[Child of the 7th Age]

Another long post, but there is no way to "prove" this except by details since most of us aren't familiar with the original Old English sources.....

I can see we are swimming in deeper waters which is both good and perilous. Let me try a stab at some ideas and see what you think.

First, let me be perfectly honest. I believe Tolkien's most perceptive critic was T.A. Shippey, who was himself a philologist. Because Shippey was familiar with the same sources and languages which Tolkien used, he had a unique advantage. He could see things in JRRT's writings that others couldn't. He could read the Silm and the LotR and HoMe and The Hobbit and understand that many words and concepts and even people were based on the tiny scraps extant from the Old English tradition. The rest of us read it and have little sense of this because we do not have these language skills or knowledge of ancient sources. And it's not going to get any better in the future because philologists, themselves, are a dying breed.

I am merely a follower in Shippey's path when I say that Tolkien was indebted to his English roots. I do not have Shippey's linguistic skills. Aside from some rusty Anglo-Saxon, my knowledge of the ancient northern languages is non-existent. But I am enough of an historian to 'feel' in my bones that Shippey has it right. This view is most exquisitely argued in The Road to Middle Earth published in 1982.

When Tolkien was first composing his Legendarium, his motive was not to weave a religious tale or to compose a modern fantasy. His primary motive at that time was to take extant scraps of Old English, embellish them, and create something which had been lost--the lost tales of his native England. Nowhere do we see this better than in the earliest books of HoMe, particularly BoLT 1 & 2. That's why Christopher himself chose the moniker "Book of Lost Tales" for these early renderings.

Littlemanpoet raises this question:

Who can say that England has lost any more than, say, France, or Spain, or Germany? Spain in particular has been far more of a highway and stopping point for conquering cultures than England.

I was probably too broad in my statements. I can only speak for northern Europe, since this is something I have a background in. Medievalists are in firm agreement that out of all the "northern" countries--Germany, Iceland, the Scandinavian nations, and even France (although the expression here is more Celtic than northern)--it is England that has lost her native poetry and lore. All we have are a few chap-book scraps or later references in Chaucer and such to original works that have been lost.

In later rewritings, Tolkien was to discard some of the specifics drawn from "England" and go far beyond in reaching for more universal meaning. But these original 'scraps' were the true origin of both the Legendarium and Silm as well as chunks of LotR.

Bill Ferny quoted Nar who said the following:

Tolkien set out to find a particular soul for his beloved England, but what we found in reading him was something much more profound.

Nar is absolutely right! But Tolkien is like an onion. We strip away layer after layer and find new treasures and meaning in each one. But aren't you curious what's in that very bottom layer? I sure am. That's why I talk about looking for the "basics." And I am convinced that, in the very beginning, it was Tolkien's desire to take the ancient scraps and spin a great "yarn" out of them.

On this board, Mithadan has said a hundred different ways that, at the very heart of Tolkien lies a good yarn. And I accept this with one little addition: at the very heart of Tolkien lies a good "English" yarn.

Let's take a few examples and start with the easy ones. Most readers are aware that the Shire itself is a "calque" on England. Much of it is Victorian and Edwardian. But how about those parts that hearken back to old English history? Just as the English came from "someplace else" before they lived in England, so too did the hobbits. In Middle-earth, the largest part of the hobbit migration came from between the Hoarwell and Loudwater Rivers; the actual European migration came from between the Flenburg Fjord and the Schlei. Both groups, interestingly, had forgotten this fact! Both emigrated in three tribes: Angles, Saxons and Jutes vrs. Stoors, Harfoots, and Fallohides. Both groups subsequently became largely intermingled. The English were led by two leaders: Hengest (means stallion) and Horsa (means horse); the hobbits by Marcho (from Old English marh or horse) and Blanco (the term blancain Beowulf refers to a white horse). Both the "real" English and the English hobbits founded realms which experienced an unusual measure of peace. The mayors, musters, moots, and Shiriffs of the Shire have their equivalents in ancient England.

OK? Bird suggests the English influence is confined to the Shire, but I don't agree. Take a look at The Mark, i.e. Rohan. The very term "Mark" is a modern spin-off from Mearc which is a Saxon term for Mercia. Mercia was the kingdom which just happened to include Tolkien's home towns of Oxford and Birmingham. All the riders of Rohan have Old English names. Interestingly, these names are not "standard" West Saxon dialect which is the most common. Instead, they're drawn from Old Mercian, which again was Tolkien's home.

