Tolkien is Not Yeats

[Diamond18]

Funny. Tolkien's poetry makes up a great deal of my favorite poems. Reading his work gave me the image of a man who had such a complete handle on language that he could do whatever he wanted with it. Whether it be a rolicking good ditty that you can get up on the table and sing, or a hauntingly beautiful song such as Galadriel's Lament. "I sang of leaves, of leaves of gold, and leaves of gold there grew..." I do not care one iota about anything but the fact that that line (and the whole rest of the poem) gives me chills and strikes me with its bittersweet beauty.

To me art should cause pleasure on some level; beauty, joy, or sadness. If it does, it's a good poem. If it doesn't, it isn't. I recall picking up a volume of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem and disliking it immensly. So I would not care if ten professors told me I have a small mind because I can't fathom the depths of a good poet. I like Tolkien's poetry because it is beautiful and makes sense. It's coherent. Does that mean it's simplistic and childish? What, is poetry only good if you can't understand it?

But it occurs to me now that me lending my support for Tolkien's verse in this way is rather more of an undermining process, due to my lack of poetic credentials. I can't say I've even read Yeats. So I'll just leave it at this:

Some people just can't stand to see other people have fun.