The Lay of Leithian: Tolkien’s Epic Fairy Tale Often, a child’s first introduction to literature begins with fairy tales, which tends to resonate with him or her for years to come. Fairy tales then become a story that is inspiring for children and nostalgic for adults. The fairy tale story varies in definition between critics, yet it is always a form of fantasy. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien’s fantasy novels The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, written between the 1920s and 1950, follow clear structural patterns common among fairy tales. One story in particular, “Of Beren and Lúthien,” found within The Silmarillion, was originally adapted from Tolkien’s epic poem titled The Lay of Leithian which was composed between 1925 and 1931. Once condensed into a brief chapter, “Of Beren and Lúthien” retained common themes …show more content…
He writes, “Since the 1980s, social and cultural historians have redefined fairy tales as complex creations by adults that blend sometimes ancient oral traditions with contemporary socioeconomic concerns” (Snyder 83). Thus, a fairy tale is any story created through the mixing of old customs and social problems that are current during the time the text is written. “Of Beren and Lúthien” mirrors cultural struggles in Tolkien’s life in relation to the period as well as medieval folklore. Within this section of The Silmarillion, Tolkien makes a connection to “Repunzel,” a prominent fairy tale. To summarize the text, “Of Beren and Lúthien” tells of a man, Beren, from a long line of kings who falls in love with Lúthien, daughter of the elf king Thingol. To take her hand, Beren must go on a quest to retrieve a silmaril from the crown of the dark lord Morgoth. At one point, Lúthien tries to leave to help Beren as she knows he is in danger, but her father locks her in a tower of which no escaped seemed visible. In an excerpt from “Of Beren and Lúthien,” Tolkien
In Tolkien’s lecture, “Beowulf: The monsters and the Critics,” he argues that Beowulf has been over analyzed for its historical content, and it is not being studied as a piece of art as it should be. He discusses what he perceives the poet of Beowulf intended to do, and why he wrote the poem the way he did. Tolkien’s main proposition, “it was plainly only in the consideration of Beowulf as a poem, with an inherent poetic significance, that any view or conviction can be reached or steadily held” (Tolkien). He evaluates why the author centers the monsters throughout the entire poem, why the poem has a non-harmonic structure, why and how the author fusses together Christianity and Paganism, and how the author uses time to make his fictional poem seem real. He also discusses the overall theme of Beowulf and other assumptions of the text. To support his viewpoints, Tolkien uses quotations and examples from the poem, quotations from other critics, and compares Beowulf to other works of art. Tolkien discusses several statements in interpreting Beowulf as a poem.
Imagine yourself in a pre-industrial world full of mystery and magic. Imagine a world full of monsters, demons, and danger, as well as a world full of friends, fairies, good wizards, and adventure. In doing so you have just taken your first step onto a vast world created by author and scholar John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Tolkien became fascinated by language at an early age during his schooling, in particularly, the languages of Northern Europe, both ancient and modern. This affinity for language did not only lead to his profession, but also his private hobby, the invention of languages. His broad knowledge eventually led to the development of his opinions about Myth and the importance of stories. All these various perspectives: language, the heroic tradition, and Myth, as well as deeply-held beliefs in Catholic Christianity work together in all of his works. The main elements of Tolkien’s works are Good versus Evil, characters of Christian and anti-Christian origin, and the power of imagination.
...n” is a great example of an old myth or tale reconstructed and adapted for a modern audience in a new medium. It is a progression on one hand in its use of modern language, setting, and style but it is also the product of the old myths in that it is essentially the same on the thematic level. In addition, the level of self-awareness on the part of the narrator and, by extension, the author marks it out as an illustration of the very notion of evolutionary changes of myths and fairy tales. Adaptation is the solution to the fairy tale, and fairy tales have been endlessly changing themselves throughout history and, by some strange transforming or enchanting power endlessly staying the same.”
Tolkien, J.R.R.. “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.” In Beowulf – Modern Critical Interpretations, edited by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.
One of the first literary work studied by our class was “Beowulf,” the longest and greatest surviving Anglo-Saxon poem. The poem is packed full of Christian and Pagan elements that are constantly fighting for the dominant position. In order to understand these thematic elements portrayed throughout “Beowulf,” we must first discover
J.R.R. Tolkien Research Paper As many have grown up during this generation, they have been dazzled by the work of J.R.R. Tolkien as well as the artistic interpretation of this trilogy by Peter Jackson. This movement started when Tolkien created The Hobbit and then later the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the 1930’s, 1940’s and 1950’s. However, there are those who have criticized both the books and the cinema for being sexist and/or racist. Tolkien is not sexist because he develops his female characters by revealing their individualism and dynamic features, and is also not a racist because much of the criticism comes from Peter Jackson’s interpretations and because racism is harshly looked upon more in this generation than it was back in the 1940’s.
