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Yes, Fordim, you've managed to come up with another interesting discussion topic! Firefoot, I like your use of the picture of a spring, a three-dimensional figure which combines both the circular and linear aspects. The lessons we learn in life tend to take repetition before they sink in, so we seem to come back to the same places. I've often compared it to building a brick house - you go around and around, ending up at the same corner repeatedly. However, each time, the wall is one layer higher. There is progress.
That's how I see the LotR. The cycle of departure, danger and refuge may seem similar, but each time, it escalates. Leaving Rivendell is not the same as leaving Bag End, and the shelter of Ithilien is not the same as Lothlórien. So I would also see the movement of the plot as a spiral, showing the depth of the story.
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth.. .'
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