enemy,
as he should not have done" (Beorhtnoth, p .13) • Tolkien argues tha t
the word "ofermod" here means "overmastering pride", not "overbold-
ness" as it is often translated. Tolkien considers that the poet
is alluding to the hero's overly zealous sense of honour. While
courage is an intensely admirable quality, Beorhtnoth's concern to
give the minstrels and poets good reason to praise his great honour,
indicates e chivalric ratner t~~n a ", ... _.t _ ... 1 •• 1.. ___ .t ___ ........ __ QI ........... "- ........ .1 u..:;.a.. Vol."'" ,ua. r-UJ. 1:. The poet
of this fragment senses the dubious actions of which chivalry is often
the cause. Thus, for Tolkien, the poem becomes a comment on the
nature of courage and also, on the excesses of the chivalric pursuit
of honour.
Tolkien's version of the fragment is in the mode of its
alliterative line. It consists essentially of a dialogue between
Torhthelm and Tidwald who have been sent to recover the body of
Beorhtnoth. The lines create a scene of slain men strewn everywhere
as the two men stumble in the darkness. As they bear the hewn
leader's body, Torhthelm speaks of his death:
Now mourn for ever Saxon and English, from the sea's margin to the western forest! The wall is fallen, women are weeping; the wood is blazing and the fire flaming as a far beacon. Build high the barrow his bones to keep! For here shall be hid both helm and sword; and to the ground be given golden corslet, and rich raiment and rings gleaming,
(Beorhtnoth, p.7)
· 9.
The passage would seem to possess that sense of tragic loss lyric-
ally expressed with great feeling, which the poet of The Battle of
Maldon was aiming at. Tolkien's alliterative lines utter the
sounds of weeping women, of fallen wall and blazing wood. Yet amid
the harshness of such a world, the bones of the hero must be secured
in a high barrow. Here too must be placed the relics of his rank
and honour, "golden corslet" and "rings gleaming". Yet Torhthelm
concludes the piece with a speech which points to the need for great
courage in a world of chivalric excesses:
So the world passes; day follows day, and the dust gathers,
So men flicker and in the mirk go out. The world withers and the wind rises; the candIes are quenched. Cold falls the night.
lt's dark! lt's dark, and doom coming! ls no light left us? A light kindle, And fan the flame!
(B eorhtno th , p.12)
Tolkien's treatment of ~ Battle of Maldon is the
attempt of a scholar to get at the tone of a work through an imagin-
ative, yet rigorous analysis of the poetry itself, its language and
movement. The interest in dictionaries and vocabularies, the de-
tailed editing of manuscripts and texts, aIl reveal Tolkien as a
scholar whose fundamental concern is with language. His process of
thought would seem to be characterized by this consistent attention
to words. Tolkien searches for the origins of their meanings and
traces their evolution. He is intensely sensitive to the sound of
• 10
words and to the kind of motion and rhythm which is inherent in
their syllables. His criticism discovers the significance and
tone of literature here, where thought is articulated, where life
flows into speech. The literary art of the man must be approached,
l would suggest, with the awareness of Tolkien's creative kind of
criticism. For such a scholar examines an Old English fragment
concerning Beorhtnoth, derives its theme from the precise sense of
itô wûrdô, and then prûceeds tü express that theme in a verse trans-
lation of the poem.
In 1938 Tolkien delivered the Andrew Lang Lecture
in the University of St. Andrews. This lecture, On Fairy-Stories,
was written at about the same time as The Lord of ~ Rings was
beginning to take shape. It is a crucial statement of the
aesthetics of the man's particular kind of literary art and it was
later published in a more complete form in Essays Presented !2
Charles Williams. In the introductory comments, Tolkien describes
the nature of the fairy-story: "The realm of fairy-story is wide
and deep and high and filled with many things: aIl manner of beasts
and birds are found there; shoreless seas and stars uncounted;
beauty that is an enchantment, and an ever-present peril; both joy 6
and sorrow as sharp as swords." The description provides an
6 J.R.R.Tolkien, "On Fairy-Stories", ~ and Leaf
(London,l964). p.ll. Subsequent references will be to this edition.
• l1
initial glimpse of Tolkien's world of elves and wizards. There is
nothing miniature about Tolkien's conception, for it is on a large
and epic scale dealing with whole civilizations. Thus the charact
eristics of this realm are delineated precisely, coming one after
the other, sketching rapidly the immense physical size. The adjec
tives, "wide and deep and high and filled" are what one would expect
from Tolkien, basic physical descriptions. He go es on to expand
their meanings giving a completer sense of tais realm. nere are
"aIl manner", the infini te number, of birds and beasts. Yet here
too are seas, which are shoreless and "stars uncounted". Tolkien
~eaks of a whole universe in one long sentence whose parts move
with an alliterative rhythm to create the aspects of the description.
The sentence concludes with a reference to the beauty of this realm
whose essence is both an enchantment and a peril. As he determined
the meanings of "ofermod", here Tolkien alludes with careful scrutiny
to the beauty of the fairy-story's world. A deft simile vividly out
lines the joys and sorrows here, which have that quality of sharp
swords, able to pierce cleanly and fatally and thus enter in where
the heart beats and the mind moves. The essay now continues to
examine the nature of the fairy-story, its origin and function.
Typically Tolkien uses The Oxford English Dictionary
to launch his enquiry. Yet he finds it of little use, with only a
reference in the Supplement to "fairy-tale" which he finds totally
inadequate. For Tolkien the definition of a fairy-story depends not
on an account of what an elf or fairy is, but rather on the sense of
• 12
the realm itself, of ''Faerie''. Thus fairy-stories are:
stories about Fairy, that is Faerie, the realm or state in which fairies have their being. Faerie con tains many things besides elves and fays, and besides dwarfs, witches, trolls, giants, or dragons: it holds the sea, the sun, the moon, the sky; and the earth, and aIl things that are in it: tree and bird, water and stone, wine and bread, and ourselves, mortal men, when we are enchanted.
~ Fairy-Stories, pp.15-16)
Tolkien attempts to grasp the meaning of the fairy-story through a
process of coming to a full awareness of the nature of that world.
As in the introduction he describes the world and its inhabitants
with great clarity, filling in the details. The definitions of the
dictionary are too narrow because they don't give any indication as
to the scope of this realm. Further they restrict the concept to one
or two elements, or they describe it in terms which are meaningleesly
vague. Tolkien in his criticism consistently strives for the depth
and subtlety which language possesses. His treatment of the fairy-
story is certainly this kind of criticism. The essay goes on to
exclude travellers' tales, dream stories and beast fable from being
fairy-stories as they do not rightly operate within the realm of
Faerie. Tolkien here stresses that one of the essential features of
the fairy-story is that it be presented as true. He cites ~
Gawain and the Green Knight as a medieval example of a tale whose
seriousness is weIl maintained.
Tolkien comments that, "To ask what is the origin of
stories (however qualified) is to ask what is the origin of language
and of the mind" (On Fairy-Stories, p.22). The connection between
language and thought process, and stories, is an intimate one for
• 13
Tolkien. His mode of dealing with the fairy-story is similar to
that of a philologist's study. He wishes to come to terms with the
meaning and movement of the facets of the fairy-story. While the
origins of the elements of the tale are of importance, as the origins
of words in the study of language, yet one must not lose sight of the
analysis of the story and of its world, of the understanding of a
particular language at a given time. The story for Tolkien proceeds
essentially from the mind's ability to comprehend experience and arti-
culate it. It proceeds from the creative energy in words and their
capability of infusing new meaning into experience. One sees green
grass and one is able to distinguish its quality and appreciate the
fact of its being green. The language gives the description of grass
this aspect of the colour green, and one is then able to use "green"
in numerous other connections. Thus:
But how powerful, how stimulating to the very faculty that produced it, was the invention of the adjective: no spell or incantation in Faerie is more potent. And that is not surprising: such incantations might indeed be said to be only another view of adjectives, a part of speech in a mythical grammar •••• when we can take green from grass, blue from heaven, and red from blood, we have already an enchanter's power ••• in such 'fantasy' as it is called, new form is made; Faerie begins; Man becomes a sub-creator.
~ Fairy-Stories, p.25)
The fairy-story is the result of new form which is the outgrowth of
an intensely creative and imaginative grasp of language. Man is
able to assume the role of sub-creator because of this ability to
combine ~ords and meanings in ways which, at least initially, are
unrelated to the everyday reality around him. The realm of fantasy
exists through a language which is uniquely its own, for it is this
14
language which gives such worlds new and enchanted life.
The examination of the origins of fairy-s~ories concen
trates on the process by which language invents the tale. Tolkien
would seem to place the emphasis on this kind of source rather than
on the various recurring elements of such stories. In commenting
on the origins of such elements, he uses the image of a pot of soup
to refer to the mix of history, mythology and folk-tale. It is from
this pot, to which has been continually added the numerous historical
and mythological figures and deeds, that the story-teller draws. For
here over long periods of time, fact and fiction are inextricably
entangled. From it emerges the accounts of knights and kings, of the
Gods and of Faerie. Tolkien sees no distinction between the so-called
high mythology of Olympus or the low one of Faerie. Rather they are
both part of the soup, a mixture which is essentially the product of
both real and fictitious human experience. The elements of such a
pot would seem to be a kind of spell, and Tolkien notes that spell
means both a story told and a power over Men. The sense of long,
long ago which is characteristic of the soup, is a crucial aspect of
the spell. One finds oneself in another time and in a very differ
ent world.
The essay go es on to assert the significance of the
fairy-story as a serious part of literature. Fairy-stories are not
primarily intended for children, though such tales can be specifi
cally designed for children. Tolkien states that his own experience
• 15
as a child certainly did not bear out this strict association of
fairy-stories and children. Rather for him, "A real taste for fairy
stories was wakened by philology on the threshold of manhood, and
quickened to full life by war" ~ Fairy-Stories, p.40). The rele
gation of fairy-stories to the nursery is an unfortunate error which
is the result of a false conception of the fairy-story and of
children's taste for them. As literature, the fairy-story possesses
aIl the qualities of literary art and as weIl its particular aspects
of Fantasy, Recovery, Escape and Consolation.
Tolkien, with that philological mode of analysis, des
cribes the imagination as the power to make and grasp images which
are not actually present. He distinguishes between this power and
the achievement of a valid and effective expression of that image.
This ability to give, "'the inner consistency of reality', is indeed
another thing, or aspect, needing another name: Art, the operative
link between Imagination and the final result, Subcreation" ~
Fairy-Stories, p.44). Tolkien terms such art, Fantasy, underlining
the sense of a strange secondary world free from the actual facts
and logic of the primary world. It is words which are to construct
this world and give it that totally believable quality which is so
essential for the Fantasy of Tolkien. Further, it is only literary
art which can create the fantasy of a secondary world, for painting
or drama dis tort the fantasy either in absurd representations or in
the limited and artificial depiction of a primary world dressed up
as a secondary world. The creation of the realm of the fairy-story
• 16
requires the craft of the e1ves, for such a wor1d must induce total
be1ief. Tolkien in the essay speaks of the e1vish craft in this
connection as if there was 1itt1e doubt as to the existence of e1ves
and e1vish works of art. In de1ineating the aspects of Fantasy, he
himse1f enters such a secondary wor1d with 1itt1e hesitation and
utter certainty. It is this kind of inner truth which Fantasy must
exhibit, and it is to the e1ves one must turn for instruction in a
kind of art which is Enchantment. Tolkien uses the word Enchantment
to describe that mode of art which is Fantasy, and which comp1ete1y
invo1ves a11 who come into contact with it. Such Enchantment is an
intense1y pure artistic form, minute1y perfect in its construction
and execution. It possesses that qua1ity of the spe11, able to pro
found1y affect one's awareness through the tale of a readi1y access
ible secondary wor1d.
One begins to sense the important relation between
creative scho1arship in language and creative Fantasy. For Tolkien,
Fantasy is the exacting and detai1ed de1ineation of a secondary wor1d
through a new language. Such art wou1d seem to demand an intimacy
with words and their meanings. It is a process of recovery, of
grasping in a new way the language of this primary wor1d in order to
construct out of it the "mythica1 grammar" of the secondary wor1d.
Ta enter into this rea1m of Faerie is to become part of this process
of recovery, of this re-eva1uation of words. Tolkien is demonstrat
ing the infinite possibi1ities of language in making new and fresh
the articulation of experience, and he comments that~ "It was in
17
fairy-stories that l first divined the potency of the words, and the
wonder of the things, such as stone, and wood, and iron; tree and
grass; house and fire; bread and wine" (On Fairy-Stories, p.53).
"The words" and "the things", and their relationship, must be ex
amined to uncover what the thing is and what the word conveys. Thus
the fairy-story for Tolkien is vitally concerned with the restora
tion of creative energy to one's sensibility through a process of
becoming very much aware of the nature of language.
The essay concludes with the Escape and Consolation
features of the fairy-story. Tolkien suggests that there is an
apparent confusion with regard to the sense in which the fairy
story represents an escape from the real world. There is an obvious
distinction between the escape of the prisoner and the flight of the
deserter. For Tolkien the fairy-story is not a desertion, nor does
it merit that kind of condemnation. Rather it is the escape from
the treachery and misery of much of the human condition. Further
the question of what constitutes "real life" is a crucial facet of
this kind of escape. The extreme role of technology in modern life
is a repelling feature of this age in Tolkien's view, and he chooses
to include in his vision lightning for example, rather than electric
street-lamps. That "the Robot Age" considers the automobile more
alive than the dragon is a startling and absurd facto The escape
from the factory chimney to the elm-tree is surely not the action of
a deserter, nor a senseless flight from. "real life". In an oblique
sense, the fairy-story is concerned with securing a more valid
18
concept of life as it is created from an increasingly pure sense of
language. It offers profound "escapisms" from the universal hard
ships of men, "hunger, thirst, poverty, pain, sorrow, injustice,
death" (.QE. Fairy-Stories, p.58). As well, Tolkien considers that
the fairy-story answers various other longings as the desire to
glimpse inaccessible oceans and heights, and to converse with other
living things. Finally, the fairy-story provides a deep sense of
almost spiritual consolation in its happy ending. For Tolkien,
"the eucatastrophic tale is the true form of fairy-tale, and its
highest functioa" ~ Fairy-Stories, p.60). Such a tale ends in
great Joy, as an unlooked-for turn of events changes despair into
great happiness. For the story to evoke this kind of response,
which flows from this eucatastrophic ending with the keeness of an
elven-blade into the very heart of man, its sub-created world must
be a finely and delicately wrought Enchantment.
Tolkien began his academic career at the University
of Leeds in 1921 as a Reader in English Language. He soon became
a Professor, at a very young age by English standards, and then
took a post at Oxford as Rawlinson Professor of Anglo-Saxon.
Following the war he became Merton Professor of English Literature.
The creation of Fantasy went on amid aIl the demands of a scholar
and a teacher. The kind of imaginative impulse so evident in
Tolkien's academic activities made the efforts of the artist the
natural and obvious extension of the work of the Oxford Don. This
fact is born out by the proceedings of the regular meetings of a
19
literary group in which Tolkien was involved. These gatherings of
the "Inklings", as the group was called, included among others C.S.
Lewis, Charles Williams and Nevil Coghill. The Inklings met every
Thursday in C.S. Lewis' rooms at Magdalen, as weIl as for lunches at
various pubs. The discussions usually centered on a manuscript which
was read by someone present. Thus W.H. Lewis comments: "To indicate
the content of those evenings, let me look forward to 1946, a vintage
year. At most of the meetings during that year we had a chapter from
Tolkien's new Hobbit, as we called it -- the great work later pub-7
lished as The Lord of the Rings." As well, C.S. Lewis' letters
contain references to Tolkien's part in the Inklings. Tolkien's
reading confirms that quality of the Fantasy which reflects the
presence of a scholarly habit of mind. Into an academic and critical
milieu was introduced the reading of a lengthy tale of Faerie. That
the "new Hobbit" was considered material for the Inklings, and vintage
material at that, reveals Tolkien's art to be ingenuously involved
with the scholar.
In attempting to get clear on the nature of the fairy-
story, Tolkien explains that, "Faerie cannot be caught in a net of
words; for it is one of its qualities to be indescribable, though not
imperceptible" (9!!. Fairy-Stories, p.16). He is alluding here to that
7 W.H.Lewis, ed. with a ~~moir, Letters of C.S.Lewis
(London,1966), p.14.
20
elvish craft of Enchantment which cannot be explicitly described nor
defined. Rather the realm is perceptible through one's becoming a
part of the process of its creation. One must move with the artist,
follow him and grasp minutely aIl the elements of this world as they
are made real and true. It would seem that Tolkien's literary art
becomes enchanted due to the man's sense of language. The energy of
his creation, its very life and breath stems from language and from
the kind of motions involved in the imaginative study of language.
The belief of the fairy-story, its aspects of recovery and escape,
aIl would seem to hinge on the words of the tale. The sheer size and
vivid detail of the world of Faerie as Tolkien conceives it, is
generated by the thorough commitment to language which is so charact
eristic of Tolkien the scholar. l would suggest that to try to de
fine the spell which Tolkien weaves, as if it were an object in a
net, is to miss seriously the essence of his vision. One must begin
with the realization that the literary art of the man is born in the
meaning and sound and motion of its words and syllables. The task of
coming to terms with such art must focus on this process, must probe
how it is that Fantasy is created by entering into the very realm of
the secondary world.
e
CRAPTER II
THE DEVELOPMENT OF FANTASY
22
Tolkien's Tree and Leaf, first published in 1964, con
tains the essay On Fairy-Stories and a s tory , Leaf ~ Niggle. The
two are connected, Tolkien comments, by the symbols of Tree and Leaf.
