The Book of Lost Tales Part I: A Readthrough

[Boromir88]

Originally Posted by Formendacil

I'll be honest--although this fact intrigues and fascinates me, the product of the matter is that this is one of the more boring chapters in the BoLT to read and the material to discuss, at least in terms of comparison, is a bit harder to come by. But that doesn't mean there's nothing.

In terms of comparisons between the Music of the Ainur in BoLT and the Music of the Ainur in The Silm, I agree. The chapters on their own, I think, are anything but boring. The creation myth stands, to me, as one of the most beautifully crafted chapters in The Silmarillion. Tolkien's creation myth is Music...the descriptions of instruments, voices, the Theme of Iluvatar and Melkor's discursive, contrasting Theme is fascinating reading. For a creation myth of a fantasy world, Tolkien using "Music," and continuing with that theme, is rather marvelous. It makes the entire creation story believable, to think of a world that is created and woven out of "Music."

Originally Posted by Form

3. "The wastes of the time" ought to be the title of a fantasy novel. Rúmil uses the term, saying "very mighty are the things you ask, and their true answer delves beyond the uttermost confines of the wastes of time." As a noun, "waste(s)" is fairly rare--possibly because it connotes an empty, vast expanse of land or sea. Still, the use of "wastes" to describe the expanse of time is a typically Tolkienian use of the term, one that makes me think of the connection between space and time--and its kind of weird to think about, because "space/time" is the sort of science-fiction/theoretical physics sort of concept I don't usually associate with a linguist during World War I--but, there you have it, it's still a valid connection to make anyway, because we know Tolkien was a reader of sci-fi (at least a decade later).

Then in the Music text, Rumil uses "deeps of time":

'Hear now things that have not been heard among Men, and the Elves speak seldom of them; yet did Manwe Sulimo, Lord of Elves and Men, whisper them to the fathers of my father in the deeps of time.'

Another word, when used a noun, describing vastness, space but being associated with time. Tolkien uses "deeps of the Sea" and "depths of the Sea" a few times in this chapter. I agree with Tar-jex in "wastes of time" suggesting negative, something lost in the vast expanse of time. Where "deeps of time" suggests something positive, or full. Typically I associate depth with substance, or fullness. So, we have two instances where words describing space are tied to time. The first suggests emptiness (or something lost?) and the second I think of "deeps of time" suggests fullness.