[davem]

Originally Posted by mark12_30

Before Frodo's trials he often had glimpses of Faerie-- of eternal beauty-- that sustained him. Do we need less?

If faerie truly involves the overlapping of the world with the next. such is the communion of saints.

"O see ye not yon narrow road,
So thick beset with thorns and briars?
That is the path of righteousness,
Though after it but few enquire."


"And see ye not that broad, broad road
That lies across the lily leven?
That is the path of wickedness,
Though some call it the road to heaven."


"And see ye not that lovely road,
That winds about the fern'd hillside?
That is the road to fair Elfland,
Where thou and I this night must ride."
"Thomas the Rhymer"

As for place. Entry into the 'geographical' bounds of Faery also involves entry into Faery Time. How does a mortal 'enter' the geographical realm of Faery? Evidently not in dream or illusion. Physical objects, such as the star, the Living Flower, and the elvish toy, survive transplantation from Faery to the World. It is common in Fairy tales for the entrance to the fairy world to be presented as a journey underground, into a hill or mountain or the like. JRRT: Smith Essay

Faery is not Paradise or Heaven. In all the Traditions Faery is within the world - & this is also the case in Tolkien's creation. You reach Faery by various gateways - by going into the Forest, crossing the Sea, entering a Hollow Hill - not by leaving the world. You enter Faery this side of the grave. Its not a metaphor for anything else, but a place/state in its own right (in some way its the 'unfallen'/perfected ideal of this world, not an allegory of the next). The Paradise Frodo glimpsed (or was vouchsafed a vision of) was a place within the mortal creation, a place he attained to while alive - Tolkien is clear that mortals who enter into the Undying Lands will still die at some point & pass beyond (cf Aragorn's words to Arwen).

Tolkien is fairly clear in the Smith Essay:

BUT Faery is not religious. It is fairly evident that it is not Heaven or Paradise. Certainly its inhabitants, Elves, are not angels or emissaries of God (direct). The tale does not deal with religion itself. The Elves are not busy with a plan to reawake religious devotion in Wootton. The Cooking allegory would not be suitable to any such import. Faery represents at its weakest a breaking out (at least in mind) from the iron ring of the familiar, still more from the adamantine ring of belief that it is known, possessed, controlled, and so (ultimately) all that is worth being considered - a constant awareness of a world beyond these rings. More strongly it represents love: that is, a love and respect for all things, 'inanimate' and 'animate', an unpossessive love of them as 'other'. This 'love' will produce both ruth and delight. Things seen in its light will be respected, and they will also appear delightful, beautiful, wonderful even glorious. Faery might be said indeed to represent Imagination (without definition because taking in all the definitions of this word): esthetic: exploratory and receptive; and artistic; inventive, dynamic, (sub)creative. This compound - of awareness of a limitless world outside our domestic parish; a love (in ruth and admiration) for the things in it; and a desire for wonder, marvels, both perceived and conceived - this 'Faery' is as necessary for the health and complete functioning of the Human as is sunlight for physical life: sunlight as distinguished from the soil, say, though it in fact permeates and modifies even that.

He also goes further into location:

The geographical relations of Wootton and Faery are inevitably, but also intentionally left vague. In such stories there must be some way or ways of access from and to Faery, available at least to Elves as to favoured mortals. But it is also necessary that Faery and the World (of Men), though in contact, should occupy a different time and space, or occupy them in different modes. Thus though it appears that the Smith can enter Faery more or less at will (being specially favoured), it is evident that it is a land, or world of unknown limits, containing seas and mountains; also it is plain that even during a brief visit (such as one on an evening walk) he can spend a great deal longer in Faery than his absence counts in the world; on his long journeys an absence from home of, say, a week is sufficient for exploration and experiences in Faery equivalent to months or even years.
As far as geography goes, Faery is situated (or its entrances are) westward. 'From Far Easton to Westwood' denotes the bounds of the world to the villagers: from the most eastern village of people of their own kind to the Forest, yet uncultivated, immediately to the West. Wootton thus represents an earlier intrusion of men's settlements into the foreign country of Forest; Wootton Minor is [s]till a village in a clearing. The Forest is still close to the western edge of Wootton Major. The smithy is at the extreme western edge of it (if you like because of the need of wood fuel). It is at any rate thus made easier for the Smith to go into the Forest unobserved by any but his household, or to go on journeys 'on business', without his movements being the matter of gossip.

Any investigation into the nature of Faery requires us to focus on its 'reality' as a place/state in its own right, not as a metaphor/allegory for something else - even if that 'reality' exists purely in the realm of the Imagination (by saying which I don't mean to imply its all 'made up' - there are many kinds of Imagination, individual, Collective & Suprahuman).