The tale was written at about the same time as the essay, during
that period when The Lord of the Rings was unfolding. Yet it was not
published until 1947, in the Dublin Review. This reissue of the
essay and the story together in one edition underlines the relation
which is apparent between the two. ~~ Niggle appears to be a
story which is about the attempt to create Fantasy. It concerns the
passage from the primary to the secondary world and the means of
achieving this motion. Thus the story is both a commentary on the
thought of the essay, and a glimpse into the development of Tolkien's
Fantasy. If the essay is a discussion of the intricate tree of tales
and the secondary world in which that tree exists, then the story is
one leaf of that tree, one sequence in the mode of sub-creation.
The tale is about a little man called Niggle who i8 a
painter and lives in a curious country with very strict laws. One is
continually reminded of a journey which Niggle soon has to make, a
further aspect of the severe nature of the place in the story.
Niggle's painting is depictéd as the essential motive of his life,
and his subject is consistently trees and leaves, for, "He used to
spend a long time on a single leaf, trying to catch its shape,
1 and its sheen, and the glistening of dewdrops on its edges."
Tolkien describes Niggle's painted leaf with vivid detail, linking
the sense of "shape" and "sheen", calling attention to the edges
of the leaf where drops of dew sparkle. The leaf, though it ia
part of a Niggle painting, is intensely real, viewed as for the
first time with careful scrutiny and a sense of wonder. This
strangely real and pure quality is apparent in the painting of
Niggle's which has completely taken over the man and become his
sole activity in life. The painting had its beginning,
with a leaf caught in the wind, and it became a tree; and the tree grew, sending out innumerable branches, and thrusting out the most fantastic roots. Strange birds came and settled on the twigs and had to be attended to. Then aIl round the Tree, and behind it, through the gaps in the leaves and boughs, a country began to open out; and there were glimpses of a forest marching over the land, and of mountains tipped with snow •••• Soon the canvas became so large that he had to get a ladder; and he ran up and down it, putting in a touch here, and rubbing out a patch there.
(Leaf, p.74)
The tree and the surrounding lands begin to take on that air of
Enchantment, as the painting becomes the creation of that second-
ary world. The tree possesses "innumerable branches" and
"fantastic roots", and its birds are "strange" and require special
attention. There exists no tree like it in the country of Niggle,
23
nor are there birds of this variety. Yet they are real in the land
which begins to materialize aIl around the margins of the painting
1 J.R.R.Tolkien, "Leaf by Niggle", Tree ~ ~
(London, 1964), p.73. Subsequent references will be to this edition.
e which have to be repeatedly enlarged. Niggle's task becomes more
pressing as the time of the ominous journey grows near, and he is
constantly bothered by the interruptions of neighbours. Tolkien
focuses on Niggle's painstaking creative process, as the artist
attempts "to catch the gleam of the westering sun on the peak of
a snow-mountain, which he had glimpsed just to the left of the
leafy tip of one of the Tree's branches" (Leaf, p.75). The
artist's picture ia of a world which becomes alive, and one can
view the aetting sun through the leaves of the tree as it is re
flected in the snow of a peak.
24
Niggle's struggle for detail in his painting is for
Tolkien the vital aspect of the creation of Fantasy. The tip. of
a leaf, the strange birds and branches, the clarity of sun on snow:
it is from these bits of perception that the belief in a world of
profound wonder energes. The tale shifts from various levels of
meaning, as from the growing world of Niggle's painting, to
Niggle's own country. Niggle's neighbour Parish exhibits little
appreciation of Niggle's painting, being far more interested in
such things as gardening. Parish who is partially lame constantly
interrupta Niggle with requests for help with the trouble he always
seemed to be in. An errand for Parish on a wet autumn night re
sults in Niggle's getting sick. When he is finally well enough to
paint the time for his journey is upon him. Niggle is taken away
and what follows ia a strange account of his imprisonment and
forced labour;
He did not like the treatment at aIl. The medicine they gave him was bitter. The officiaIs and attendants were unfriendly, silent, and strict; and he never saw anyone else, except a very severe doctor, who visited him occasionally. It was more like being in a prison than in a hospital. He had to work bard, at stated hours: at digging, carpentry, and painting.bare boards aIl one plain colour. He was never allowed outside, and the windows aIl looked inwards.
(Leaf, p.80)
25
The journey which aIl had to make in Niggle's country is a distinct
shift from the mood of his painting. One now sees Niggle doing con-
struction work, and painting things in one drab colour. There are
no strange trees and lands in sight and Niggle is locked in a very
stark room. In a sense Tolkien would seem to be alluding to that
distinction between escape and desertion in the essaye For the
"real life" of Niggle, his country and the queer journey, certainly
make his painting a more meaningful and preferable alternative.
Niggle begins to forget the vision of his art, and he is almost
content, becoming a kind of automaton. A further shift now occurs,
as one listens to the two voices of those who decide Niggle's fate.
Because of his kindness to his neighbour Parish and perhaps too,
the value of the leaves painted by him, Niggle is accorded gentle
treatment, particularly because of the more gentle feature of the
Second Voice.
One is now returned again to the lands of Niggle's
painting. His journey to it is on' a train which is newly painted,
on tracks which shine in the sun, never baving been used before.
Niggle is travelling through unexplored regions, being guided
•
26
strangely for he does not know where he is or where he is going. He
arrives at his tree, which is finished and now alive and moving in
o:the wind. Niggle has made the final step into a secondary, enchanted
world. The artist has been able to enter into this realm precisely
because of the conscious attention he gave to each aspect of his
creation. Thus he painted a leaf numerous times, striving for a new
and purer sense of the leaf, grasping it in a way which had never
been done in his own country. AlI the leaves Niggle ever painted are
in this new land, and many more he had only imagined. The lands
about the trees are vas ter and more enchanted, with the mountains
looming far off in the distance. Of course Parish is there and the
two set about finishing the work as they learn the subtle relation
ship between one who tends a garden and one who creates it. The place
is called "N1ggle's Country", being the creation of his art. Parish
is amazed at the value of Niggle's work and wonders why he never
realized it before. But the shepherd who came finally to take Niggle
remarks to Parish, "No, it was only a glimpse then, ••• but you might
have caught the glimpse, if you had ever thought it worth while to
try" (Leaf, p.89). The tale ends with a shift back from the enchanted
lands to Niggle's old country, and then to the Voices. The people of
Niggle's country carry on as before, thinking little good of Niggle
or his painting, though one "Leaf: by Niggle" was hung unnoticed in
a museum. The Second Voice comments that "Niggle's Parish in the bay",
as it was called, was proving a valuable place for recovery, and a good
resting place on the journey to the mountains •
e Tolkien's tale gives a good introduction to the
elements in the construction of Fantasy. Though it may perhaps
be weakened by the overly mechanical descriptions of the creation
of such elements, it nevertheless succeeds in securing that sense
of Enchantment as Niggle's art becomes a real secondary world
of wondrous trees, forests and streams. Such devices as the
Voices and the Journey would seem to be artificial, yet they do
point out the fairy-story's capability to provide escape and con
solation, a chance for laughter amid the grimness of existence.
One perceives that Tolkien is keenly aware of a desperate need to
combat the absurdities of life. In this tale, he offers Niggle's
mode of beginning first wi th the leaf: "He was going to learn
about sheep, and the high pasturages, and look at a wider sky,
and walk even further and further towards the Mountains, always
uphill" (Leaf, p. 90) •
The fairy-story, Farmer GUes .2! Ham, is another
of Tolkien's shorter pieces of Fantasy. The secondary world is
given its initial feature of reality in a Foreword which speaks
of the tale as part of the dark period of Britain's history.
Tolkien claims to have translated it from the Latin in which this
account was originally written. He alludes to the fragment as
being a mixture of history and legend, "Somewhere in those long
years, after the days of King Coel maybe, but before Arthur or
27
• 28
2 the Seven Kingdoms of the English." The tale is fixed far in the
past and one is made aware of that aspect of being witness to "an
echo of an echo", which was apparent for Tolkien in Beowulf and in
The Battle of Maldon fragment. Thus the story of Farmer Giles and
his kingdom is described by Tolkien as having its roots in history,
and from this point it moves toward the sub-created world of Fantasy.
The curious and strange events of the Farmer's rise
are delineated with a total sense of veracity. The tale involves
talking dogs, giants, dragons and enchanted swords. Such fairy-
tale elements are given substance by the manner in which they are
presented by Tolkien. That process of rearranging. the words once
one bas gotten a clear sense of their meaning crea tes a sword which
will not be sheathed when a dragon is close by. The encbanted sword
Caudimordax, or Tailbiter, is revealed to be an ancient sword of great
renown and it is covered with runes and other signs of power. The
dragon is given an effective introduction:
Chrysophylax Dives was his name, for he was of ancient and imperial lineage, and very rich. He was cunning, inquisitive, greedy, wella rmoured, but not over boldo But at any rate he was not in the least afraid of flies or insects of any sort or size; and he was mortally hungry.
(Farmer, p.25)
The adjectives Tolkien uses to describe the dragon operate through
the metaphor of the beast as a descendant of ancient and renown kings.
2 J.R.R.Tolkien, Farmer Giles of Ham (London, 1949),
p.8. Subsequent references will be to this edition.
e
29
One's sense of the majesty of such a lineage enables one to grasp
the reality of the beast in the secondary world. Tolkien would
seem to playon this interchange between the primary world and the
Fantasy to achieve with greater validity the fantastic elements in
the latter. The rhetorical manipulation in the passage contributes
to its effect. The dragon's name begins the sentence, positing his
size and the extent of his pride. The long list of adjectives which
describe him ends with the phrase "but not over bold". Up to this
point the dragon has been made to appear a formidable and fearsome
enemy. This impression is shifted slightly in this allusion to his
boldness, and it is exploded in the succeeding sentence which
juxtaposes his size and the fact that he is not afraid of tiny in-
sects. The cowardice of the great beast now becomes quite apparent.
Tolkien considers that a dragon is surely more alive than an auto-
mobile. Such a passage would seem to give support to this view.
The dwelling of the dragon is minutely described:
Itwas large and black and forbidding, and its brazen doors swung on great pillars of irone Plainly it had been a place of strength and pride in days long forgotten; for dragons do not build such works nor delve such mines, but dwell rather, when they may, in the tombs and treasuries of mighty men and giants of old.
(Farmer, p.62)
The image is of a grea t and dark place which has long ceased to have
been a human dwelling. The "brazen" quality of the doors seems to
reflect this aspect of the dragon's coming to live here. The use of
the word "plainly" conveys a sense of the actual existence of the
place. The adverb expresses the fact of the narrator's presence at
30
the scene, for he is witness to the sight of the dragon's lair, and
forma opinions about it. One moves with him into the Farmer's world
and the encounter with the dragon. Tolkien uses two verbs of
similar meanings, one after the other, "build" and "delve", to give
the act of the cavets construction a greater sense of reality by re-
peating in a slightly different way the motions involved in creating
the dwelling. The alliterative phrase "tombs and treasuries" picks
up the sense of the "strength and pride" already mentioned, and gives
the place that strange and ancient quality. The Farmer's successive
confrontations with the giant, the dragon and then the King and his
Knights, are carefully presented to show the man's developing courage
and wisdom. The establishment of his Kingdom is at the end of the
tale used by Tolkien to explain the names of various towns of that
part of Br1tain, as Worminghall from Aula Draconaria, the place
where Giles first met the dragon, and the Knights of Giles' new
dragon order lived. Thus Tolkien ends the tale with an allusion to
those ancient days:
The face of the land has changed since that time, and kingdoms have come and gone; woods have fallen, and rivers have shifted, and only the hills remain, and they are worn down by the rain and the wind •••• But in the days of which this tale speaks Worminghall it was, and a Royal Seat,
and the dragon-standard flew above the trees; and aIl things went weIl there and merrily,
while Tailbiter was above ground. (Fat&i1er, p.77)
Smith of Wootton Major is another of Tolkien's shorter
pieces of Fantasy which provides an important look into the nature of
31
sub-creation. The tale begins with the reference to the village of
Wootton Major, "There was a village once, not very long ago for
those with long memories, nor very far away for those with long 3
legs." As in the tale of Farmer Giles, Tolkien points to the
accessibility of the village, to its historical existence. Immed-
iately, as the story begins, he sets out the essential reality of
this place and of the events he is about to relate. The motions
of walking and of recalling are linked with the location of the
village, as Tolkien gives the actual physical and mental detail
involved in grasping the phrase, "There was a village once •••• "
He continues to describe the size of the village, its population
and its characteristic of having workers of great skill in various
crafts. The tale in a sense hinges on this notion of craft, for it
concerns the craft of the primary world of the village as it may be-
come the craft of Faerie, the elvish craft of sub-creation.
Wootton Major was particularly noteworthy for its
cooking and the Master Cook was a person of prime importance. The
story is about the appearance of an apprentice to the Master Cook
who is not from the village. Alf, as he was called, puts a fay-star
in the Great Cake which was served every twenty-four years at The
Feast of Good Children. Thus it happened that the star passed to
3 J.R.R.Tolkien, Smith ~ Wootton Malor (London,1967),
p.S. Subsequent references will be to this edition.
32
Smith, becoming attached te his forehead, '~ut it became part of his
face, and it did not usually shine at aIl. Seme of its light passed
into his eyes; and his voice ... " (Smith, p.20). The craft of the
smith, for that was his trade, underwent a change as he grew older
and he became increasingly affected by the fay-star. His skill went
beyond that of the village into another realm:
They were strong and lasting, but they also had a grace about them, being shapely in their kinds, good to handle and to look st.
But some things, when he had time, he made for delight; and they were beautiful, for he could work iron into wonder fuI forms that looked as ligb.t and delicate as a spray of leaves and blossom, but kept the stern strength of iron, or seemed even stronger.
(Smith, p.2l)
Smith's work now possesses a certain feel and grace, a form that
gives iron the delicacy of leaves and flowers. He has entered a
secondary world which few in the village believe in. With the star
Smith began to make actual journeys into the regions of Faerie, ex-
ploring strange and enchanted lands. Thus Tolkien describes various
sights of Faerie, as the shore where elven-ships return;
He stood beside the Sea of Windless Storm where the blue waves like snow-clad hills roll silently out of Unlight to the long strand, bearing the white ships that return from battles on the Dark Marches of which men know nothing. He saw a great ship cast high upon the land, and the waters fell back in foam witnout a sound. The elven mariners were tall and terrible; their swords shone and their spears glinted and a piercing light was in their eyes.
(Smith, p.26)
The quality of that association of the "strength of iron" and the
delicacy of blossoms in the craft of the smith, is here developed
further. Tolkien's Fantasy proceeds from the images of a new and
fresh view of the world. In the smith's work, one is made more aware
of the nature of iron and its possibility for a graceful shape. The
33
hidden strength of leaves and gardens is also revealed in the image.
In this passage about the travels of Smith, the sea is ever in the
midst of storm, and yet there is no wind. The silence which emerges
from the image gives one a startling insight into the calm beauty of
a sea as compared ..to...the fury of it in storm. The silence is focused
on again in the waves which are compared to rolling "snow-clad hills".
The memory of such a winter scene makes intensely keen the percep
tion of serene and gentle movement. The length of this first
sentence, and its resulting kind of ambling motion, accentuate the
sense of this depiction of the sea in Faerie. The elven mariners
are presented in terms of a light metaphor. The words "shone",
"glinted" and "piercing" describe the light which is in their
weapons and in their very being. For Tolkien, the elves are the
energy of light, able to dazzle perception with great clarity and
purity. Smith's many journeys in Faerie come to an end finally, yet
for him Faerie will always existe Tolkien's sub-creation leaves
little doubt as to its serious existence if only one will consider
the craft of Smith as it is able to go beyond the primary skills of
those in Wootton Major. For the passage from the village to Faerie
is achieved by Tolkien through this kind of craft in language.
The Hobbit was written by Tolkien for his children and
later circulated in manuscript form around Oxford. It was first pub
lished in 1937, and is the crucial introduction to the vast sub-
crea tion which is The Lord of the Rings. The Inkling' s reference to
the latter work as the "new Hobbit" indicates the sense in which
34
~ Hobbit was the tentative beginning of the trilogy and the myth
ology of Middle Earth. The Hobbit, written as it was for children,
would seem to be the kind of fairy-story which does not attempt to
embody completely the more profound aspects of such talès. In the
essay On Fairy-Stories, Tolkien alluded to this possibility of tales
designed specifically for younger readers. Yet, while it may lack
the epic high ser10usness of tone of the trilogy, The Hobbit 1s a
work of Tolkien's craft and thus it con tains much which i8 essential
to the fuller development of Fantasy.
A prefatory note states that the story concerns events
of long ago. Further, while the languages of that time were differ
ent than those of today, English is used to represent these ancient
tongues. Tolkien would seem to consistently begin his fairy-stories
as if he is merely giving historical accounts. Such a device provides
the initial phase of bel1ef which is cf course the basis of sub
creation. This historical awareness is here established through the
fact of the difference between ancient and modern languages. In a
sense Tolkien assumes the role of editor and translator, and the
note begins to read like an introduction to an edition of Sir Gawain
and the ~ Knight. The use of dwarves rather than dwarfs is com
mented on, as is the derivation of the word Orc. Runes which appear
in the tale are explained: "Runes were old letters or1ginally used
for cutting or scratching on wood, stone, or metal, and so were thin
35
4 and angular." Such runes are represented in the book by English
runes which, Tolkien explains, are known by few people. The maps
which are included have numerous runes printed on them, and one can
discover the runic alphabet by using the transcriptions given in
the story, in conjunction with these maps. Various irregularities
in the alphabet are delineated here, as weIl as the full runic
sentences used in the tale. With such discussions of history, lan-
guages and ancient runic alphabets, and the appearance of maps of
these lands, the Fantasy rapidly begins to emerge and take on a real
dimension.
