"Where is this from?" - Quote-search

[davem]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

So, to start - my problem is rather simple. Somewhere, Tolkien says something along the lines that "Middle-Earth was indeed supposed to be a depiction of our own world in some ancient age". If you know what it is and what I mean, could, please, somebody refer to me where this is from?

Closest I can find is in the BBC interview with Denis Guerolt from 1971:

G: I thought that conceivably Midgard might be Middle-earth or have some connection?

T: Oh yes, they're the same word. Most people have made this mistake of thinking Middle-earth is a particular kind of Earth or is another planet of the science fiction sort but it's just an old fashioned word for this world we live in, as imagined surrounded by the Ocean.

G: It seemed to me that Middle-earth was in a sense as you say this world we live in but at a different era.

T: No ... at a different stage of imagination, yes.