Throughout his work, Tolkien exemplifies the characteristics found in accepted works of literature and asserts himself as a literary author. One method of assessing literary merit is to measure prestige. While it may seem to be a trivial test at first, it is an oddly potent one. People whose voices are respected (scholars, critics, other writers, the kind of people who set the agenda for cultural norms of literary greatness) take Tolkien’s work seriously. Uniformly, no, but broadly yes. W.H. Auden is the foremost example of someone unimpeachably in the “establishment”, as it were, to push for recognition of Tolkien 's artistry, and by and large he succeeded. And he 's not the only one, though honestly, one should care a lot less about who thinks Tolkien was sublime or rubbish and pay more attention to why. So there has to be some artistry to recognize. Does it have craftsmanship? Is it well written? Does the author attend carefully to the mechanics of storytelling and the nuances of prosody? Undoubtedly yes, one could argue this is the area that puts Tolkien several leagues above his later imitators in commercial fantasy. One can think of a few good studies that dive right into Tolkien 's sentence structure and dialogue and examine just how careful and varied it is. Tom Shippey 's book Author of the Century has a whole chapter that is about the different voices in the Council of Elrond—how, for instance, the diction of the Dwarves reflects the culture of the Dwarves, and
When most people think of J.R.R. Tolkien, they often think of his great imagination and his world of great dragons, warriors, orcs, hobbits, wizards, dwarves and elves. But most people forget about the deeper meaning behind his stories and his controversy towards society. Tolkien was a British, fantasy, writer during the mid-1900s. Through his love of languages, religion, and country, J.R.R Tolkien’s works of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are controversial but masterpieces because Tolkien represents “good” as a fuller, more imaginative reality than evil.
I'm one of those kids who can never read enough. I sit here, pen in hand, at my friendly, comfortable, oak desk and survey the books piled high on the shelves, the dresser, the bed, the chair, even the window ledge. Growing up without TV, I turned to the beckoning world of literature for both entertainment and inspiration. As I run my eye over the nearest titles, I notice... only three written in the last 50 years. Ahh, here's Homer – by far my favorite ancient author – alongside Tolkien, my favorite modern. Incongruous? I think not. Tolkien loved Homer and honored him constantly within his own work. How could I fully appreciate the exchange between Bilbo and Gollum without seeing the parallel story of Odysseus and Polyphemus in the back of my mind? In the innocent characters of Bilbo and Frodo, Tolkien gives a quiet refutation to Plato's philosophical dialog of Gyges' Ring. Only a classicist would notice. Donne would, over there on the shelf, encased contentedly in his quiet brown binding. Aristotle wouldn't. He's too busy analyzing the Dickens on either side of him.
His greatest achievement in this field was the language spoken in Middle-Earth. As Tolkien grew older, he grew tired of Anglo-Saxon and Latin languages and shifted more towards Germanic languages. Tolkien was very smart but, as he grew so did his life and the challenges that it held.
Tolkien builds the characters through indirect characterization to provide the readers insight on the character. As Tolkien introduces Bilbo, he helps to build his personality. Bilbo's personality shows through when all the dwarves are entering his house and he wonders "whether they would stay [for] supper" (Tolkien 10). Through this you can tell that
As for the authors, Tolkien was well-versed and well-educated in the classics. He spoke ancient Greek fluently and would have known the works of Homer inside and out. No doubt his works were influenced by Homer in at least a minor way. Unfortunately we know very little about Homer, and in fact some scholars’ debate whether he even existed, so drawing comparisons to the two authors may be difficult. What we can consider however is the theory that Homer was a member of a group of poets called the Homeridae, which literally means hostages. These men were believed to be descendants of prisoners of war and as such, were not sent to war due to their dubious loyalties. Homer no doubt bore witness to many conflicts and used his writings to warn against the dangers of war. Similarly, Tolkien confined the Lord of the Rings after he
Tolkien uses literary devices to add depth to the world of Middle Earth. Tolkien uses Biblical allusion abundantly throughout the series. He also uses similes in various sections of the series to help connect the reader to the fantasy world. Personification is used as Tolkien describes many different aspects about the land of Middle Earth. The Lord of the Rings is filled with different examples of irony, especially situational irony. Tolkien uses figurative language in the series to more elegantly describe different scenarios. Tolkien also uses poetic justice in the series to provide the readers with proper conclusions. Tolkien tell his story The Lord of the Rings from the perspective of an omniscient narrator, so that the reader is able to know how certain events will unfold. Throughout The Lord of the Rings series, Tolkien uses these various literary devices to add depth to Middle