The tale, as the title indicates, introduces a race
known as hobbits. As weIl, Middle Earth as it is called, has living
in it dwarves, elves, wizards, men, trolls, orcs and many other birds
and beasts. Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit with whom this tale is mainly
concerned, is visited by the wizard Gandalf and numerous dwarves. In
the ensuing meeting the music and song create that sense of Enchant-
ment with which the tale proceeds:
It was a beautiful golden harp, and when Thorin struck it the music began aIl at once, so sudden and sweet that Bilbo forgot everything else, and was swept away into dark lands under strange moons, far over The Water and very far from his hobbit-hole under The Hill.
The dark came into the room from the little window that opened in the side of The Hill; the firelight flickered -- it was April -and still they played on, while the shadow of Gandalf's beard wagged against the wall.
(The Hobbit, p.22)
4 J.R.R.Tolkien, The Hobbit, 3rd ed. (London, 1967) ,
p.7. Subsequent references will be to this edition.
36
The music of the dwarves allows one to enter into this secondary
world. Tolkien makes the music "sudden and sweet" and gives it that
qua li t Y of strangeness able to move one "into dark lands under
strange moons tf• In this long first sentence Tolkien creates the pro
gression from the beautiful harp to the music to the lands far away~
With Bilbo, one is confronted with the harp and its music. As the
phrases undulate from "sudden and sweet" to "swept away", one comes
to places "far away over the Water". The meaning of the music is
expanded from phrase to phrase, and Tolkien constructs a motion
which explores such music until it arrives at a great distance from
where it began. Then the narrative returns to the scene in the room
where time has passed quickly and darkness has come on unexpectedly.
Tolkien, against the continuing sense of the music, sketches, in
relief, the details of the room with great clarity. The fire
flickers in the darkness, and the shadow of the wizard's beard plays
against the wall. The Enchantment of the sequence comes from the new
juxtapositions of words and meanings, which the essay noted is the
origin of Fantasy. It comes also from Tolkien's essential sensitivi
ty to the movement and detail of which language is capable.
Bilbo is induced to join the wizard and the dwarves on
a journey to recover the palace and riches of the dwarves which was
stoien by Smaug, a great and terrible dragon. The trip to the Lonely
Mountain, where the dwarves of old lived in great splendour, is a long
distance through many perilous and evil lands. The events of the
journey and the defeat of the dragon, as weIl as the defeat of a great
37.
host of ores, wolves, wargs and bats in The Battle of Five Armies,
form this adventure of Bilbo Baggins. Tolkien's description of the
dragon surpasses the one in Farmer Giles of~. This worm is
depicted with even more detail, and his deeds of murdering, thiev-
ing and plundering are graphically given substance. Bilbo is the
first to glimpse Smaug:
There he lay, a vast red-golden dragon, fast asleep; a thrumming came from his jaws and nostrils, and wisps of smoke, but bis fires were low in slumber. Beneath him, under aIl his limbs and his huge coiled tail, and about him on aIl sides stretching away across the unseen floors, lay countless piles of precious things, ••• Smaug lay, with wings folded like an immeasurable bat, turned partly on one side, so that the hobbit could see his underparts and his long pale belly crusted with gems and fragments of gold from his long lying on his costly bed •••• There are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language that they learned of elves in the days when aIl the world was wonderful.
(The Hobbit, p.227)
The fantastic sight of the dragon and his hoard is given increased
credibility by this reference again to the shifts of language, and
the history of elves and men. Only the ancient elvish tongues could
adequa tely speak of Bilbo' s " s taggerment". Yet Tolkien' s descrip-
tion embodies rather weIl the incredible scene of Smaug in his lair.
This presence of the narrator is here quite strongly felt, for one
is given Tolkien's account of the scene as it came down to him. The
ev en breathing of the vast worm is fastened upon, and the lines at-
tempt to capture the sounds of his sleep. The "thrumming" noise of
the sleeper forms the basis for what one hears. To it is added the
low flickering of the dragon's fires, the seething of the heat of a
furnace. The riches of this dragon, as the one with which Farmer Giles
had to contend, become a means of giving him size. Here Tolkien
38
connects the physical aspect of the worm with his hoard. Even the
"underparts", the soft vulnerable part of Smaug, are " crusted with
gems", as if the life was inextricably bound to the wealth, the
prime energy of the beast flowing from his greed. Elsewhere the
stench of the bat-like creature is often spoken of by the hobbit and
the dwarves. The dragon for Tolkien is essential to the tensions of
the sub-creation, as perhaps the monsters of Beowulf. The quest of
the hobbit takes him face to face with seemingly insurmountable forces
of evil. While Fantasy has within it such possibilities for evil,
it also has much that is good and beautiful. When Bilbo finds the
Arkenstone, the heart of the Lonely Mountain, he is enchan~ed by its
perfection, for, tIit took a11 light that fe11 upon it and changed it
into ten thousand sparks of white radiance shot with glints of the
rainbow" (The Robbit, p.249). Further, the grim and valiant character
of the elves in their defence of the beauty of Faerie is effectively
presented by Tolkien:
The elves were the first to charge. Their hatred for the goblins is cold and bitter. Their spears and swords shone in the gloom with a gleam of chilI flame, so deadly was the wrath of the hands that held them. As soon as the host of their enemies was dense in the valley, they sent against it a shower of arrows, and each flickered as it fled as if with stinging fire. Behind the arrows a thousand of their spearmen leapt down and charged. The yells were deafening. The rocks were stained black with goblin blood.
(The Hobbit, pp.294-295)
Here again the elves appear as the piercing light which shatters the
gloom of the goblins, rending the literally black blood from their
veins. Their swords and arrows are infused with their energy, and they
illuminate this scene of struggle and death in The Battle of Five
39
Armies. Tolkien appeals to taste in the word ''bitter'', pointing to
the absence of any sweetness in these cruel confrontations with the
ores. One is aware of the discomfort of the wrath of the elves,
the harshnesB of their struggles in Faerie to preserve that elvish
mode of beauty.
Thor in , the descendant of the King of dwarves under
the Lonely Mountain, is wounded fatally in the battle. Before he
dies he speaks with Bilbo, praising the hobbit's courage and essen
taU outlook, "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above
hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world" (The Hobbit, p.301).
The thought, though it is somewhat simplistic in its expression, is
the beginning of the recovery and consolation facets of the fairy
tale which is spoken of in the essay. For the world of The Hobbit
is created out of a new awareness of such things as "food and cheer
and song", a new articulation for experience in a living secondary
world. Tolkien's intimacy with language allows him to rearrange
its parts in order to give meaning to this sub-creation. The alter
nate title of this book is There and Back Again, for Bilbo returns
from the wide world of Middle Earth to his own home in The Shire, as
it is called. Yet, as Gandalf remarks, contact with Faerie, with
elves, dwarfs and the affairs of wizards, has changed Bilbo, deepen
ed his perspective. He is considered "queer" by the hobbits of his
town, and b.~ begins to write poetry and take frequent tramps with
elves. For Tolkien an excursion into Faerie is a significant exper
ience, one which may alter onels sensibility. Niggle's leaves, or
Farmer Giles' Kingdom, or Smith's craft, or perhaps Bilbo's adven
ture, aIl become intensely felt aspects of the secondary world of
Faerie. But it is in The Lord .2! The Rings that Tolkien gives
fullest expression to the kind of Fantasy of which these shorter
tales are merely a glimpse.
40
•
CHAPTER III
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TONE OF FANTASY
42
In the Foreword to The Lord of The Rings, Tolkien dis-
eusses the relationship between allegory and history. He professes )
an, essential dislike of allegory much preferring history whether it
is true or invented. His reasoning fastens on the distinction
between applicability and allegory, "but the one resides in the
freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of l
the author." For Tolkien, the applicability inherent in history al-
lows one to create various relationships between the work and one's
own thought and experience. Rather than impose one specifie allegor-
ical significance, history tends to suggest numerous paths along
which one may proceed to discover that sense in which the tale be-
comes a vital and new aspect of one's sensibility. Often in the
shorter tales Tolkien begins with this kind of historical metaphor,
and the trilogy is, to an even greater extent, the rendering of his-
torical documents. The Prologue ends with a recapitulation of the
events in The Hobbit as they lead up to the beginning of this tale,
and the last sentence is, "At this point this History begins" (Rings
l, 36). This explicit reference to History is continued in the
following "Note on the Shire Records". Here Tolkien delineates in
considerable detail his sources for the narrative which is to come.
He traces the copies made of Bilbo's and Frodo's histories of the
Third Age of Middle Earth which became the Red Book of Westmarch.
l J.R.R.Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (New York,1966),
l,xi. The text is that of the American Ballantine printing of The Lord of the Rings, 2nd ed. (London,1966). Subsequent references will be to this edition.
ct
43
The records and manuscripts prepared and co11ected by Samwise,
Meriadoc and Peregrin, the other hobbit members of the Fe1lowship,
are cited along with the copies of the Red Book as the chief mater
ia1s from which the story emerges. Tolkien even refers to the
scribe of a particu1arly complete copy of the Red Book, lIFindegil,
King' s Writer, fini shed this work in IV 172" (Rings I, 38).
This rigorous description of the exact origins of the
tri10gy would seem to indicate important features of the tone of
Tolkien's sub-creation. That is, if one is to consider the stance
Tolkien adopts toward his work and, as weIl, the stance the reader
would begin to assume, then that quality in history of the appli
cability provides an initial insight into Tolkien's aesthetic pro
cess. The historical metaphor in To1kien's view conditions the kind
of articulation that the fairy-story aims at. The conscious aware
ness of reading history secures, to begin with, a definite sense of
rea1ity for the story, and prompts a profounder belief in the sub
creation. The device also makes the interchange between the primary
and secondary wor1d a more obvious and necessary movement. Appli
cabi1ity suggests that the narration is a process through which one
is motivated to relate one's own speech analysis of experience to
that in the tale. In this sense, one participa tes in the construction
of the aesthetic. For one crea tes for onese1f the apparent extension
from the Secondary to the Primary World, coming to terms with the
collision between one's own grasp of the f10~ of 1ife into words and
the depiction of this movement in the story. Tolkien's function as
44
an artist lies in making the basic meaningful connection between the
primary world and the sub-created world of Fantasy. He must fashion
his world out of a new and imaginative grasp of the materials in
this primary world. Further, he must achieve this process in terms
which are far removed from the allegorical rigidity which is
stifling to one's intense involvement in the energy and motion of
his art.
The essence of Tolkien's connection between the two
worlds rests in the language with which he works. He comments in
the Essay that, "The Primary World, Rea lit y , of elves and men is the
same, if differently valued and perceived" ~ Fairy-Stories, p.48).
This shift in value and perception is the distinctive aspect of sub
creation. Tolkien focuses on the subtly different sensibility
which is at work in the realm of Faerie. For if the Reality is the
same, then it is a new mode of ordering and giving meaning that he
is concerned with. It is the words and syllables, and his arrange
ment of these, which contain the capability of achieving this end.
For it is in the coincidence of speech and thought that is formed the
way in which one perceives oneself and one's relation to the world.
Faerie proceeds from this coincidence and it is from here that its
function and meaning may be extracted. The Fairy-story is a recon
struction of the infinite bits of Reality. It begins with the
isolation of each adjective, noun or verb, the attempt to renew
their sense and the meaning of the qualities, things or actions they
convey. The enchanted realm consists of nothing other than these
things though often in curious arrangements. In Tolkien's view,
Literature opera tes between minds, with both the artist and the
reader actively reproducing particular images out of the more uni-
versaI facets of the work. Thus:
If a story says 'he climbed a hill and saw a river in the valley below', the illustrator may catch, or nearly catch, his own vision of such a scene; but every hearer of the words will have his own picture, and it will be made out of aIl the hills and rivers and dales he has ever seen, but specially out of The Hill, The River, The Valley which were for him the first embodiment of the word.
(On Fairy-Stories, p.67)
45
The "embodiment of the word" is at the root of Tolkien's concept of
sub-creative narrative. The reflections back to the primary world
are glimpsed by both the artist and the reader through the mechan-
ism of recognition. The realm of Middle Earth is composed of the
vast mosaic of aIl the things which the Primary World contains,
placed in a new and enchanted setting. One's experience here makes
new the awareness of reality, imparts a quality of purity to aIl
the particulars of existence. By infusing reality with the energy
of an aIl together different context, of a sub-created, inhabited
and living world, Tolkien restores that first grasp of life with aIl
its keeness and vigor. The fairy-story acts as a kind of catalyst to
perception, evoking a profound reaction in the motion of one's aware-
ness.
The consolation of the fairy-story, which as has been
mentioned, Tolkien terms the eucatastrophe of the tale, is a crucial
aspect of the tone of Fantasy. Just as the physical materials of the
tale are gleaned from reality, so too are the traditional
46
philosophicsl characteristics of its inhabitants. The histories of
the men of Middle Earth are filled with evidence of corruption and
severe imperfection, with great civilizations declining through their
own self-destruction. The relentless rise of the power of Mordor,
of the Dark Lord in aIl his unfathomable evil, is the dominant
feature of each age of Middle Earth. The harsh and bitter confron
tation with such a power is the ever present peril of this sub
created world. As Gandalf the Grey tells Frodo at the outset of the
tale, "Always after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another
shape and grows again" (Rings l, 81-82). Even the elves with their
infini te capacity for good and beauty must be ever wary of the per
version of their powers.
While the trilogy is essentially concerned with the
Third Age of Middle Earth, much is revealed in the narrative and in
the detailed appendices about the earlier ages. The First Age is
that of the Eldar or the elves of the West, who dwell in the land of
the Valar, and Middle Earth is sparsely inhabited. The Edain, three
peoples of men, live in the Western part of Middle Earth near the
sea. The Eldar and the Edain combine in Middle Earth against the
dominion of Morgoth, an early shape of the Shadow. Morgoth even
infiltrates the undying lands of the Valar in the West, and steals
the Silmarilli, jewels wrought by the elves from the light of the
Two Trees Telperion and Laurelin. For their part in the struggle
against Morgoth, the Edain are given the realm of Numenor, far re
moved from the dangers of Middle Earth. But the Numenoreans, though
47
their kingdoms grow to great power and splendour, are finally cor-
rupted by the Shadow. In their envy of the Eldar, they attempt to
enter the realm of the Valar only to be cast down and destroyed.
In exile they come to Middle Earth which is now separated from the
elven-lands in the West. The opposition between the images of light
and darkness which begin in the First Age with the Silmarilli and
the !WO Trees, and the darkness of Morgoth, is central to the world
of Middle Earth. Tolkien consistently details the struggles in his
sub-creation in terms of the elvish capacity for blinding undying
light, and that aspect of the shadow which is the nature of the
Enemy. The ancient possibility for light and beauty associated with
the Eldar, and the blackness of Mordor, are given new form in the
trilogy with the appearance of the rings.
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-Iords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. One Ring to rule them aIl, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring thema11 and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. (Rings l, vii)
This verse prologue to the book establishes the Ring as the symbol
for great good and hideous evil. Forged in the Second Age by Elven-
smiths living in Middle Earth, the Rings of power conta in much
tha t is the Dark Lord r s work. For the elves were won over by him,
and he watched the forging and learnt aIl their craft. It was then
that He made the One Ring in Mordor, infusing it with a11 his black-
ness and giving it mastery over the other Rings. Only the three
48
Rings of the Elven-kings were made unknown to Saur on and were hidden
from him. Tolkien makes the existence of the elven-realms in Middle
Earth assured due to the power of these three rings. Yet the One
Ring is inextricably bound up with these, in a sense giving them much
of their effectiveness. Welded by Sauron, this ring binds aIl into
shadow. If it is used by others, it corrodes the will and the light,
transforming its wearer inevitably into the slave of evil and corrup
tion. The One Ring would seem to depict the kind of inexorable pro
gress of darkness which Tolkien envisions in his sub-created world.
The Rings become a metaphor for Tolkien's sense of good and evil as
being constantly apparent and in conflict wherever there is life.
The verse prologue twice repeats the line, "In the
Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie". The emphasis is on shadows
and darkness, and on the eventual domination of these forces. The
"One Ring" begins a phrase or a line four times, underscoring the
primary energy of this "One" in the hands of the "Dark Lord". Its
function is expanded in these lines, for it possesses the capacity
to ferret out aIl the inhabitants of Middle Earth, extinguish their
light and bind them in the darkness. Tolkien gives to Mordor the
balance of power, for as Galadriel of the elves of Lorien comments,
"through ages of the world we have fought the long defeat" (Rings
l, 462). And yet, the account of Middle Earth is marked by the
sudden almost impossible reversaIs which change defeat into vic tory.
Tolkien frequently in the trilogy uses the word "unlooked-for" when
he describes such occurrences. It i8 this quality of an unexpected
49
and joyous change of events which the Fairy-Story offers, depicting
victory out of certain defeat for those who wou1d stand with
Galadrie1 and Ganda1f against the tide of night without day. When
Gandalf is held prisoner by the treacherous Saruman in the invincible
stone tower of Orthanc, he is rescued through the "un100ked-for"
passing of a friend:
ISO it was that when summer waned, there came a night of moon, and Gwaihir the Wind10rd, swiftest of the Great Eag1es, came un1ookedfor to Orthanc; and he found me standing on the pinnac1e. Then l spoke to him and he bore me away, before Saruman was aware. l was far from Isengard, ere the wo1ves and orcs issued from the gate to pur sue me.
