It feels different near the Shire....

[littlemanpoet]

Thank you, Helen aka Mark 14-20 for helping me figure out what it was that was bugging me about the direction we've been going with the Englishness thing. For a more filled out explanation, see my most recent post in "Losing sight of the basics".

The Shire which Tolkien depicts is an admittedly idealized portrait. On at least one level, it's the author's view of what England ideally could have, or rather, should have been, not what it actually was.

Thank you, Sharon, for providing further evidence for my latest hypothesis. What we all love is only Englishness because we are English speakers. It is the way, par excellence, for us to receive that Something we all crave from the deepest tap root of mythic story.

You describe, Sharon, the evil (pettiness) woven through the Shire. My concern is primarily with those places near the Shire: the Old Forest and the House of Tom Bombadil. These are Faerie as can only be communicated to English speakers.

For Lewis, every country had a true soul and a true name. Lewis called the true soul of England "Logres". And Tolkien's Shire embodies a little bit of Logres, I think.

I called it Perelandra as a "perhaps", in the other thread, but you are right: Logres is nearer the mark. The Shire, however, is not. The Shire is enjoyable, but let us be reminded of that great quote (Bethberry?) that said the Hobbits are merely suburban unless deepened by that touch of Faerie that is Bombadil and Goldberry - and the Elves, I grant you, but they just don't quite do it for this English speaker, not like Tom and Goldberry and Old Man Willow.

I recognize Tolkien's comment regarding hills off in the distance being like Hobbiton or the Shire. There are all kinds of places near where I live that have made it into my story. In Tolkien's case, just as in mine, these are not Faerie; they are one remove from it.

If I seem especially hard-hitting on this point, it is because I am excited with having rediscovered the truth behind it all that I had once known and forgotten. Thanks, Helen!