[Cúdae]

Since we are getting into the ideas of music, I am going to add my own little piece of knowledge.

A few years ago when my youngest cousin was diagnosed as autistic, I learned a lot about why music appealed to her. Music one of the most mathematically dependant forms of art on earth. One can argue that drawings need to be mathematical as well, but that is not so obvious. In any case, music needs algebra to some extent. x+y must equal x+y. In music, equality in notes and measures is what helps to make it more pleasing to the ear. For instance, in most compositions, every measure of music has the same time (such as 4/4 or 6/8, etc.) and this results in a balance that is distintly heard. Perhaps you are not aware of it, but when the balance is not there, you know it. Have you ever been listening to a song on the radio and suddenly it slows down or speeds up without warning? That is clear imbalance. Usually, I find the imbalances to be far more subtle.

Would this provide ground for an arguement saying that because something as dependant on mathmatics as music might be imbalanced in the math field of itself that it is generally regarded as "bad?"

But where does Tolkien fit into this?

Do readers regard Tolkien as a master, if not the master, of fantasy writing because his stories balance out? Do they balance out in the sense that they have a beginning that begins in the past of his created world and because they have an ending which ends in the future of his created world? Are they balanced because the beginning (speaking of the creation story in the Silm) was not measured in time as we know it and because the future extends indefinitely? Does this make what Tolkien wrote balanced and therefore has set a standard for all other writers to achieve the balance in their own work? Can this balance be what makes something seem "good" to the general population of readers, onlookers, etc.?