(Rings l, 343)
He is then able to return towards the Shire and assistFrodo's safe
passage to Rivende11. In the batt1e of He1m's Deep when the orc hosts
of Saruman appear sure to overrun the men of Rohan, Eomer remarks to
Gandalf after victory, "Once more you come in the hour of need,
un1ooked-for" (Rings II, 188). Ganda1f attributes much credit for the
victory to the courage of the men of Rohan and the good counse1 in
peril which he received from others. Yet this experience of the
"un1ooked-for" event persists throughout the narrative. It crea tes
that sense of joyous relief, communicating hope to one's awareness
despite the horrors of this wor1d.
In the essay Tolkien describes this tone as, "a piercing
glimpse of joy, and heart's desire, that for a moment passes outside
the frame, rends indeed the very web of story, and lets a gleam come
through" (On Fairy-Stories, p. 61). One is prompted to grasp the inti-
mate relation between the secondary wor1d and the primary wor1d through
this joy which gives reality a new aspect. Onels vision is essen
tially shifted, and one may glimpse something of the inner truth
which is born in these eucatastrophies, and which becomes suddenly
possible in onels own deed and word. Tolkien carries this even
further in the essay, giving an almost spiritual significance bD
this experience in the tale as, "it may be a far-off gleam or echo
of evangelium in the real world" (On Fairy-Stories, p.62). That
simile, already mentioned, which compares the joy and sorrow of
50
these tales to sharp swords, indicates the profound effect which
Tolkien is attempting to achieve in the act of sub-creation. Hope
and joy are thus basic elements in the tone of the Fairy-story, and
the degree to which they are instilled into onels perspective is one
mark of the success of the literary artiste The destruction of the
One Ring, and the ultimate defeat of Sauron and aIl his forces gives
to the trilogy this kind of consolation. The entire work delineates
the strength and aIl pervasiveness of Sauron. First Saruman the
White, a wizard, then king Théoden of Rohan, and finally Lord
Denethor of Gondor fall victim to the corruption of Mordor. Yet the
hobbit Frodo, the Ring-bearer, succeeds in entering Mordor and des
troying the Ring in the fires of Orodruin, of Mount Doom, where it was
forged. The Third Age of Middle Earth ends with this victory in the
midst of certain darkness. One is exposed to a joy which enters into
oneself, of laughter and tears, and beyond them both.
As a kind of corollary to the eucatastrophe is the com
ment which this sort of tale wou Id seem to be making concerning
e
51
death. Tolkien sees the fairy-story as offering in a diffuse sense
the escape from Death. In the secondary world of the trilogy there
are the Undying Lands of the Eldar far in the West over the sea.
Only the elves and the half-elven are permitted access to this place
on the ships which leave from the Grey Havens, tha t place to the
west of the Shire. Wizards such as Gandalf undoubtedly possess im
mortality being descended from the Eldar, the most ancient living
race in this world. But such as the hobbits, the dwarves and the men
have limited spans of life, though they often live far longer than
men in the Primary World. The union of elves and men focuses on
this problem of immortality. When Arwen, the daughter of Elrond,
the half-elven, weds Aragorn, the King of the Numenor come again to
Middle Earth, she must relinquish her place among elves in the
Undying Lands: "She was not yet weary of her days, and thus she
tasted the bitterness of the mortality that she had taken upon
her" (Rings III, 427). The sorrow of the elven-Queen is assuaged
by Aragorn's allusion to aIl the good and beauty of their life and
strugg1e in Middle Earth. Tolkien places the possibi1ities of life
in the balance against the Ifbitterness" of death. The burden of
sorrow and pain which lies on the elves and their undying lives is
apparent in that racers history in the West and in Middle Earth.
The absence of death for them do es not prec1ude sadness and loss.
The secondary world con tains mortal and immorta1 e1ements, and a
clear indication is given as to the nature of each. For Tolkien
sub-creation dea1s with life, and he is intent on giving greater
52
meaning to one' s experience, here, as one breathes and speaks. He
grants an escape into life which is bound up with new awareness, joy
and hope.
~ Lord of ~ Rings begins wi th a reference to the
eleventy-first birthday of Mr. Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit of some note in
Hobbiton in the Shire. The book ends with Sam, Merry and Pippin re
turning to the Shire after seeing Frodo, Bilbo, Gandalf and many
elves depart Middle Earth for the lands of the Eldar in the West.
Thus, the hobbits begin and end the trilogy, and this fact is a signi
ficant feature of the work. Tolkien remarks of the hobbits, that it
was their "point of view l was mainly concerned to preserve" (Rings
III, 515). The hobbits bear the closest mental, if not physical,
resemblance to people of the Primary World. Hidden away in the Shire
for long years, they have ceased to consider the outside world of
Middle Earth, nor do they have any large body of knowledge about the
nature or races of that outside world. In a sense Middle Earth is as
new to them as it is to the reader. From the outset one explores with
the hobbits this sub-creation as the vastness of Middle Earth begins
to unfold. Further, l would suggest, a shift begins to occur quite
early on in the first volume. As the scene starts to move out of the
sheltered and simple world of the Shire, the work takes on an epic
kind of stance. The hobbits are plunged into the midst of the great
affairs and forces of Middle Earth. Gandalf reveals the significance
of the One Ring which Bilbo and then Frodo possess. The Nine Black
Riders of Sauron, those mortal men turned to wraiths through Sauron's
53
control of their rings, appear in the Shire bringing terror and
shadow to the peaceful hobbits. The perspective of the hobbits in
the fellowship of the ring undergoes a rapid widening as they be
come aware of the peril and despair of their world and, as weIl, its
great capacity for good and beauty. Tolkien's mode of narrative be
comes increasingly complex in the face of the immense size of bis
secondary world. One is constantly in touch with the hobbits, and
one is consistently returned to their point of v1ew. However, the
narrative carries on to delineate the profusion of detail and event
which occur at every moment in the tale, and which do not, at least
immediately, affect the hobbits. Tolkien's role as the narrator, as
one who is rendering historical facts, allows him great freedom to
move rapidly through distance and back and forth through time. In
the trilogy, one feels intensely the presence of this narrator. On
the first level, one sees this world through the eyes of the hobbits,
but one goes on to a bigher level of perception with the historian
who has a kind of total aerial view of the sub-creation.
The trilogy comes complete with assorted and detailed
maps of Middle Earth, and an incredibly complete series of appen
dices. The latter includes the histories, languages and customs of
the various races, a complete chronological study of the events of
the three Ages, and discussions of calendars, sources and transla
tion. One senses here the scholar's habit of mind in Tolkien's being
concerned with the exact origins and structure of aIl the elements of
54
this world. Such materials make more sure oners grasp of the sub
creation, and make more profound its ultimate effect. For belief
proceeds readily from this abundance of historical and linguistic
facto The sub~creation is carried on and on, and thus its impact
upon one's sensibility is given greater force, multiplying the
initial responses until Middle Earth reveals a new and perhaps more
truthful way of looking at reality. For Tolkien the fairy-story
opera tes by "reflec ting in ~ ~R.rticular way one of Man' s visions of
Truth" ~ Fairy-Stories, p.16). But this aim depends on a construc
tion of painstaking unit y and completeness. If one can follow
Frodo's journey to Mordor on a map, or ascertain the definite loca
tions of groups in a battle, then such unit y is given further impetus.
The description of the various languages of the elves gives a new
urgency to the understanding of speech. For the thorough implica
tions of words are crucial to the process through which Tolkien is
imparting new energy to perception.
The chronological study in the Appendix ma~es quite ap
parent the rapid and numerous sequences of events which occur in
Middle Earth. Things which happen at great distance fram each other
and which seem at first unrelated are later discovered to be quite
significant. It is perhaps in the nature of history to have this
seemingly disjointed rush of events whose effects are not fully
realized for some time. In order to embody such historical material,
the structure of Tolkien's narrative is quite complexe The suunnary of
events on 15, Mar ch , 3019, gives an indication as to Tolkien's task:
55
15 In the ear1y hours the Witch-king breaks the Gates of the City. Denethor burns himse1f on a pyre. The horns of the Rohirrim are heard at cockcrow. Batt1e of the Pe1ennor. Théoden is slain. Aragorn raises the standard of Arwen. Frodo and Samwise escape and begin their journey north a10ng the Horgai. Batt1e under the trees in Mirkwood; Thrandui1 repe1s the forces of Dol Gu1dur. Second assu1t on Lorien.
(Rings III, 467)
The narrative often fo11ows one group of characters to a certain
point, and then returns back in time to another groupls para11e1
actions. One is often reminded, in the midst of an action, where
others are and what is occurring in distant corners of Middle Earth.
On this day, the 15th of Mar ch , the Batt1e of the Pe1ennor is taking
place in Gondor and Aragorn comes as the heir to the Numenorean king-
dom. Whi1e the Ring-bearer is approaching Orodruin, there is much
conf1ict throughout Middle Earth. The repetition of a given period
of time with different characters and new facets of the action, ex-
poses one to various vantage points for the same unit of time. Often
the events are quite simi1ar, being mere1y the other side of the same
series of actions. Thus, whi1e one has entered into the rea1m of
Faerie, one is neverthe1ess a1ways aware of the distinct sense in
which the narrator is recounting a history of a secondary, though
not 1ess rea1, wor1d. This ambivalent stance wou1d seem to give the
movement between the two wor1ds a more precise aspect and a greater
kind of f1uidity.
The destruction of the Ring in Orodruin is viewed three
times, each one farther away from Frodols actua1 act. The first
glimpse is of course Frodols and Samls view of the quest they have
. ' . . ~.
':-".: .:
;.:~~
56
fulfilled. AlI the horror and fires of destruction which accompany
the end of the Shadow is witnessed first hand. Following this, the
scene at the gates of Mordor is presented, as the armies of the West
led by Gandalf and Aragorn founder before the vicious onslaught of
the armies of Sauron. But Gandalf, with "unlooked-for" and sudden
hope, cries at the moment of Frodols deed, "Stand, Men of the West~
Stand and wait~ This is the hour of doom" (Rings III, 279). The
will of the Dark Lord goes out of his hosts, and the scene resounds
with the sound of the Enemyls downfall, of new hope for the West.
Finally, after the victory here and the rescue of Frodo and Sam, one
is returned to Minas Tirith in Gondor. Eowyn, the daughter of
Théoden of Rohan and Faramir, one of the sons of Lord Denethor of
Gond or , wander in the Rouses of Realing recavering from the Battle
of the Pelennor Fields. They stand on the Eastern wall gazing toward
Mordor, waiting for a sign:
And so they stood on the walls of the City of Gondor, and a great wind rose and blew, and their hair, raven and golden, streamed out mingling in the air. And the Shadow departed, and the Sun was unveiled, and light leaped forth; and the waters of Anduin shone like silver, and in aIl the houses of the City men sang for the joy that welled up in their hearts from what source they could not tell.
(Rings III, 297)
The darkness is dispelled and light and joy leap within them and
everywhere in the land. Tolkien wishes to make the reader rub his
eyes with the tears and the light which overwhelm the people of this
city. By showing the main eucatastrophe of the story in terms of three
different settings, he builds the sense of joy and hope outwards, from
the ruins of the burning mountain, to Gondor, and to onels own vital
e relation with reality.
The tale of Middle Earth must reflect for Tolkien,
elemental truth concerning the Primary World. The hobbits speak
often, self-consciously, of their quest as a tale, wondering how
it will come out. Sam and Frodo discuss their appearance in the
tale, "Still, 1 wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or
57
tales" (Rings II, 408). They specula te as to the outcome of tales,
concluding that tales do not seem to end, but simply change char
acters and continue on. This conception of the tale as growing out
of life, of its being an important quality of the articulations of
life, is central to Tolkienls aesthetic. For the sub-creation of the
tale is, in the sense which the hobbits speak of stories and songs,
an extension of life. Its highest function becomes the new, pure
and more profound meaning it can give to the deed and the word of
onels own tale, onels own experience of life.
CHAPTER. IV
THE ~ OF THE~: THE CREATION OF INHABITANTS
59
In the essay ~Fairy-Stories, Tolkien states that the
realm of Faerie is inhabited by aIl manner of living things. The
world of The Lord of the Rings would certainly seem to bear out this
comment. One is confronted at once, in the trilogy, with the im
mense range of its inhabitants, beginning with the verse prologue of
the work. The lines here give an introduction to some of the more
crucial races of the realm, Elves, Dwarves, Men and that of the Dark
Lord. The inhabitsnts of Tolkien's sub-creation are an initial mode
of delineating the nature of that world, of giving it energy and move
ment. This is evident in The Hobbit, and would seem to be even more
the case in the trilogy. For one ~ains the primary insight into the
vastness of Middle Earth through the numerous varieties of life it
contains. The creation of such life becomes one of the prerequisite
tasks in the construction of a secondary world. For Tolkien, the
process of conceiving new races and of rediscovering known ones, is
bound up with language and the motions of the study of language. It
is language which distinguishes the races and gives them their essen
tial characteristics. Further, the belief in such races emerges
from that thorough and minute linguistic method which is typical of
Tolkien, the scholar. In one of the Appendices to the work, Tolkien
describes the language most prevalent in Middle Earth at the time of
this tale, called the Westron or Common Speech. At this point he
assumes the role of translator as he renders the Westron, in which
the history of the Ages of Middle Earth is written, into English.
Only the more ancient tongues, far removed from the Common Speech,
60
are 1eft in their original forme Because of this translation, "the
difference between the varieties observable in the use of the Westron
has been 1essened" (Rings III, 513). This device of giving the
Fantasy a historical perspective, here through the allusion to lan
guage deve10pment and translations, has already been mentioned as
a most important aspect of the sub-creation of Middle Earth. Tolkien
often uses this method in the shorter fairy-stories, as has previous
ly been seen, and it is a basic element in the composition of this
tale.
This conversion of Westron into English has certain ad
vantages for Tolkien's process of sub-creation. For with the ancient
tongues, though these he must invent, the unique characteristics of
the particular race proceed quite readily. However with these races
which are now made to speak English, Tolkien must indicate distinc
tions through variations in the kinds of English which are spoken.
Further, Tolkien transposes many of the Westron names of people and
places into English. This makes more effective the names le ft in
the ancient tongues giving them that sense of a distant and valiant
pasto It also allows Tolkien to exercise his ability to manipula te
the sound and meaning of words and produce names which contribute
greatly to the Enchantment of the Fantasy. The Appendix note on
translation gives the various derivations of many of the names in the
work. Such explanations are made within the context of the history
of language in Middle Earth, showing the development from the
tongues of the Eldar and Edain of the first age. Tolkien includes
61
much detail on the translation from the Westron, with material on
consonants, vowels and stress. He is intent on including one even
in the mechanical apparatus with which he approaches the problem of
rendering the Westron into English.
In the essay, Tolkien alludes to the question of good
and evil as it is a concern of the fairy-story. He comments on the
basic interest in getting, "the Right side and the Wrong side clear •
• For that is a question equally important in H1story and in Faerie"
(Q!!. Fairy-Stories, p.38). The inhabitants of Middle Earth partake
in this distinction between a good and a bad side. The language
plays a vital role in one1s recognition of the stance of an inhabi-
tant, or in one1s detecting of a shi ft from the light of the West
to the Shadow of Mordor. Indeed it is the speech of an elf or an
orc which gives one the most complete glimpse into the nature of
those races. For Tolkien, language is the profoundest expression
of being, and it betrays utterly the fundamental nature of life,
the particular cosmology of a race.
The Prologue of The Lord of the Rings contains much
information dealing with the race of Hobbits. They are described as
a people who "love peaee and quiet and good tilled earth: a well-
ordered and well-farmed countryside was their favourite haunt"
(Rings I, 19). A little more than half the height of men, theyare
merry and fond of good food and drink. Yet there is a certain
toughness in them, and an undaunted will to su~ive and secure again
62
their kind of peaceful existence. Up to the time of this tale, the
hobbits were largely unknown or forgotten in Middle Earth. But
Gandalf the Grey, a wizard knew of them and sensed the basic strength
and goodness of this race which lived in elaborate and luxurious
holes, smoking pipe-weed and eating as many as six meals a day. It
is he who prompts Elrond to include Merry and Pippin in the
Pellowship, and he considers that only a hobbit could withstand the
Ring long enough in order to complete the quest of its destruction.
When Prodo cames to Rivendell for the council of Elrond, he has es-
caped by the merest chance the Black Riders of Mordor. AlI the lore
of the Half-elven was needed to cure the wound in his shoulder that
he received on Weathertop from the leader of the Ringwraiths. Yet
when aIl is finally said at the council, he feels intensely the task
he must set himself though he longs for the quiet of his Sbire:
A great dread fell on him, as if he was awaiting the pronouncement of some doom that he had long foreseen and vainly hoped might after aIl never be spoken. An overwhelming longing to rest and remain at peace by Bilbo's side in Rivendell filled his heart. At last with an effort he spoke, and wondered to hear his own words, as if some other will was using his small voice.
'1 will take the Ring,' he said, 'though l do not know the way.' (Rings l, 354)
Prodo here reveals the hobbit's deep impulse to defend the life which
they love so enthusiastically. Often the resources that lie within
them surprise even themselves. In spite of the uncertainties which
he expresses in the phrase, "1 do not know the way", Prodo is pre-
pared to venture into the shadow, into hopeless terror and darkness.