The Lord of the Rings by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is a book widely known for its rich language, detailed imagery, and profound story that expands over three volumes and six books. The book is scattered with deep characters ranging in back stories and eventual character development. Motifs, key parts throughout the story, include lightness and darkness, eyes, jewelry, and sword. JRR Tolkien even creates his own language for the solemn race of elves in the lengthy three volume novel. A part of this length may be attributed to the unusual placement of many full-form songs and poems within the book, as a break between the usual story. These poems and songs have ranges of playfulness and thoughtfulness. With uses of made up Hobbit words and beautiful
Among other things, Tolkien was perhaps chiefly a scholar of mythology, and despite his dislike of allegory, his universe is shot through with mythological archetypes. Among Tolkien’s obvious mythological influences (Biblical, Celtic, Norse, and Arthurian mythologies, etc.), I believe Biblical held the most significant effect on The Lord of the Rings, albeit Finnish/Nordic appears more so than any other. Additionally, Tolkien wanted to publish The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings together, since he saw them as connected mythological cycles. To a degree, one’s reading of The Lord of the Rings, is deepened by a knowledge of The Silmarillion, not just on the level of setting or context, but in terms of literary theme, symbol, and characterization.
*Quotes from The Lord of the Rings, or The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. Nothing written in italics applies to the
To me, both Tolkien and movie producers in Hollywood captured many of the different aspects and angles of the timeless classic The Hobbit. Although I pictured some scenes and characters different in my mind, both the movie and the book outdid themselves with lovely yet gruesomely fascinating detail. I myself am not sure if I favor the movie or the book better. Each did a great job of benefiting details to the story by either giving great descriptions of high quality imagery. Both the movie and the book both portrayed the story perfectly in their own ways.
“The Lord of the Rings is racist. It is soaked in the logic that race determines behavior.” (Ibata 2). Many people have tried to perpetuate the myth that J.R.R. Tolkien was racist. They cite various scenes in The Lord of the Rings, in both the books and in the movies. These people are lying or ignorant. J.R.R. Tolkien was not a racist, nor did he ever intend for his novels to be viewed as such. There is plenty of evidence to defend Tolkien from these claims such as: the themes of his novels, like The Lord of the Rings; the clear messages in his personal writings and his upbringing; and the characters from his novels.
characters from almost all of the races Tolkien introduces us to compose a song at one point in the story. These songs integrate relevant details of lore, character development, and a glimpse
The trait that Tolkien values is amity. Bilbo shows this when then the dwarves invade his house and he stays peaceful toward them. They were not pleasant house guests but he he stayed nice on the outside. Another example of amity is when the dwarves play their music and everybody has a feeling of peace inside of them.
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings have been beloved works among many generations of readers since they were first published. The author of these two books, J.R.R. Tolkien is just as interesting a man as many of the characters he created in the world of Middle-Earth. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Africa to a banker manager and his wife in 1892 and had only one sibling, Hilary, who was less than two years younger (Wikipedia). When he was young both of his parents died (one from rheumatic fever, the other from diabetes) and he and his brother were raised by a Catholic priest in Birmingham (Wikipedia). Tolkien was involved in World War One and Two, first as a serviceman, then as a cryptographer (Wikipedia). Indeed he was very
Tolkien did a very good job of portraying the elves a good people,I know this because the dwarves and elves hate each other the elves give the dwarves a place to stay and food.The dwarves and elves hate each other because the elven king did not risk his army´s life when the dwarves got attacked by the dragon.Also the elven king Elrond reads the moon letters that are on the plan of the mountain, tells Thorin and Gandalf the magical properties of their swords which is that Biter (Thorin's sword) and Foe-Hammer (Gandalf´s sword ) glow blue when orcs or goblins are nearby, and he gives Gandalf a white horse.The elves are likeable people because they avoid war if possible and are always