Fairytales share similar themes in the manner in which they approach storytelling for the individual. In “The Great Fairy Tale Tradition”, Jack Zipes has selected and edited stories and categorized them by their respective themes, illustrating the different thematic elements found in each story. Every chapter includes a short introduction to the literary history of the selected stories and their themes. In the “Three Brother’s Who Become Wealthy Wandering the World”, “The Three Brothers”, and “The Four Skillful Brothers” each story explores the adventures and pursuits of brothers who venture into the outside world and are later faced with a test of skills in which they must prove their worth and courage. Although the three tales are incorporated into the thematic chapter of “Competitive Brothers” and share similar characteristics, there are contrasts between their respective stories.
The fairy tales that we have become so familiar with are embedded with love, imagination and enchantment. In truth, these are just common archetypes; originally fairy tales had a much darker backdrop. They were once symbols of sexualisation and brutality as not everything ended happily ever after. Deriving from promiscuous and overlooked on goings from the 19th century (such as molestation), these ideas were later suppressed when they became children’s tales. John Updike described traditional fairy tales as ‘The pornography of their day’, hence they contained elements of wish-fulfilment and gratification such as rape, pleasure and attainment. This is true to a certain extent but they also consisted of violence, mutiny and injustice. An exploration
J.R.R. Tolkien led an interesting life because he had many traumatizing experiences as a child. Did these experiences effect his writing or was he just an imaginative adult or was he a child in a grown mans body? That is what we are going to explore in this paper. By the time I am done you will believe that this man was a traumatized child. The many experiences that he had during long his life were very dramatic. They would have made even the toughest of children have problems later on in life. From my own experiences through my own life I can kind of relate to this man. The experiences that I have had have been pretty dramatic, but nothing like his. By reading what happened to him, I know from what I have read about him that he had to be traumatized as an adult.
The simplicity of fairy tales and non-specific details renders them ideal for manipulation allowing writers to add their own comments often reflecting social convention and ideology. Theref...
Everyone except Frodo and Sam arrives at the kingdom of Gondor, and though the people of Gondor are amazed and frightened at first by the huge army of walking trees that accompany them, everyone smiles and accepts them when Gandalf and Aragorn reveal themselves. The brothers Denethor and Boromir, however, see that Aragorn brings knowledge from the North which will give their kingship over to Faramir, the true King, and so they secretly conspire against him. And so later on, when the forces of Mordor arrive to attack Gondor, they successfully plot to have Aragorn positioned so he must face the Witch-King in single combat. The battle is too much for Aragorn, and just as he is about to die he is saved by Eowyn, a woman of Rohan who loves him, and Merry, who slays the Witch-king in single combat by using ancient hobbit-magic and so reveals himself to be the lost Thain of the Shire. Even as the forces of Mordor retreat, they are swept into the Sea by great ships brought by Faramir, the true Prince of Dol Amroth, from the hidden city of Osgiliath further up the Great River.
he Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring is a fantasy novel set in an entirely different time period and in an extraordinarily different world. This story is part of a trilogy that transitions seamlessly into the ending of the prequel book, “The Hobbit.” At the end of “The Hobbit,” Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, a hobbit is a half-sized human, comes home from an adventure and during his journey, he manages to obtain a magical ring. This ring is magical because when you happen to wear it, you turn invisible. It also had the power to prolong the life of the wearer. The start of the Fellowship begins with Bilbo's 111th birthday and Bilbo is getting ready to leave the Shire. The Shire is the region of Middle-Earth where the hobbits reside. Middle-Earth is the continent in which this story takes place. So Bilbo is looking to leave the Shire and wants to leave his possessions with his cousin, Frodo Baggins, who is much younger then he is. Amongst these possessions is the magical ring. Bilbo has second thoughts about giving Frodo the ring but is talked into doing so by his good friend Gandalf the Grey. Gandalf the Grey is one of a few powerful wizards that inhabit Middle-Earth.
“The fairy tale, which to this day is the first tutor of children because it was once the first tutor of mankind, secretly lives on in the story. The first true storyteller is, and will continue to be, the teller of fairy tales. Whenever good counsel was at a premium, the fairy tale had it, and where the need was greatest, its aid was nearest. This need was created by myth. The fairy tale tells us of the earliest arrangements that mankind made to shake off the nightmare which myth had placed upon its chest.”(Walter Benjamin). For generations fairy tales have brought happiness to hundreds of people. Through childhood to adults, people still enjoy the mysteries of fairytales. In society, fairytales are a great way of connecting
..., Maria. “An Introduction to Fairy Tales.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Ed. Laurence Behrens, Leonard J. Rosen. Toronto: Longman, 2013. 230-235. Print.
Zipes, Jack. Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print.