Por Tolkien, the hobbits are the race who embody a view of life which
is to a great extent fundamental and unaffected. It is this qua lit Y
of basic delight in life which begins to account for a hobbit's
being capable of far more than a surface simplicity would suggest.
Frodo exhibits a sure sense of his place in the world of Middle
Earth, a deep awareness of his identity as a hobbit of the Shire.
63
He possesses the resolute dignity of a race which proceeds from this
certainty in self and in one's life style. He feels that it is his
duty to maintain this hobbit-like stance, to preserve the special
kind of order of which hobbits are so fond. Tolkien's statement
that it was the fairy-story which first taught him to be aware of
the wonder of su ch as bread or stone or trees, is relevant here.
For it i8 the hobbits who would teach one the essential joy in the
matter of life. Without such a profound appreciation, without this
thorough grasp of the infinite particles of life, then the further
reserves of strength and courage would not seem possible.
When Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry first leave the
Shire pursued by the Black Riders, they meet some elves along the Old
Forest Road. Sam's description of the experience is typical: l~ell,
sir, if l could grow apples like that, l would calI myself a garden
er. But it was the singing that went to my heart, if you know what
l mean" (Rings l, 121). The enchanting ways of the elves are trans
lated into the hobbit's own terms. He fastens on their fruit, for
such things are a delight to him. Sam is a gardener and it is with
this comparison that he attempts to 8um up his reaction to them. The
effect of the elven-songs on him is difficult to adequately put into
words. Sam merely remarks that it "went to my heart", referring to
e
64
the total response he felt by this allusion to that place where aIl
breath and feeling is. The phrases, ''WeIl, sir,1f and "if you know
what l mean1f convey the almost rustic aspect of the hobbit as he at-
temps to get clear his thought on the meeting with the elves.
Pippin recalls the bread as "surpassing the savour of a fair white
loaf to one who is starving" (Rings l, 121). The comparison of the
great plenty of the elven-bread, with the state of a starving
hobbit, makes more enjoyable the elven-meal. This appreciation of
things through a joy in the actual fact of their presence is char-
acteristic of the hobbit, reflecting his capacity for continually
making experience n~w and fresh.
As the book progresses the hobbits are of course
changed by their many travels and adventures in Middle Earth.
Though the texture of their speech i8 slightly altered, it never-
theless always contains this striking intimacy with the objects and
actions of life. Frodo, who is an exceptionally learned hobbit,
being Bilbo's nephew, speaks with less of the rustic quality appar-
ent in Sam or Pippin. Yet he is very much a hobbit and bis speech
clearly indicates this. In the midst of the horror of Cirith Ungol,
Sam wishes for the end of the quest:
'And then we can have some rest and some sleep,' said Sam. He laughed grimly. 'And l mean just that, Mr. Frodo. l mean plain ordinary rest, and sleep, and waking up to a morning's work in the garden. l'm afraid that's aIl l'm hoping for aIl the time. AlI the big important plans are not for my sort.
(Rings II, 408)
But Frodo describes the darkness of their present state: "step or
65
stone, breath or bone. Earth, air and water aIl seem accursed. But
so our path is laid" (Rings II, 407). Sam' s plea for a return to
plain sleep and gardening is juxtaposed against the foulness of the
basic elements of Mordor. The hobbits object to the scene in terms
of the perversion of those elements which for them are the first
principles of perception. The relationship between Frodo and Sam is
glimpsed here. For that sense of order and dut y which distinguishes
Sam's attitude toward Frodo, parallels Frodo's notion of the impor-
tance of the Fellowship which was formed in Rivendell. While Sam
alludes to the more basic qualities of life,Frodo in a kind of
austere voice, speaks of the almost epic elements which are vital to
his vision. Sam's concern is with the "plain ordinary" aspects of
life, while Frodo points to the actual physical stance of life which
is inherent in action, 1Is tep", and "breath". The rhyme of stone and
bone links the materials of the world and the body, for a hobbit con-
sistently asserts his established place in Middle Earth, his inti-
macy with the structure of his world. When Frodo comes very close to
Mount Doom, and the anguish of the ring is grea tly upon him, he seems
to lose hold on his vision of the world:
No taste of food, no feel of water, no sound of wind, no memory of tree or grass or flower, no image of moon or star are left to me. l am naked in the dark, Sam, and there is no veil between me and the wheel of fire. l begin to see it even with my waking eyes, and aIl else fades.'
(Rings III, 264)
He is fighting against the overwhelming darkness and corrupting fires
of an enemy who would blot out the keen sense of purity and beauty
with which Frodo sees life. The hobbit is accustomed to a world in
66
which aIl his senses are able to operate with a creative energy.
The clean feel of water, or the soothing sound of wind lies at the
root of the new way of seeing the world which Tolkien is attempting
to impart in the fairy-story. In the agony of Frodo's loss of these
things, one recognizes their sound and touch, and one is prompted,
by Frodo's and Sam's insistence on their value, to re-crea te one's
own relationship with these things.
The poetry of the hobbits sheds still further light
on their nature. Sam's composition about trolls cheers the hobbits
as they journey tbrough danger and fear toward Rivendell:
Troll sat alone on his seat of stone, And munched and mumbled a bare old bone;
For many a year he had gnawed it near, For meat was hard to come bYe
Done by! Gum by! In a cave in the hills he dwelt alone,
And meat was hard to come bYe (Rings I, 276)
The lines make free use of alliteration and internaI rhyme. The ef-
fect of these devices is heightened by the repetitions of sense, and
the use of the refrain, "Done by! Gum by!", a11 of which give a
lighthearted and amusing motion to the stanza. The hobbit's aim of
preserving good spirits is the intent of the poem. Though its con-
tent is somewhat limited, ita appeal lies in the almost frivolous
manner in which the troll, his stone cave and his bone are presented.
The fearsome troll is absurdly depicted through the image of a wretch
who must gnaw on the same bone for many years due to the scarcity of
meat. The steadfast will of the hobbit, which lies beneath this
e happy exterior, is revealed in Bilbo's "Walking-Song":
The Road goes ever on and on Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone, And l must follow, if l can,
Pursuing it with eager feet, Until it joins some larger way
Where Many paths and errands meet. And whither then? l cannot say.
(Rings l, 62)
67
The metaphor of life as a journey which must be pursued eagerly des-
pite its length and uncertainties, is, in a sense, the crucial philo-
sophical stance of the hobbit. Bilbo, early on in the trilogy sings
these lines, and the road of the four hobbit members of the
Fellowship does go "on and on" through great hardship. The song is
repeated three times, once by Frodo soon after and twice with some
variation towards the end of the tale, by old Bilbo in Rivendell,
and again by Frodo on the way to the Grey Havens. These last two
versions speak of a resting place beyond "some larger way / Where
Many paths and errands meet." For the tale must end for Frodo and
Bilbo, though others will go "Down from the door" of their cozy
homes to follow resolutely the way ahead. For the emphasis in the
song is on movement, with almost every line containing an active
verb. The words trace a path which goes "on", and ''Down'', and "far
ahead" to a "larger way". Along the road the hobbits glimpse Many
scenes which make their journey dark or light. Frodo sings of a
particularly grim event, the fall of Gandalf in the Mines of Moria:
He stood upon the bridge alone and Fire and Shadow both defiedj his staff was broken on the stone, in Khazad-dftm his wisdom died.
(Rings 1, 466)
68
The hobbit gives an accurate and terse description of the bitter
10ss of Ganda1f. The rhyme of "a10ne" with "stone" focuses on the
courage needed to face the co1d and hard foes of Middle Earth. The
linking of "defied" and "died" point to the grave risk invo1ved in
the task of the Fe11owship. Tolkien writes that, "It was Frodo who
first put something of his sorrow into halting words" (Rings l, 465).
This need to articula te the sorrow, and the joy too, is bound up
with the hobbit's deep awareness of the importance of a c1ear and
basic view of life. The stanza here opposes the "Pire and Shadow"
with the "staff" and Ifwisdomlf of Ganda1f. For this race of the
Shire, bred in the 1ight which Ganda1f represents, emerges as a
va liant foe to the menace of Mardor.
The e1ves, who are descended from the E1dar, are the
most ancient race in Middle Earth, excepting perhaps the Ents who
will be considered further on. In the Appendix, Tolkien comments
on the importance of this ancient quality: "Yet in those days a11
the enemies of the Enemy revered what was ancient, in language no
1ess than in other matters, and they took p1easure in it according
to their know1edge lf (Rings III, 514). This fundamenta1 interest in
the past becomes a means of combating the shadow. For Tolkien, the
1ight of the peop1es of the West burns brightest when it is infused
with a11 the works and deeds of a11 who have been since the E1dar
first came to the Undying Lands. A11 through the tri10gy the de
fenders of the West emp10y the weapons, songs "and strategy of the
e1ves, and it is undying e1ves as E1rond and Ga1adrie1 who play a
69
vital role in the War of the Ring. The elves are the embodiment of
the ancient craft and beauty, it flows from their speech and
presence, it is alive in their poetry and in their way of life. The
members of the Fellowship are renewed and strengthened by them, and
Tolkien would seem to suggest that in a paraI leI sense, one is
affected by Fantasy. For the elves are the essence of Enchantment,
and the most perfectly skilled in its construction.
In this Secondary World, it is the elves who began
language and writing. Tolkien carefully delineates the alphabets they
developed, the Tengwar or letters, and the Certar or runes. Though
various examples of these appear throughout the narrative, on inscrip-
tions, in spells, or briefly amongst the learned, the elves are made
to speak English. The elvish tongues, which are the design of
Tolkien, evoke a profound belief in, and response to the Fantasy, for
language is life and the consciousness of being. But the English
translation, and the descriptions of the race, perform this function
in equal measure, giving form and breath to the elves. In Rivendell,
the hobbits see Arwen, Elrond's daughter, who was also named Undomiel,
being the Evenstar of the elves:
Young she was and yet not so. The braids of her dark hair were touched by no frost; her white arma and clear face were flawless and smooth, and the light of stars was in her bright eyes, grey as a cloudless night; yet queenly she looked, and thought and knowledge were in her glance, as of one who has known many things that the yeara bring.
(Rings l, 299)
The description of her shadows forth a new way of valuing and perceiv-
ing reality, which ia implicit in elvish Enchantment. Tolkien makes
70
the qualities of the fair elven-maid embody aIl the ancient wonder
and wisdom in the craft of this race. Though her look has aIl the
perfection of youth, she has the knowledge of many years. Paradox
would seem to be basic to the elves, for each member of the race has
within him aIl that has gone before and aIl that is still to be. The
elves are in a sense outside of time, moving in a dimension which
continually accumula tes thought and experience giving them infini te
life and energy. "The light of stars was in her eyes" means that
quite distinctly her eyes participate in such light, for being the
Evenstar of her people she imparts meaning to the evening skye The
metaphor of a spring which carries on through aIl the seasons is
here in this depiction of Arwen, for the elves transform reality with
dynamic youth, though they do not grow old. Tolkien regroups the
words, which articulate experience, to sub-create the elves. For the
elves are craft itself, the first makers and the first to give mean
ing. Perception for them originates at the beginning of aIl ages,
and carries on even through the dominion of the Shadow. Meaning
for them is the profoundest awareness of and the most intimate prox
imity to life. It is from here that their Enchantment proceeds and
one is inevitably caught up in the process whereby they transform
aIl the facets of one's own reality.
Galadriel, the elven-lady of Lothlorien, gives to Frodo
the Ring-bearer, a phial which contains the light of Earendil's star
derived from a silmaril. When the hobbit is in the midst of the
darkest terror of the servants of Mordor, he takes out the phial
71
from his cloak. When he strives with the Lord of the Nine Wraiths,
it is this which allows him to thwart the will of the Margul-king:
"As he touched it, for a while aIl thought of the Ring was banished
from his mind" (Rings II, 401). The elven-light swiftly alters the
darkness, moving one's sensibility to the first beauty and good of
the West. The phial's enchantment becomes a reflection of the over-
aIl enchantment of Fantasy. The elven-poetry operates in the same
mode as Galadriel's light. Frodo's experience of it in Rivendell is
significant:
At first the beauty of the melodies and the interwoven words in the Elven-tongue, even though he understood them little, held him in a spell, as soon as he began to attend to them. Almost it seemed that the words took shape, and visions of far lands and bright things that he had never yet imagined opened out before him; and the firelit hall became like a golden mist above seas of foam that sighed upon the margins of the world.
(Rings l, 307)
The primary effect of such poetry is to envelop one in the melody and
the scenes which the words depict. One loses consciousness of immed-
iate surroundings, entering the ancient and timeless world which is
the life of the elves. It is a poetry of utter involvement because
this race lives in a fusion of aIl time and aIl place. Legolas, the
member of the Fellowship who represents the elves, proves a valiant
and faithful companion. Though he has lived long in Middle Earth, in
the forests of Mirkwood, the longing of the sea and the West, which
aIl elves possess, is deep within him. The elvish sense of age and
beauty is frequently apparent in his speech:
'And l,' said Legolas, 'shall walk in the woods of this fair land, which is rest enough. In days to come, if my Elven-lord allows, some of our folk shall remove hither; and when we come it
shall be blessed,for a while. For a while: a month, a life, a hundred years of Men. But Anduin is near, and Anduin leads down to the Sea. To the Sea!
(Rings III, 289)
72
The phrases he uses refer to the time and the distance of his race,
and the essential sensitivity to a "fair land" which is all the
sustenance he needs. But the Third Age of Middle Earth sees an end
to the Eldar in its lands, and they pass over the sea in sadness and
song. For Tolkien, however, their enchantment lingers on: it is
there in pure perception and in the beautiful and ancient qualities
of this world.
In the Appendix, Tolkin describes the coming of the
Istari, or Wizards, to Middle Earth. They emerge out of the West to
aid in the combat against the Shadow of Sauron: '~ey came there-
fore in the shape of Men, though they were never young and aged only
slcwly, and they had many powers of mind and hand" (Rings III, 455).
The wizards would seem to share in the qualities of the elves, and
they are a force for light and counsel in Middle Earth. Yet they too
are susceptible to the corruption of Mordor, and one of their order,
Saruman the White, betrays them and comes under the sway of the Shadow.
Gandalf, the Grey, plays the greatest role in the wizards' defense
of the West. He is depicted, in Rivendell, as a man of great wisdom
and strength alongside the elven-lords: Elrond and Glorfindel:
Gandalf was shorter in stature than the other two; but his long white hair, his sweeping silver beard, and his broad shoulders, made him look like some wise king of ancient legend. In his aged face under great snowy brows his dark eyes were set like coals that could leap suddenly into fire.
(Rings l, 299)
73
The association of profound wisdom and age is used by Tolkien to
portray Gandalf as a"wise king" in the affairs of this world. The
skills of the elves are partially shared by Gandalf, and the image
of his eyes as fiery coals prepares one for the blinding light of
which his staff 1s capable. His speech exudes a sense of solidity,
and faith in the possibility of coming through the perilous times
if one would trust in hope, courage and clear thought. Thus in the
last counsel after the vic tory of the Pelennor Fields, Gandalf
speaks of the only course that he sees left to them:
'We must walk open-eyed into that trap, with courage, but small hope for ourselves. For, my lords, it may weIl prove that we ourselves shall perish utterly in a black battle far from the living lands; so tbat even if Barad-dOr be thrown down, we shall not live to see a new age. But this, l deem, is our duty. And better so than to perish nonetheles8 -- as we surely shall, if we sit here -- and know as we die that no new age sball be.'
(Rings III, 191-192)
Gandalf advises a dangerous course which would give hope to later
ages, rather than an end to aIl light in their despairing 'death.
A march on the gates of Mordor, though futile, would give Frodo a
greater chance to fulfill his quest by diverting Sauron to the en-
snar1ng of the armies of the West. The quiet yet stern appeal for
the adherence to the road which has been laid for them, cbaracter-
ize8 the wizard's words here and throughout the trilogy. Gandalf
expresses the importance of one's sense of dut y, of seeing the
struggle through to its conclusion. It i8 this quality in the
hobbits which Gandalf is weIl aware of when he entrusts the Ring to
them.
74
The wizard becomes, in a sense, the expression of the
"unlooked-for" quality of the fairy-story. As he appears throughout
aIl the lands of Middle Earth bringing word of fair and evil deeds,
marshaling effective opposition to Sauron, he is hope and light in
the onrushing darkness. Aragorn remarks tbat, "The Dark Lord has
Nine: But we have One, mightier than they: The White Rider"
(Rings II, 133). For after his fall in Moria, Gandalf returns again
as the head of his order, Gandalf the White, displacing the traitor
ous Saruman. He bears the wisdom of old, and his person is,
"shining now as if with some light kindled within, bent, laden with
years, but holding a power beyond the strength of kings" (Rings II,
133). Tolkien gives the wiz~rd the leadership in the War of the
Ring. It is he who calls forth the deepest resources of the inhabi
tants of the West, urging the eucatastrophic possibility to its
culmination.
The Dwarves of Middle Earth are a tough and laborious
race, "lovers of stone, of gems, of things that take shape under the
hands of the craftsmen rather than of things that live by their own
life" (Rings III, 512). Gimli, the dwarf representative in the
Fellowship, is typical of the inward and severe nature of his race.
As the Company leaves Rivendell on their quest, his appearance is
described: "Gimli the dwarf alone wore openly a short shirt of steel
rings, for dwarves make light of burdens; and in his belt was a
broad-bladed axe" (Rings 1,365-366). 'l'he "steel-ring" and the "axe"
are significant features of the dwarf, for his race have a profound
75
intimacy with things of stone and steel, with hard and cold mater-
ials. Indeed, it was instilled in them from the earliest beginning.