What about looking at the Silmarillion?
Bethberry questions the English roots here, but again, if we go back to the earliest writings, we can see how Tolkien was struggling with his source material to incorporate quasi-historical data as well as pure myth. Characters like Helm Hammerhand, Turin, and Dain show clear affinities with quasi-pagan heroes. But again, it works best if we examine specifics.

Let's take one figure from the Legendarium: that of Eriol, also termed Ottar Waefre (Waefre means the wanderer in Old English.) Eriol has one foot in the "real" history of England and another in the land of fantasy. According to Tolkien, by his first wife, Eriol was the father of Hengest and Horsa. In an early legend, but one thought to be historically accurate, these two men were the invaders of Britain and the founders of England. By his second wife, however, Eriol was the father of Heorrenda, a harper of English poetic tradition. It's almost as if his ancestors represent two strains: true history and invented myth, but both from English sources

What about Tol Eressea which Rimbaud mentions? When Tol Erresea is first described by Tolkien, he uses the terms "seo unwemmede ieg" which is Old English. Interestingly, Tol Eressea is first seen as a floating isle, sometimes closer to Valinor and sometimes closer to the mainland. Just as Eriol has one foot in history (i.e. the real life of middle-earth) and one in myth (the poetic tradition) so too does Tol Eressea itself. At first, Tolkien even extended this English identification to the placenames of Tol Eressea. In BoLT, Kortirion, the home of the exiles, is Kor in Warwick. Tavrobel is identified with the Staffordshire village of Great Haywood.

Yet, we know that ultimately Tolkien wisely rejected Tol Eressea's identification with England. But, if you look closely in the Fellowship, you will see just a glimpse of it. For "seo unwemmede ieg" means in Old English the "unstained land", and these are precisely the words Tolkien used to describe the haven of Lothlorien. Strange how these things get changed, yet still filter down!

Another example: the Man of the Sea who rescues Aelfwine is based on the mythological sea-giant of Old English tradition whom Chaucer mentions. Tolkien later develped this character into Ulmo.

Let me summarize the question of the Silm with a quote from Shipey when Tolkien originally submitted his 'mythology for England' for possible publication in 1937:

We know now that Tolkien sent in to Allen and Unwin's a bundle of material including his Lay of Leithian and the Quenta Silmarillion, a close descendent of The Book of Lost Tales. But when the Allen and Unwin reader read them...., he was totally perplexed, unsure whether what he was reading or not was 'authentic' or not (so far Tolkien would have felt he succeeded) but regrettably quite clear that whatever its authenticity it certainly could not be English!

The reviewer of the Silm goes on to comment that the Silm has "something of that mad, bright eyed beauty that perplexes all Anglo-Saxons in the face of Cetic art." Shippey notes the total irony of this statement:

Tolkien had done his best to root his Silmarillion story in what little genuine Anglo-Saxon tradition he could find. But the first time it found a reader, that reader was sure (a) that he was Anglo-Saxon. but (b) the Silmarillion wasn't.

According to Shippey, Tolkien saw this as one more sad testimony to the complete deafness of modern English people, especially educated ones, to their own linguisic roots.

Rimbaud says the following:

[QUOTE]The true story of England, even from its earliest recorded history, is of class and race. This is true today [QUOTE]

I respectfully disagree, at least for the earlier periods. Certainly, this is true for modern British history, perhaps going back as far as the early modern era (?). But the same is definitely not true for the medieval era. There were certainly wide disparities in income, but the concepts of "class and race" are essentially modern ones, and have only indirect relevence for the middle ages, certainly for the very early period which Tolkien draws on.

Yes, things like this do peep through in the Shire with the Victorian/Edwardian calque, but this was a late addition to the Legendarium. The earliest images Tolkien had were drawn from Anglo-Saxon history and language.

In summary, I'm not saying that this is the only or preferred way to look at Tolkien. Only that we should be careful to remember as we go about our wide-ranging debates and discussions that the history and language of England, particularly in terms of the Anglo-Saxon experience, stands at the center of Tolkien's onion, though carefully hidden from view.

sharon, the 7th age and long-winded hobbit!

[ October 01, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]

[ October 01, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]