What interested me the most about this chapter was the fact that Shippey mentions Tolkien looking for the starting origins of lore. Tolkien did not only look towards epics such as Beowulf and the Kalevala, but he looked even further past that. The writings and historical stories that were the epitome and beginning of all lore were named ballads or annals, depending in which cultural context it was viewed from. These were immensely useful because they actually showed an indication of date. These specifics of culture helped Tolkien create the basics of Silmarillion lore, which goes to show how dedicated Tolkien was in making Middle Earth an actual history. It was this form of information that led Tolkien to wanting to create a mythology for his own people.
While the majority of the chapter was extremely dry and held no interest to me, due to its vast detail on a subject I literally know nothing about, there were a few points that made me look twice. Particularly, one of the annals that Tolkien had introduced into the Silmarillion spoke of an individual named Morgoth. At one point Shippey stated the Morgoth “…cannot make people do wrong, for that would deny human free will. But he can put words into their mouths, and the responses to those words…” This fascinated me because at this point it seemed that Shippey stopped focusing on the main points of the story, and introduced a phenomenal characteristic. While Morgoth was following a path of evil, similar to Orcs and of Saruman, he still showed a hint of humanity and a regard for others. When one truly thinks about it, you can not necessarily make anyone do something wrong since it all comes down to choice. That person can either choose the path of evil, good, or choose to not do anything. However, influence and persuasion is what bends an individual’s will to do right or wrong.
One final aspect that interested me goes back to Tolkien being intrigued and influenced by the ancient meanings of words and text. The one particularly word that Shippey dissects is the word “Earendel”. He continues to say how no one really knows what Earendel is supposed to mean, but scholars and readers can make strong guesses as to why Tolkien decided to use this particular word within his history of Middle Earth. More or less, Earendel is summed up as “the name of a star, and second, that it was a sign of hope and good tidings to pagans as well as to Christians”. This is fascinating due to the fact that the composition of Earendel and Tolkien’s spin on the meaning is derived from several different cultural views and texts. Its derivation from the name of a star came from an old annal where an individual’s toe had frozen, broken off, and had been thrown into the sky to become one of the stars. Tolkien had combined the story of one culture with a similar word, to the word Earendel with a simple Christian definition.
Lauren Brych? November 11, 2008, at 07:36 PM