Dur in , the eldest Father of their race, built his dwelling in the
Misty MOuntains, which became known as the mines of Moria. Khazad-
dftm it was called, being the place of the Khazad or Dwarves. This
place, a vast underground city in the heart of the stone mountains,
was for long known for its power and splendour, and the great riches
of the mining dwarves. Yet in the third age it was taken and fouled
by the shadow, and at the time of the trilogy, a darkness for ores
and the Balrog.
Middle Earth contains many mountains and caves which
are perhaps the very heart of the dwarf. Gimli's description for
Legolas of the caves of Helm's Deep gives an indication as to the
truth of this fact:
'And, Legolas, when the torches are kindled and men walk on the sandy floors under the echoing domes, ah~ then, Legolas, gema and crystals and veins of precious ore glint in the polished walls; and the light glows through folded marbles, shell-like, translucent as the living hands of Queen Galadriel. There are columns of white and safron and dawn-rose, Legolas, fluted and twisted into dreamlike forma; they spring up from many-coloured floors to meet the glistening pendants of the roof:
(Rings II, 194).
The sensibility of the dwarf comes alive in such caves. Confronted
with the glit~er and the strength of such vaults, Gimli is much
moved. The lines he speaks are rich with colour and shape, and he is
concerned to detail aIl the materials which are to be found here.
The comparison of light glowing through marble with the elven-bands
of Galadriel is significant. For the dwarf, such matter is life and
76
his perception is conditioned by this deep response to stone and gem.
But the elves are closely allied to starlight or the forest of
Lorien, and beauty for them is within their own race. The structure
of Gimli's description reveals the laborious builder, for he begins
with the floor, and goes on to the walls, the columns, and then the
roof with all its"glistening pendants". He is aware of geometric
shape and pattern and knows the craftsman' s work of "fluting" or
"tWisting". The dwarves are terribly proud of their worka and guard
their lives with the savagery of the smith or the mason as they beat
and hammer steel and stone. Their language is little known, for it
is revealed to no one outside their race. It is an ancient tongue
which contains much of their lore in such matters as building. Gimli
speaks a few words of it in battle, "Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd aimênu!
'Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you! '" (Rings III, 513).
There is a certain hardness to the speech, in the sound of "k" and
"d". Even in Gimli' s English speech, this qua lit Y is often there,
if not in the sound, then in the sense. Thus he complains to
Legolas, "Men need many words before deeds. My axe is restless in my
hands" (Rings II, 163). Yet Gimli the dwarf ia much affected by the
sight of Galadriel in Lorien, and he carries her memory and a lock of
her hair with him through aIl the perils of the war. The Appendix
notes that Gimli went with Legolas over the seas, a startling event
in view of the dwarves' love of Middle Earth, and the final removal
by the Eldar of the Undying Lands from aIl who were mortal. Perhaps
even the toughness of the dwarves is not able to resist the lure of
77
the elven-enchantment, of the infinite vision of that race.
lt is a curious aspect of the trilogy that one is more
inclined to take on the basic point of view of the hobbits than of
the men in the tale. For the latter are farther removed from the
reader than the hobbits through their close association with the
elves and the ancient and kingly quality with which they are imbued.
Tolkien has perhaps structured the tale in this way because of his
aim of giving new energy and dimension to sensibility. By plac1ng
the men in his tale in a partially inaccessible and somewhat alien
mode of life, he forces one to begin with different races and the
perceptions of reality which they embody. Since the hobbits would
seem to be a people of similar habits to men in the Primary World,
they serve as a more graduaI introduction to the inhab1tants of
Fantasy. The first glimpse of Aragorn, the heir to the Numenorean
kings, occurs when the hobbits arrive at the inn in Bree. Here he
is called Strider, and he 1s "a strange-Iooking weather-beaten man,
sitting in the shadows near the wall ••• " (Rings l, 214). After
the sundering of the realm of Numenor, 'which had grown to splendour
and power, some of the faithful of this race came to Middle Earth,
and they estab1ished the North and South kingdoms of Arnor and
Gondor. But the line of kings faltered, and with the strength of
the shadow, the Numenor dwindled in Middle Earth. The heirs went
into hiding in Rivendell becoming Rangers or Dunedain of the North.
Yet the works of the Numenor were closely tied to the lost realm
which the Eldar had given them beyond the sea, and there still
78
existed at this time the great city in Gondor, Minas Tirith.
Aragorn, a concealed ranger in Bree, returns as king by the tale's
end, through severe peril and shadow. The concept of an almost
royal race of men is the central form in which men appear in the
book. Though lesser men are referred to, they are barely evident
in the narrative. In the essay On Fairy-Stories, Tolkien comments
that the realm of Fantasy contains "mortal men, when we are
enchanted". This imperial quality of the men in the trilogy, along
with their past in an elven realm of vast splendour, would seem to
constitute the Enchantment of these mortal men. The invincible
courage and perseverance of Aragorn through aIl the years of his
long trial distinguishes the Numenor. When Aragorn reveals himself,
it is in the images of a king and great light: '~or a moment it
seemed to the eyes of Legolas that a white flame flickered on the
brows of Aragorn like a shining crown". (Rings II,44). The elven
strain, which is evident at once in the union of Aragorn and Arwen,
allows the man to be part of that race's energy and capacity for
beauty.
The speech of the men in the trilogy has an antique
feature, for it is from them that the Westron originates, and they
still retain some of its more ancient qualities despite the changes
which for example the Hobbits make in their more rustic use of it.
Many of the words of the men reflect therefore tneir ancient history
and as weIl the strong elven-influence. Tolkien often has Aragorn
speak words such as "thou art", "aright", "10", "alas" or "hither",
79
and his poetry is of the first unions of elves and men. The men of
Gondor, as Boromir, are delineated in similar fashion, with close
attention to their ancient strength and deep pride in their kingdom
and city. This valiant facet of the Dunedain and those of Gondor is
also apparent in the Rohirrim, the horse-lords of Rohan:
Their horses were of great stature, strong and clean-limbed; their grey coats glistened, their long tails flowed in the wind, their manes were braided on their proud necks. The Men tbat rode them matched them weIL: tall and long-limbed; their hair, flaxenpale, flowed under their light helms, and streamed in long braids behind them; their faces were stern and keen. In their hands were tall spears of ash, painted shields were slung at their backs, long swords were at their belts, their burnished shirts of mail hung down upon their knees.
(Rings II, 40-41)
The imagery Tolkien uses to de scribe them is of the kind which re-
lates them to the Lords of men. The majesty of the rulers is com-
plemented by that of their horses who are descended from the first
and proudest line of such beasts. The transition from the horses to
the men is uninterrupted, for the two seem to run together. Both
have long braided, fair hair, and are "stern and keen" in appear-
ance. The weapons of battle are an essential aspect of the men of
Rohan, and indeed of aIl men in Middle Earth. Spears, shields, swords
and mail, aIL arranged with precision on their bodies, impart that
sense of epic struggle in which the men of the trilogy are involved.
Aragorn reforges the broken sword of Elendil as he goes to battle
the hosts of Mordor. The tools of battle become an important part
of the terms in which the men are portrayed in the Fantasy. For they
add to the size and heroic quality of men in a state of Enchantment.
80
The Ents are perhaps the strangest inhabitants of
Tolkien's sub-creation. They are the most ancient form of life in
Middle Earth, and they were known to the Eldar. Merry and Pippin
come upon the oldest Ent in Fangorn Wood, Treebeard, "a large Man-
like, almost Troll-like, figure, at least fourteen feet h1gh, very
sturdy, with a taU head, and hardly any neck" (Rings II, 83).
The Ents would seem to combine great age and keen perception of the
present, and so they are similar to the elves, though more change-
able as Treebeard points out. When he refers to the hobbits as
"hast y" in giving him their names, it is a significant indication
as to his nature. For the language of the Ents does not permit
haste, as Treebeard remarks: nIt 1s a lovely language, but it takes
a very long time to say anything in it, because we do not say any-
thing in it, unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to
listen to" (Rings II, 86). Tolkien's conception of the Ent stems
from the consideration of a tree as a living and ancient thing
whose roots go far down 1nto the inner substance of the world."
The Ents' language has aIl meaning that ever was put into its words
and sounds:
The language that they had made was unlike aIl others: slow, sonorous, agglomerated, repetitive, indeed long-winded; formed of a multiplicity of vowel-shades and distinctions of tone and quantity which even the lore-masters of the Eldar had not attempted to represent in writing. They used it only among themselves; but they had no need to keep it secret, for no others could learn it.
(Rings III, 510)
If an Ent were to give you his name, it would take considerable time,
being the record of aIl his being, aIl that he has ever done or
e thought. The councils of the Ents also go on for great periods of
time. For if they speak of a hill, they do not use such a hasty
word for something which has been formed over a grea t span of
years. Yet in the trilogy, the Ents a~e roused, and they revenge
the wanton destruction of their forests by Saruman and the Ores.
The Ents are fond of elvish languages and their songs of the Lost
Entwives are related to the poetry of the elves. They keep large
lists of aIl the inhabitants of Middle Earth, and for Tolkien,
they are the living roots of aIl language and culture of his
Secondary World. For the Ents are inside of things, beyond the
surface of reality and they have an ingenuous grasp of life.
81
When the hobbits leave the Shire and pass through the
Old Forest on their way to Rivendell, they encounter Tom Bombadil,
another singular inhabitant of Middle Earth. The energy of Bombadil,
the actual mechanism of life within him, is poetry. lt is poetry
of an easy movement and light rhythm, which touches on the world
with a simple and essential beauty. Frodo describes it as differ
ent than the spell of elves: "less keen and lofty was the delight,
but deeper and nearer to mortal heart; marvellous and yet not
strangeft (Rings l, 173). Gandalf in the Council of Elrond refers
to Bombadil as the First to inhabit Middle Earth. He becomes in a
sense the movement of the landscape, the capability of delight which
is in it. His poetry controls his world, and he is able to command,
in verse, the Old Man Willow or the Barrow-wight to do his bidding.
For Bombadil, perception is the rhythm and sound of this poetry:
• Now let the song begin! Let us sing together Of sun, stars, moon and mist, rain and clo~y weather, Light on the budding leaf, dew on the feather, Wind on the open hill, bel1s on the heather, Reeds by the shady pool, lilies on the water: Old Tom Bombadil and the River-daughter!
(Rings I, 171)
The alliteration and rhyme which the hobbits use is here even more
the case in these lines. The use of the caesura is typical of
Bombadil, as he gives a breathing movement ta his depiction of the
82
landscape. The parallel structure within the line divisions focuses
attention on the exact detail which each phrase contains about a
"leaf", or a "feather", "a hilP' or the tlheather". The allusion to
the numerous forces of the world,aa "sun" or 'Tain", is carried from
the list of the second line, to an individual application of each to
a segment of Tomls surroundings. Bombadil, his very name contains
the rhythm of his speech, resides beyond the Shadow, for he came
before it, and would leave only after its complete dominion.
Tolkien makes Tom the pure poetic extension of the hobbits' relation
to life, for he adds to their elemental concern in bread or the
garden, a lyrical motion and deeper feel for commonplace beauty.
The Shadow of Mordor, and its Master, Sauron, contains
the dark inhabitants and foes of the races of the West. The quali-
ties of those who are bred ~ Sauron are glimpsed in the corrupted
figures of Saruman and Gollum, one formerly a wizard, and the other
closely related to a hobbit. The voice and speech of Saruman re-
flect an essential duplicity.When Gandalf speaks with him amid the
83
ruins of Isengard, he attempts to conceal his motives under the guise
of a gentle voice and the demeanor of a mistreated old man. The
spell he casts makes the voices of Gandalf or Théoden seem harsh and
unwise. Yet Gandalf breaks the spell, lIIn the language of Orthanc
help means ruin, and saving means·slaying, that is plain" (Rings II,
235). Saruman's mode of darkness is to bring aIl under his domina-
tion through speech which would persuade one tha t here is "help" and
"saving". The distortion of meaning and sense which is apparent here
is a vital aspect of Sauron. Tolkien senses that language can be used
to deprive meaning. In addition to infusing new energy into the ex-
pression of being, language May also deaden such articulation, per-
verting one's awareness of life. But in Gollum one sees the consum-
ing agony of the Dark Lord's evil as it destroys the insides like
creeping disease. Gollum, who long had the ring deep in the Misty
MOuntains, has been infected with its design, a design which was
formed from aIl the Shadows of Sauron. He refers to himself in the
plural, as "us", unable to separate himself from the Ring and its
power:
'Don't kill us,' he wept. 'Don't hurt us with nassty cruel steel! Let us live, yes, live just a little longer. Lost lost! We're lost. And when Precious goes we'll die, yes, die into the dust.' He clawed up the ashes of the path with his long fleshless fingers. 'Dusst!' he hissed.
(Rings III, 272-273)
The slimy wretch he has become is heard in his hissing, in the whin-
ing of this "s" sound in his words, "nassty" , "precious". The
creature is torn between the torture of the ring'spossession and the
agony of its loss. He wishes to live, yet he is "lost" in the ash
84
and dust of the decayed land of Mordor. In the moment when he bites
the ring-finger off Frodo's hand, and the ring is his, he cries,
nprecious, precious, precious! ••• My Precious! 0 my Precious!" (Rings
III, 275). He then fa11s to his death, and the end of the Ring comes
in Orodruin's fires. The repetition of the word in the sickening mad-
ness of his being, i11ustrates the total sense in which the ring and
the desire for it bzs enve10ped him. The nature of Sauron is p1ain1y
seen in the misery of a creature who was once hobbit-1ike.
The language of Sauron, even the mere sound of it or of
his name, posits the presence of his evi1. Ganda1f reads the inscrip-
tion on the One Ring at the Council of Elrond with devastating
effect:
Ash nazg durbatu1nk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatuHlk agh burzum-ishi krimpatu1!
The change in the wizard's voice was astounding. Sudden1y it became menacing, powerful, harsh as stone. A shadow seemed to pass over the high sun, and the porch for a moment grew dark. AU tremb1ed, and the E1ves stopped their ears.
(Rings I, 333).
The guttural sounds of that tongue, and the darkness within it, causes,
even in e1ven-Rivendell, momentary shadow. Gandalf himse1f is made
"menacing" by it. This Black Speech of Barad-dOr is described in the
Appendix as one which is "without love of words or things" (Rings III,
514). Tolkien remarks that his English rendering of it is less fi1thy
than it really is. In the orc speech which Sam hears in Cirith Ungo1,
one is made aware of the nature of this speech:
'Then you must go. l must stay here anyway. But l'm hurt. The Black Pits take that filthy rebe1 Gorbag!' Shagrat:s voice trai1ed off
into a string of fouI names and curses. '1 gave him better than l got, but he knifed me, the dung, before l throttled him. You must go, or 1'11 eat you. News must get through to Lugbrurz, or we'll both be for the Black Pits. Yes, you too. You wonlt escape by skulking here.'
(Rings III, 222).
The hard "g" sound in the names "Gorbag" and "Shagrat" gives one a
sense of the animal-like grunting which is typical of the ores.
85
The talk of ''Black Pits", filthy rebels, and knifing and throttling,
stand in great contrast to the speech of a hobbit or the melodic
words of an elfe The lack of a feel for meaning or of any connec-
tion with the wonder in stone or bread, is typical of Sauron and
the nightmare of Mordor. The Nine Ringwraiths are pictured as great
black shapes, of no fleshly substance. Their sound as they fly to
battle at the gates of Mordor is hideous and piercing, "cold voices
crying words of death" (Rings III, 206). They are given the qua li t Y
of chilling, cold darkness. The associations connected with these
sensations are used by Tolkien to sub-create the evil of Middle
Earth. Sauron is actually depicted only in terms of a Red Eye which
searches and probes relentless into onels very being. Gollum knew
Him in this way, and Frodo is tortured by his awareness of it, con-
stantly looking for the Ring-bearer:
So terrible was it that Frodo stood rooted, unable to cry out or to withdraw his gaze. The Eye was rimmed with fire, but was itself glazed, yellow as a catls,watchful and intent, and the black slit of its pupil opened on a pit, a window into nothing.
(Rings l, 471)
The image of Saur on as a large Eye allows Tolkien to inflate the de-
tails of the eye, giving it a misshapen aspect of horror.From it
proceeds the nature of Mordor, its fire, the repulsive glaze of
its shadow, and the black pit of its empty wastes. Tolkien's con
ception of Mordor emerges from the language of that place, and
carries on to describe the life and works which would come from
those who articulate in this manner. This process 1s apparent as
86
the essential mode through which aIl the Inhabitants of Middle
Earth are sub-created and given life. Tolkien draws on the reality
of the Primary World, but the various ways of perceiving that world
which the inhabitants express, shadow forth the possibilities of new
energy and beauty in the face of the Shadow.
CHAPTER V
THE LORD OF THE~: THE CRAn OF FANTASY
Tolkien's mode of scholarsbip provides the basis for
his narrative style. The crucial aspect of that intersection of
88
life and speech, which evokes the tone of literary art, becomes the
first princip le of his writing. The Fantasy of the trilogy obvious
ly makes substantial demands on the prose of the work. For if the
sub-creation is to have that quality of inner truth, and the mechan
ism of reflection back to the Primary World, then it is here, in the
texture of the writing, that the aesthetic must succeed. Tolkien's
prose is at once far removed from a linear discursive kind of expres
sion. Rather, it exhibits a richly poetic feature wbich would seem
to make a use of the term prose altogether inadequate. There is a
conscious attention to sound and movement, and to aIl the senses of
the reader. The elvish craft of the trilogy appeals to aIl levels of
awareness, for the Enchantment must produce a profound effect on sen
sibility. The work must involve. one intimately in its world and in
the process of its sub-creation. The presence of the narrator, which
is strongly felt in the trilogy, has been mentioned as a significant
facet of its structure. lt is through this voice of Tolkien that one
is given an essential glimpse of the wonder and terror of Middle
Earth. For the words of the narrator, and the many inhabitants of
tbis world, combine to give it energy and the potency to alter one's
way of perceiving experience and giving it meaning.
