We continue our introduction to J. R. R. Tolkien’s ideas on fantasy and myth with a look at his short poem dedicated to C. S. Lewis, “Mythopoeia” – a thematic companion piece to “On Fairy-Stories”. Also, polar bears.
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Recommended Reading:
Tolkien, J. R. R. Tree and Leaf: Including “Mythopoeia” (Harper Collins, paperback)
I think the reason that casual fans don’t view Sam as a hero is his portrayal in the movies. Even though you said “casual readers,” someone who has only read the books once are likely to have their view influenced more by the movies, since those are easier to process and digest. The movies played some characters mostly for comedy: Merry, Pippin, Gimli, and to a lesser extent Sam. Now I’m not trying to dump on the movies (at least not right now); each of these characters got at least one or two opportunities to be awesome: Merry helping to kill the Witch-king, Pippin lighting Gondor’s beacons, Gimli’s grief and rage in Balin’s Tomb, and Sam in Cirith Ungol and on Mt. Doom. Plus, Merry and Pippin were the FIRST to lead Aragorn’s charge at the Black Gate – even Gandalf hesitated longer than they did, which really struck me. So their true personalities came through in brief moments, but for most of the movies they were relegated to the role of comedic relief.
The Bridge of Khazad Dum (The Fellowship of the Ring) is the piece I could listen to over and over.. the urgency of it: the lower tones of the Maori choir rushing the Fellowship along; the pauses when the Fellowship faces the danger and then the hum at 4:38 minutes of the loss that goes into the high note of lament at 4:59 when there is not time to grieve.. oh my, this piece of music gives me goosebumps and brings tears to my eyes every time.. beautiful, just beautiful..
New listener — I’m listening to the episodes on your website, and I want to say, for those of us who like to go through sequentially, finding them in order is something of a nightmare. Is there any way I’m missing?
Thank you…
Hi, Dan’l –
If you click on the “Episodes” tab, without choosing any of the options in the pull-down menu, you get a sequential listing of the episodes, but it is in *reverse* order: so our newest episodes are listed first. The website template isn’t built to allow multiple sort options, so I’m afraid that’s the best I can do on the site itself: otherwise, any podcast app should allow for listening in sequence.