The rigorous attention to the word and to its power is
everywhere apparent in this account of the Third Age. As the hobbits
prepare to leave the Sbire on their quest, Tolkien carefully
describes the surroundings, giving a sense of the peaceful beauty
they are leaving behind. It is autumn, and here, as throughout
89
the narrative, Tolkien consistently uses the seasons as a means of
giving greater effect to the moods of the characters and the parti
cular events in the plot. As the shadows deepenin Middle Earth,
winter begins to come on. Yet with spring and summer, the War of
the Ring comes to an end, and great joy is felt by the races of the
West. Frodo's departure is marked by an unusually fair summer and
autumn: "The Shire had seldom seen so fair a summer, or so rich an
autumn: the trees were laden with apples, honey was dripping in
the combs, and the corn was tall and full" (Rings I, 102). Such a
description not only gives a good insight into the hobbit's kind of
life, but it also begins to sketch the landscape in which one finds
oneself. The images of great pleuty and sweetness reflect the
hobbit's basic delight in good food and cheer. The dripping of
honey causes one to recall its taste and the scent of it in meadows.
The weight of the tall trees and the oozing, thi~k liquid is set
against the clean slender motion of corn ripening in the sunlight.
One is placed in the environment through this appeal to one's par
ticular awareness of taste and smell. Tolkien confronts the reader
with the varied features of a peaceful rus tic scene, showing the
growth and movement which forms such a landscape. The Fantasy por
trays the Shire with an essential purity. There is an interaction
between one's own memory of this scene and this presentation of it,
which renews its perception in the very act of giving it the new
90
setting of Middle Earth. The close delineation of surroundings i8
carried on tbroughout the various journeys. As the hobbits continue
on their way, Tolkien pauses to comment on the trees a t dawn:
nTouched with gold and red the autunm trees seemed to be sailing
rootless in a shadowy sean (Rings I, 109). The syntax of a sen-
tence is an important element in Tolkien's writing, and here he demon-
strates this effective concern for the construction of sentences.
The metaphor begins with a phrase which modifies the subject,
nautumn trees". It gives the colours, "gold and redit to the image
of trees in the grey mists of morning. The sudden splash of colour
in shadows i8 central to the "unlooked-for" theme of the fairy-story,
giving a physical appearance to this joy. The trees seen as ttsailing
rootless" in the mist is indicative of Tolkien' s mode of imagina tive-
ly infusing movement and strangeness into reality to sub-create his
world. The image gives a sharp and clear perspective to the hobbits'
scene as they awake and set out, moving without hope toward the East
and the Shadow far from their Shire.
As the hobbits enter the Old Forest, Tolkien describes
the trees which come into view:
Looking back they could see the dark line of the Hedge tbrough the stems of trees that were already thick about them. Looking ahead they could see only tree-trunks of innumerable sizes and shapes: straight or bent, twisted, leaning, squat or slender, smooth or gnarled and branched; and aIl the stems were green or grey with MOSS and slimy, shaggy growths.
(Rings I, 157)
Tolkien places one among the hobbits, and one gazes behind and in front
of the group. The point of view encloses one in the forest, and one
91
begins to sbare the stifling aspect of the scene. In depicting the
tree-trunks, the adjectives are strung together, often in pairs of
opposites to embody the infinite variety that the Old Forest con-
tains. The use of the colon and the semi-colon which i8 illustrated
here, is a distinctive quality of Tolkien's writing. They occur
with enormous frequency indicating a desire to extend the length of
sentences and give greater depth and meaning to a scene or event.
In this case, the colon after "sizes and shapes" precedes the long
list of adjectives which concludes with a semi-colon. A further
feature of the trees, their stems, is now considered. Again colour
is noted first, the "green or grey", and then feel is given,
" s limy ,shaggy growths". Tolkien tends towards a greater fluidity
and keener motion in the quality of the long sentence punctuated by
colons and semi-colons. Each phrase leads on to the next which is a
fuI 1er expression of the one before. The realm of Fantasy is un-
raveled with increasing scope and a greater degree of reality.
The maps of Middle Earth reveal a curious aerial facet
which the writing often contains. With Bombadil's fair lady,
Goldberry, the hobbits survey the ~ands from a hill somewhat East of
the Shire. They look in aIl directions and Tolkien describes what
they see:
To the South, over the line of the Withywindle, there was a distant glint like pale glass where the Brandywine River made a great loop in the lowlands and flowed away out of the knowledge of the hobbits. Northward beyond the dwindling downs the land ran away in flats and swellings of grey and green and pale earth-colours, until it faded into a featureless and shadowy distance.
(Rings l, 188)
92
Numerous times in the trilogy a chara c ter , s view of a part of this
world is presented in this manner, with the aspects of each point
on the compass considered. The technique gives one an overall sense
of the realm in which the inhabitants move. It allows one to re-
late individual actions and journeys to the entire surrounding
lands, achieving an inner reality for the Fantasy. The ability to
see in aIl directions the Secondary World reminds one of the
unique way in which one participates here. For the vision of Middle
Earth recalls the vision of one's own view of reality and suggests
the profound connection between the two. In this scene, the sense
of distance emerges from the image of a river looping to the South
like pale glass. The lands seem to come together in colours of
"grey and green", and the verb "faded" expresses tha t far away
quality of the places to the North. The hobbits continue East, pur-
sued by the Nine Black Riders. In their flight to the Ford leading
into Rivendell, Frodo barely escapes the wraiths:
He shut his eyes and clung to the horse's mane. The wind whistled in his ears, and the bells upon the harness rang wild and shrill. A breath of deadly cold pierced him like a spear, as with a last spurt, like a flash of white fire, the elf-horse speeding as if on wings, passed right before the face of the foremost Rider.
(Rings l, 285)
The fear of that ride which grips Frodo is described by Tolkien with
the hobbit's eyes shut. The sound of the whistling wind and the
harness bells produce the shrill urgency of the situation. To involve
one in the action, it is detailed through the sound and feel of it.
The closeness of the passing Rider is grasped in the cold breath
which blows across the face of the pursued. Though the scene is also
93
described in visual terms, it is given a further dimension here in
the sound and physical sensation of the danger. Almost in the same
sentence, the two perspectives are given. For in the last words, the
cold of the wraith is compared wi th the "white fire" which the elf
horse resembled as it sped to the Ford. One is with Frodo and also
with the narrator, and the scene has greater clarity and effect as
a result.
In Rivendell, the Council of Elrond is held. Here the
plans are laid for the creation of the Fellowship and the destruc
tion of the One Ring. Much of the council is made up of the tell
ing of various tales by those present, to shed increased light on
the situation. This recounting of past events is frequently a part
of the narrative. The speaker relates the events, not Tolkien
directly. This gives a greater innnediacy to the tale, and a great
er sense of sbared experience. For one relives the events with the
speaker, noting his own personal reactions to them and his part in
the particular episode. Elrond, the master of Rivendell, and the
eldest descendant of the unions of elves and men, begins first,
"Then a11 listened while Elrond in his clear voice spoke of Saur on
and the Rings of Power, and their forging in the Second Age of the
world long ago" (Rings l, 318). After Elrond speaks of the three
ages through which he bas lived, others continue with more recent
details. The hobbits speak, the elf Legolas, Boromir and Gandalf.
The narrative is shifted through the several races giving varying
emphasis to the events of the pasto This quality of the tale, in
• 94
the writing, is a surface indication of the importance of the tale
in the tone of Tolkien's Fantasy. The tales and the council fin-
ally end, and the Fellowship sets out: "Then with one glance at
the Last Homely Rouse twinkling below them they strode away far into
the night" (Rings l, 368). Tolkien sets the House of Elrcnd with
its twinkling elven-light, against the dark night into which the
travellers move. The scene shadows forth the essential conflict
between the Light and the Darkness which now becomes central to the
narrative. The image of that light which is left far behind becomes
aIl the hope and strength in the dark winter to come.
When the Fellowship enters Lothlorien, the land of the
elves, they are blindfolded and led to Galadriel and Celeborn:
Being deprived of sight, Frodo found his hearing and other senses sharpen~d. He could smell the trees and the trodden graSSe He could hear many different notes in the rustle of the leaves overhead, the river murmuring away on his right, and the thin clear voices of birds in the skYe He felt the sun upon his face and hands when they passed through an open glade.
(Rings l, 452)
Here again Tolkien resorts to this device to give greater meaning to
the scene. The new sensitivity which is at work in Lorien is present-
ed in the keeness of Frodo's various senses. In the elven-wood,
there is a freshness and a purity which embodies the initial and total
meaning that one gives to experience when aIl the world is new. The
smell of the trees or the grass i8 magnified due to the loss of sight.
One notices it perhaps for the first time, as is the case with the
sound of rustling leaves or the murmuring river. The warmth of the
sun is a comforting sensation, made even more intense because of
95
the absence of its light. The wonder of this world which is develop-
ed in this blindfolded sequence is given fuller treatment as the
group reaches the i~er depths of the land. The appeal to the senses
other than sight indicates Tolkienrs basic notion of the word as
being more than merely a straightforward superficial expression of
meaning. The significance of the warmth of the sun is focused upon,
and the sensation is felt close to the skin as one passes with Frodo
through flan open gladefl • Frodo is astounded by the land, for even
his hobbit-like joy in life is surpassed here:
AlI that he saw was shapely, but the shapes seemed at once clear cut, as if they had been first conceived and drawn at the uncovering of his eyes, and ancient as if they had endured for ever. He saw no colour but those he knew, gold and white and blue and green, but they were fresh and poignant, as if he had at that moment first perceived them and made for them names new and wonderful. In winter here no heart could mourn for summer or for spring.
(Rings l, 454)
The elvish capacity of synthesizing the ancient and the new is the
distinctive quality of this place for the hobbit. Tolkien uses
colour to illustrate the craft of this race, which makes perception
a vital and new process at every moment. Frodo's sight is infused
with the same energy as his other senses were earlier. The narra-
tive makes a graduaI transition to this scene, beginning with the
smell of the "trodden grassfl and leading up to the actual sight of
flclear cut" wondrous shapes. Tolkien wishes to involve one to the
point where the colours gold or white are shifted from the worn
awareness of them to an essentially new, more complete vision of
such colours. The allusion to a win ter whose qualities make the
lament for spring unnecessary, points to the timeless existence of
the elves though the seasons come and go. The movement of Frodo's
mind from shape, to colour, to seasons and time, is characteristic
of the infini te progression which the elves are able to achieve.
The Enchantment of Lorien touches the hobbit deep within him, an
effect which Tolkien would strive to produce on the reader.
96
When the company leaves Lorien, the Lady Galadriel is
glimpsed as the shore recedes quickly from view: "She shone like a
window of glass upon a far hill in the westering sun, or as a re
mote lake seen from a mountain: a crystal fallen in the lap of the
land" (Rings l, 488). Tolkien makes a judicious use of the simile
throughout the trilogy which is weIl illustrated here. The Lady has
a strange and wonder fuI light about her, which is liquid and fair
beyond aIl ever seen before by the Company. The three comparisons
relate this quality of the Lady to objects and scenes in the Primary
World. The setting sun reflecting on glass set in a green hill is
the image of dazzling light in the midst of a wood. Yet it is a
light that dwindles with the sunset and the cool of evening. The
Lady is made to partake in this scene, and the sight of her becomes
that much more effective as a result. At the same time oners own ex
perience of this sunset is enriched in the sense of the Lady
Galadriel's relation to it. The "remote lake seen from the moun
tain" opera tes in a similar manner. In this depiction of an
isolated patch of gleaming light, one is able to share that glimpse
of Galadriel on the bank. The final comparison moves still further
away, and it is now a more general view of a crystal, small yet
bright somewhere in the land. Coming after the colon, this one is
the final statement on the scene. It completes the vision of her
elven-form imparting the Company's own experience as they journey
southward. The three images possess more complex metaphorical im
plications. Previously, Elrond's dwelling is described as "the
97
Last Homely House", and here Galadriel is depicted as a window, the
light escaping from an elven-home which aIl the company must leave
behind. The hobbits' intense feeling for the Shire, and for its
being their proper place, is revealed in this allusion. The house
becomes a symbol of the order and harmony of the West. Tolkien uses
the word house as the expression of a beginning and an end. That is,
one sets out from it, and one yearns through great tr.ials to return
to i t. The There !!!! Back Again alterna te ti tle of The Hobbi t is
implicit in the word. The trilogy vitally concerns this movement
:into Middle Earth, for the hobbits as weIl as the reader. The water
image bas within it that quality of fertility which is so much a part
of the elven-energy. The elvish capacity for beauty is glimpsed in
the gem, the "crystal", whose light is bound up with that of the
elves. In a similar manner, the Company sees Lorien disappearing
from sight: "Lorien was slipping backward, like a bright ship mast
ed with enchanted trees, sailing on to forgotton shores ... n (Rings l,
488). The image of the land as a moving vessel of light, rather than
a fixed point, conveys the energy which is 50 integrally a part of
that place. It is not the Company which seems to move on, but the
land itself, departing to ancient lands over the sea. The
98
combination of trees and ships in the simile connotes the origin of
the elves, over the sea, and the importance of the woods of Lorien to
their existence in Middle Earth. The members of the Fellowship are
left to continue their voyage down the Great River, Anduin, toward
Mordor.
The elves give the Fellowship various things to aid
them in their journey. Tolkien sub-creates some quite curious
ma terials in the Fantasy. The lembas cakes in leaf-wrappings are an
elvish kind of traveller's food or waybread, "and it is more
strengthening than any food made by Men" (Rings l, 478). The food
stays fresh for a long period of time, and later on in the tale is
the crucial means through which Frodo and Sam main tain their
strength and will to go on. Tolkien often gives close attention
to the basic needs of life, a first concern of the hobbits,and for
them the lembas proves a most valuable cake. The elvish cloaks
possess just these kind of strange and potent qualities. The gar-
ments seem to have the colour and breath of Lorien:
It was hard to say of what colour they were: grey with the hue of twilight under the trees they seemed to be; and yet if they were moved, or set in another light, they were green as shadowed leaves, or brown as fallow fields by night, duek-silver as water under the stars. Each cloak was fastened about the neck with a brooch like green leaf veined with silver.
(Rings I, 479)
The craft of the robes is linked with the elves' essential feel for
beauty as an inextricable feature of awareness. The description of
them is given in terms of the grasp of reality which one is exposed
to in Lorien. Tolkien uses the colours of the wood at various times
99
of the day to construct the similes. Such figures connect the cloaks
to the green leaves or the f1dusk-silver" of water. This transfer-
ence of the bues of the landscape to the products of the elvish
crafts, is part of the mechanism of recognition which involves one
in the very act of Tolkien's sub-creation. The cloak is given its
wonder in one's own rediscovery of the green leaf.
Following the breaking of the Fellowship, Aragorn,
Gimli and Legolas pur sue the orcs who attacked them, killed Boromir
and captured the hobbits Merry and Pippin. Tolkien ends this chapter
with a paragraph which describes the departure of Aragorn:
Like a deer he sprang away. Through the trees he sped. On and on he led them, tireless and swift, now tbat his mind was at last made up. The woods about the lake they left behind. Long slopes they climbed, dark, hard-edged against the sky already red with sunset. Dusk came. They passed away, grey shadows in a stony land.
(Rings II, 26)
The descrit>tion starts with a simile, with the "like a deer" begin-
ning the sentence, and the subject of the comparison, Aragorn, com-
ing after. The effect is to give greater empbasis to the clean
flight of the man. The verb nsprang" is typical of Tolkien' s use of
the intensely active verb to delineate action. In this passage, the
verbs such as nsped", "led" , "left", "climbed" and "passed" convey
the sense of movement and speed with which the hunters move. Tolkien
alludes to the passing trees and the receding lake and woods to make
one a part of the travellers' perspective. The passage of time is
noted through the mention of the sky which is "red with sUnSet" as
dusk comes on, and then is upon them. The final sentence presents
100
the appearance of their movement as "grey shadows in a stony land".
The comparison begins wi th a colour, grey, which embodies the
stealth and quiet of the three, and also underlines the coming on
of evening. The "s" sound in "shadows" and "stony" echoes this
hushed and darkening scene. The hard sound of "stony", places the
fleeting aspect of the pursuers against the harshness of the land
and the bitter struggles awaiting them. The whole image is an ex-
tension of their passing, as the verb phrase "passed away" is
balanced by the succeeding figure. The paragraph achieves atone
of urgent speed in the ever darkening land, atone which is care-
fully constructed so as to place the reader in an essential
proximity to the scene.
The Battle at Helm's Deep is the first tentative
thrust of the enemy, and Tolkien's initial description of a large
scale struggle. The charge of King Théoden of Rohan with Aragorn
at his side is indicative of Tolkien's mode of filling such scenes
with great sound and motion:
'Forth Eorlingas!' With a cry and a great noise they charged. Dawn from the gates they roared, over the causeway they swept, and they drove through the hosts of Isengard as a wind among grass. Behind them from the Deep came the stern cries of men issuing from the caves, driving for th the enemy. Out poured aU the men tha t were left upon the Rock. And ever the sound of blowing horns echoed in the hills.
(Rings II, 185)
Again the use-of/ numerous active verbs fills the paragraph, begin-
ning with ucharged", and carrying on with "swept", "drove" and
"poured". The flow of men into the orc hosts is characterized as ~~
101
"a wind among the grass". Such a simi1e gives a curious dimension
to the immense commotion of batt1e. For it is a detached kind of
image, showing the c1ean and total permeation of wind as it passes
through and bends the long grasses of a meadow. In the midd1e of
the paragraph it comes as an almost slow motion view of 'the scene
with its sound reduced to that of the breathing winds. One is
p1unged into the midst of the action with the King,for one begins
at the gates and ends up we11 before them with others coming behind
"from the Deep". The 10ud sweep of the charge is apt1y conveyed by
the verb "roared". The repetition of the cries of the men is aug-
mented by the horns of Rohan which b10w through the who1e scene.
The rebounding of this sound in a1l the hi11s imparts a sense of the
cruel strugg1e which unfo1ds as men and ores co11ide continuous1y
before the gates of the fastness. In the final assau1t, the enemy
is driven into the shadows of the Ents:
The wild men fell on their faces before him. The Ores ree1ed and screamed and cast aside both sword and spear. Like a black smoke driven by a mounting wind they f1ed. Wai1ing they passed under the waiting shadow of the trees; and from tbat sbadow none ever came again.
(Rings II, 186-187)
The agony of the ores is revea1ed in the verbs, "ree1ed" and
"screamed" and ''wa-iling''. Tolkien gives their defeat a vocal aspect,
yet he also emp10ys a simi1e to portray their f1ight. The associa-
tion between the hosts of the West and a "mounting windft has a1ready
been made. The ores are pictured as a "black smoke", for they are a
product of the Dark Lord and they contain his stif1ing, suffocating
102
darkness, the reek of his evil fires. The defeat of the orcs is seen
as a making clean, a purifying of the atmosphere. The last sentence
tells of their annihilation by the Ents. Tolkien writes of their
passing into "the shadow of the trees", and then, after a semi-colon,
he repeats the word "shadow" with finality, as he adds that "none
ever came again" from there. The scene of Helm' s Deep graphically
underlines the terror of the realm of Fantasy. In the face of such
conflict which man has always known, the sub-creation builda toward
the final eucatastrophe which allows one relief and a profound sense
of joy, perhaps kindling new hope.
When Frodo and Sam finally arrive in the land of Mordor,
they are confronted with the utter desolation and wastes of that
place. It is na land defiled, diseased beyond aIl healing" (Rings
II, 302). Tolkien uses the metaphor of disease to delineate not
only the inhabitants of Mordor, but also the nature of Sauron's king-
dom. The rampant sickness and rot of this evil become the character-
istics of his abode:
Here nothing lived, not even the leprous growths that feed on rottenness. The gasping pools were choked with ash and crawling muds, sickly white and grey, as if the mountains had vomited the filth of their entrails upon the lands about. High mounds of crushed and powdered rock, great cones of earth fire-blasted and poison-stained, stood like an obscene graveyard in endless rows, slowly revealed in the reluctant light.
(Rings II, 302)
AlI healthy life has ceased here, and Frodo notes that even the
nleprous growths" of its borders cannot possibly survive. The images
of pestilent garbage and death are used as the terms of the
e
103
description. The verbs "choked", "crawlingtt and 'vomi tedlf are
actions which are involved in disease and in the cessation of life.
The mountains of Mordor become living participants in the scene, for
they have filled the land with If the filth of their entrails".
Sauron is envisaged as actually a part of the earth which is able to
actively fouI itself. The colours are "sickly white and grey", those
of ash and mud and waste. The metaphor of the graveyard is used, and
the gravestones consist obscenely of the mounds of rotten earth. The
two descriptions, "fire-blasted" and "poison-stained", combine the
action with the quality of decay, which produced these cones. The
light of Mordor is obviously dim, and the word '!reluctant" would seem
to make the light an active and corrupted agent of this decay. The
description works by having aIl the natural processes perverted and
turned to the darkness of Sauron. lt is a picture of death, yet one
. which pulsa tes with a profound energy of evil.
Tolkien often sharply juxtaposes the antithetical forces
of his world. lmmediately after the hobbits leave this spectre of
life-in-death of Mordor, they enter the land of lthilien. This
place where the men of Gondor once lived when their kingdom was at its
height, still exhibits much of the good that they broughtto the land.
Rich growth and life are its distinctive features:
Many great trees grew there, planted long ago, falling into untended age amid a riot of careless descendants; and groves and thickets there were of tamarisk and pungent terebinth, of olive and of bay; and there were junipers and myrtles; and thymes that grew in bushes, or with their woody creeping stems mantled in deep tapes tries the hidden stones; sages of many kinds putting forth blue flowers, or red, or pale green; and marjorams and new-sprouting parsleys, and
• many herbs of forms and scents beyond the garden-lore of Sam. (Rings II, 327)
The waste of Mordor stands in clear relief to the gardens of
104
Ithilien. Tolkien begins with the trees and progresses to groves,
thickets and flowers. In one long sentence with no less than five
semi-colons, he literally piles the thick and abundant details of
the s trong and heal thy growth of the gardens. One is overwhelmed
by the scene and one stands in the very midst of the thickets.
The profuse catalogue of plant-life cites the smells, the colours
and the appearance of aIl that Frodo and Sam see. The pungent
"terebinth" and the "many herbs of forms and scents" unknown to
even Sam, stand in contrast with ~e reek of the filth and vomit in
Mordor. The stems of the thyme are glimpsed in the metaphor of a
tapestry in "the hidden stones1f • The craft and beauty of the
flowered tapestry is a welcome sight to the hobbits after the utter
lack of Sauronls lands. The colours of blue, red or pale green are
opposed to the sickly white and grey of ash and slag. But the
passage has a still further effect in the sound of its words and
phrases. The undulating rhythm of the garden is reflected in the
richly sensuous sound of "marjorams1f and "parsleys1f, of "tamarisk",
1fthymes" and "sages". The long breathing of the sentence builds the
scent of the garden, as its plants and flowers seep into the eye and
the ear. The garden is intensely fair to Sam and Frodo, and one is
prompted to gaze with a new sense of wonder at the colour or scent of
a flower, that grows in spite of the darkness to lighten the heart of
105
the hobbits, and to ease the burden of their quest.
The great Battle of the Pelennor Fields before the
gates of the city of Minas Tirith contains the quality of that harsh
confrontation with Sauron which the races of the West are ever in-
volved in. The siege of the city is ruthlessly carried out by the
Enemy:
For the enemy was flinging into the City aIl the heads of those who had fallen fighting st Osgiliath, or on the Rammas, or in the fields. They were grim to look on; for though some were crushed and shapeless, and some had been cruelly hewn, yet many had features that could be told, and it seemed that they had died in pain; and aIl were branded with the fouI token of the Lidless Eye.
(Rings III, 117)
Tolkien's realm of Fantasy has within it aIl the terror of reality
in the Primary World. The hewn heads of friends and relations
lying in the streets of the city are tokens of the cruelty of the
Shadow. The image of His Eye stamped upon them indicates the basic
impulse of Sauron throughout the trilogy, of usurping the very char-
acteristics of good and beauty, and transforming them with his foul-
ness. The grim fact of the dead proceeds fram the pain caused by
Sauron, and the agony of having died with his symbol branded upon
onels vision. The description is one of the most grisly in the en-
tire trilogy, and it would seem to pass beyond the margins of the
tale to onels own awareness of pain and suffering. For Tolkien, in
his sub-creation, such evil must be utterly destroyed, or fought
till the last, beyond aIl hope. The world of Mordor, of the ash and
slag makes the alternative of death quite preferable. The battle is
conditioned by the consciousness of the total darkness of Sauron
•
106
which the narrative builds. When the Rohirrim finally come ta the
aid of Gondar, the light of hope begins ta gleam on the darkening
siege:
For morning came, morning and a wind from the sea; and darkness was removed, and the hasts of Mardor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And then aIl the hast of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and terrible came even ta the City.
(Rings III, 138)
The metaphor of the morning and the wind as forces ta cleanse the
Shadow is here given its fullest expression. The hasts of Mardor
flee or are killed, as ruthlessly as they mutilated the bodies of
the men of Gondor. Battle becomes a kind of joyous catharsis, and
Tolkien writes that the Rohirrim "sang as they slew". The phrase
has a razor-sharp feel ta it in the mouth, which is further devel-
oped in the adjectives "fair and terriblell• The ambiguity here,
in this quality of a hideous yet proud and violent action, would
seem ta reflect the basic horror which evil, for Tolkien, involves
aIl races in. Thus, the songs of the elves attempt ta recapture
the sense of a joy which is not tinged by this terrible feature of
the destruction of the enemy. And yet in Middle Earth such rejoic-
ing in the vanquishing of ores or trolls is central ta the survival
of the West, of songs and flowers. Tolkien makes one aware of the
wail of the retreating enemy, and over and above it, the sweet
deadly chant of the riders of Rohan. The reference ta dawning
light and ta such sound, carry the struggle ta a greater, more vital
motion which is bath "fair and terrible" •
107
With victory, the King, Aragorn, returns to the city,
to aid in the healing of the sick and wounded. For the wounds of the
enemy inflict a creeping fever and shadow into the body which even-
tually consumes the wounded into the wastes of Mordor. This diseased
element of the enemy is countered by a herb, athelas, which was
planted by the Numenor who came to Middle Earth. For Tolkien great
darkness must be opposed with ancient and pure light which has that
elvish timeless quality. The description of the scent of the herb is
significant:
For the fragrance tha t came to each was like a memory of dewy mornings of unshadowed sun in some land of which the fair world in Spring is itself but a fleeting memory. But Aragorn stood up as one refreshed, and his eyes smiled as he held a bowl before Faramir's dreaming face.
(Rings III, 173)
The appeal is to onels memory of the fragrance of a calm, early morn-
ing, the first most perfect morning that ever was. Tolkien employs
the sense of smell to send one back to aIl the beauty which goes
unnoticed in unblemished sunlight in spring. The refreshing aspect
of the vision heals Faramir of his deadly wounds, and in a sense,
heals one's own perceptions. For the Fantasy, in giving startling
powers to herbs or healers is ultimately drawing on the reality of
the Primary World, on the possibility here for beauty untouched by
shadows. The herb, which cures Eowyn, Théoden's valiant daughter,
has no particular scent, "but was an air wholly fresh and clean and
young, as if it had not before been breathed by any living thing"
(Rings III, 176). The purification of breathing, of the life which
is felt in the throat and the nostrils, is here in the description
• 108
of the fragrance of the herbe The word which comes fram this breath
is made new in the first appreciation of its pure energy and its
life.
Towards the end of the third volume of the trilogy,
Tolkien has aIl the various facets of the plot converge on the point
at which the Ring is destroyed by Frodo. With this stroke, the tide
of aIl the conflicts in Middle Earth is turned, as Sauron, the
energy of aIl that is evil, is driven finally from this world.
Frodo and Samls vision of the passing of the shadow 1s presented in
the narrative:
A brief vision he had of swirling cloud, and in the midst of it towers and battlements, tall as hills, founded upon a mighty mountain-throne above immeasurable pits; great courts and dungeons, eyeless prisons sheer as cliffs, and gaping gates of steel and adamant: and then aIl passed. Towers fell and mountains slid; walls crumbled and melted, crashing down; vast spires of smoke and spouting steams went billowing up, up, until they toppled like an overwhelming wave, and its wild crest curled and came foaming down upon the land.
(Rings III, 276)
For a fleeting instant aIl the machinery and buildings of Mordor are
glimpsed. Tolkien concentra tes on the qualities of height and size,
as he prepares the inevitable crash. The similes give the towers the
aspects of hills and cliffs, and the adjectives, "lmmeasurable",
"gaping" and "mighty", posit Mordor as a whole world. The Dark
Lordls kingdam is seen in terms of the natural surroundings which
are twisted and hollowed to his purposes. The vision plumbs into the
very core of the Shadow, giving an almost X-ray view of its inner
appearance. The destruction of Sauron is the end of a whole movement
•
109
and presence which has entered into the very structure of Middle
Earth. This description prepares one for this end, which is de-
1ineated through the metaphor of a total vo1canic eruption. The
utter co11apse and ruin af Mordor is the downward motion in the
verbs, "slid", "crumb1ed", "me1ted" and "crashing". The burning
out of Sauron, as the remova1 of the poison of disease, is acc~-
p1ished with an enormous rending of the basic composition of the
land. The image of a huge wave whose crest comes "foaming down
upon the land", washing away al1 the fi1th in its path, conveys
the sense of the purification of Middle Earth which is in motion
a11 around one. The destruction of the Ring and of Sauron b1inds
and deafens the hobbits, and To1kien 1 s de1ineation of it seethes
with the vast heat and sound of such an end.
The eucatastrophe of the tale, which appears to have
mounted in impossibi1ity throughout the long narrative, comes
"un100ked-for" in the face of the despair and the inevi table fal1
of the west. The scene on the Field of Corma11en in Ithi1ien, ex-
p10res a11 the joy of this sudden turn of events. The hobbits
awake, after having been rescued by Ganda1f from Orodruin's ex-
p10sion, and are confronted with the King Aragorn and a11 the
sp1endour of the Numenor a1ive again in Middle Earth. The daz-
zling sunshine and the great company in the Field overwhe1ms Frodo
and Sam, and indeed a11 present:
And a11 the host 1aughed and wept, and in the midst of their merriment and tears the c1ear voice of the minstre1 rose 1ike si1ver and gold, and aIl men were hushed. And he sang to them, now
• in the Elven-tongue, now in the speech of the West, until their hearts, wounded with sweet words, overflowed, and their joy was like swords, and they passed in thought out to regions where pain and delight flow together and tears are the very wine of blessedness.
(Rings III, 286)
Tolkien pierces one with such laughter and tears, which are all
intermingled in such profound joy. The minstrells voice is com-
pared with "silver and gold", the elvish colours in Lorien. The
110
simile depends on the richness and gleam of such materials, and on
their aspect of,clear purity in a world which has been freed from
the Shadow, at least for the Third Age. The song is perhaps the
final culmination of the entire motion of the tale. For the
elven-capacity to enter into the joy and beauty of such songs
would seem to have provided the essential energy of the narrative.
The metaphor of a sweet wound which goes to the beating heart ap-
pears here as it did in the Essay On Eairy-Stories. Tolkien des-
cribes the hearing of the singing in terms of a movement which
"overflows" and which causes one to pass beyond where joy and
sorrow merge to engulf one in the tears of happiness. This sense
of an immersion in a fluid of liquid joy comes as a result of that
"unlooked-for" shift in events. For the reader, coming after the
lengthy acquaintance with such as hobbits and elves, and the deep
vision of Middle Earth, which is formed from onels own basic reality,
the joy shatters the Fantasy and moves from the sub-creation to onels
essential sensibility. One is drenched by the joy of the tale, and
the liquid passes into oneself to where life and thought are born.
III
The Third Age of Middle Earth comes to an end. How
ever, Tolkien extends the eucatastrophic tone for some length as he
deals with the restoration of the Shire and the journey of the Ring
bearer, the wizard and the elves to the Grey Havens and then over
the Sea. At the last, Frodo bids Sam farewell telling him of the
need to preserve the memory of that Age so as to maintain the in
tense awareness of the beauty and good of Middle Earth. The
function of Tolkienls literary art lies here, in its ability to
infuse one with this sense of wonder and joy in the Primary World.
The aesthetic achieves this aim through the profound and creative
craft in words which Tolkien is so supremely capable of. For
Fantasy operates to alter onels way of valuing and perceiving this
world through a reappraisal of articulation, of the process through
which language gives essential meaning to life.
LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED
Fictiona1 Works:
Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel. The Hobbit .5?E. There and Back Again. 2nd edition. London, 1954.
Farmer Gi1es .2! Ham. London, 1949.
The Lord .2! the Rings. 2nd edition. 3 volumes. New York, 1966.
The Adventures of !2!!! Bombadil. London, 1962.
"Leaf by Nigg1e," ~ and~. London, 1964.
Smith of Wootton Major. London, 1967.
The Road Goes ~ .On. ! Song Cycle. New York, 1967.
Scho1ar1y Works:
Davis, Norman and C.L. Wrenn, editors. Eng1ish and Medieval Studies. London, 1962.
Sisam, Kenneth. Fcurteenth Century Verse ~ Prose. 2nd edition. Oxford, 1950.
Tolkien, John Ronald Reue1 and E.V. Gordon, editors. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Oxford, 1925.
Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel. "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Cri tics, Il Proceedings of the Bri tish Academy, XXII (1936), 245-295.
! Middle Eng1ish Vocabu1ary. 2nd edition. Oxford, 1950.
"The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, Beorhthe1m's Son~" The Eng1ish Association, Essays and Studies, VI (1953), 1-18.
The Eng1ish Text of the Ancrene Riw1e, edited from M.S. Corpus Christi Co11ege Cambridge 402. Oxford, 1962.
113
Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel. "On Fairy-Stories," ~ and ~. London, 1964.
1 Tolkien Criticism:
Isaacs, Neil and Rose Zimbardo, editors. Tolkien ~ the Cri tics. Notre Dame, 1968.
Lewis, C.S. Of Other Wor1ds, edited by Walter Hooper. London, 1966-. -
Lewis, W.H. editor with a memoire Letters of C.S. ~. London, 1966.
Ready, William. The Tolkien Relation. Toronto, 1968.
1 The preceding essay consu1ted, Letters of C.S.
Lewis, and The Tolkien Relation. Other entries are inc1uded for comp1eteness.