Tolkien 's Cartography : An Exploration Of Landscape

In the article “Do Maps Create or Represent Reality?” written by Laura Herbert as a high school senior on March 2002 is about how maps can tell stories. No map is 100% accurate and is usually only accurate in shape, area, or distance. There are different types of maps and each has its own strong points. Maps are good at representing a place it self, but they don’t define that the place exists. Mapmakers when making maps can each put their own personalization, this is what usually causes them to be different. Even though maps are not completely right, they still influence the way we think about the world. Mapmaker cannot just make up random things they need to have some sort of reality

It can be argued that The Map Woman presents the persona's rage and frustration at the suppression of her identity. She is trapped in her map-like skin, with the adjective ‘looped’ and the adverb ‘repeatedly’ connoting that she cannot escape the cyclic nature of her life. No matter where she goes, her skin remains a ‘precis of where to end or go back or begin', reinforcing the idea that she is trapped in

In the epic poem Beowulf, there is an obvious distinction between good and evil. The hero and his foes play roles that are commonly associated with Anglo-Saxon literature. The lines are clearly drawn and expressed in the poem. As the story moves, the reader cannot mistake the roles being played, based on the characterizations in the epic, one recognizes each character for their purpose and place.

The majority of Tolkien's imagery is found in nature. In 1999, Karen Oberst concluded that Tolkien's greatest use of nature was "when he anthropomophized it," which means to attribute human characteristics to something that is not human. This form of imagery is an on-going pattern throughout Tolkien's tale. Bilbo Baggins repeatedly advises human characteristics to the inanimate objects that are around him, which adds profoundness to Tolkien's tale. For instance, Bilbo describes the west part of the Mountains on the way to Homely Home as having "no trees and no valleys and no hill to break the ground in front of them, only one vast slope going slowly up and up to meet the feet of the nearest mountain […]"(Tolkien 52). Tolkien used this example of imagery to emphasize the bleakness of the situation.

Another literary element that offer meaning to the poem is imagery, by simply allowing the readers to envision the events of the story. In the first part of the story (129-134), Beowulf is described as coming over “seas beating at the sand” while “the ship foamed through the sea like a bird.” This scene truly guides the readers to admire the vivid description of how proud and tough the ship looks. This ship in this case, becomes a metonymy for Beowulf himself, who is certainly proud and strong, resulting in the readers’ admiration. Additional imagery is used describing the mere, or lake, discussed above, with “storms [an] waves splash[ing] towards the sky, as dark as the air as black as the rain that the heavens weep” (440-442). This clearly illustrates how dreadful Grendel and his mothers’ home is. It intensely aids us to picture how grotesquely unpleasant the lake actually is. Near the end of the tale (lines 651-653], Beowulf “[strides] with his shield at his side and a mail shirt of his breast….. Toward the tower, under the rocky cliffs.” While Beowulf awaits the battle, the description of his armor and the details of each entry help us to respect how ready he is for his concluding battle. Even as an elderly man, Beowulf is a hero beyond compare. In closing, the use of imagery greatly enriches the readers’ experience of this heroic epic.

Over time, the individuals within Herot have become aware of the evils and menacing conditions that have sprung from Grendel’s and his mother environment. Unfortunately, Beowulf’s boastful attitude and past war experiences with numerous creatures has led him to undermine dangers of the lair. During Hrothgar’s speech to Beowulf, Hrothgar uses figurative language, vivid imagery, and displeasing syntax to demonstrate how Grendel’s environment is filled with treachery, hellish components, and danger, creating a sense of fear and concern for Beowulf, which will allow him to develop a humble attitude. The poem provides a description on how creatures that possess superior qualities, similar to Beowulf, do not survive in Grendel’s lair. Hrothgar uses distasteful syntax and provides vivid examples to assert how creatures that contain superior characteristics and/or qualities are tarnished by the menacing environment.

In the song “The New World” the lyrics paint a picture of land that calls to be discovered. “A new world call across the ocean, a new world calls across the sky, a new world whispers in the shadows, time to fly”. Jason Robert brown uses the image of a land across the sea in order to show how distant this new life is. Similarly in the book, Eilis leaves Ireland and becomes a stranger in an entirely new

Beowulf holds a key to understanding how the author can invoke a response from the reader through different narrative forms and the heroic/non heroic trope. The form of the epic poem is used to present the themes of power, war death and life itself in an enhanced way that allows the writer to arouse a particular response from the

larger vegetation zones to the way we should understand the ecology of the land scape.

In Ted Binnema’s “How does a Map Mean?” the author describes how maps are used as a way of understanding how a particular society functions. In Old Swan’s map, it is evident that it was done by groups of individuals and not just one particular person given there are places on the map that Old Swan was unaware of. Therefore, maps are a portrayal of an entire community’s knowledge of their land and not just one individual. Given this, it appears that it is not about what a map means but how it is used to establish meaning for those who wrote it. Each map is created in a different way and it is useless to try to understand it without first placing ourselves in the mindset of the cartographer(s) who wrote it. Furthermore, some indigenous maps are created using many others and to completely appreciate them, it is best to assume that they were created to be understood by the people at the time and hence, this can be why they seem puzzling to modern readers. For instance, in trying to understand Fidler’s map, because Arrowsmith was completely consumed with modern cartography, he was unable to decipher the cartographic style of Old Swan’s map (which Fidler based his maps on as well as others (five maps total) ).

All he cares about is the result; Walton does not care about the big picture. For this reason, Walton’s pursuit of knowledge is unacceptable, and his imagination has gotten too far because he does not know what he is getting himself into. The theme is that one should not go based off their innate knowledge on perilous journeys, explorers and others should know that there is a limit to their imagination.

Bruns, John. “The Map Is Not The Country: Cartography In Joel and Ethan Coen’s No Country For Old Men.” Film Criticism 2 (2011): 2-11. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.

The first point of view from chapter one is by a man by the name of M. Scott Peck. In the section that he wrote he compares our lives to that of a map. He states that these maps need to be revised as we live our lives instead of following a map that may be incorrect. He goes on to explain that to revise a map people will have to face reality about one’s life experiences and it might be painful to face these experiences but it is necessary to achieve the truth. It is easier for people to hide their so called “maps” from the world than to put them out there to be challenged and seen by others.

The epic tale of Beowulf was written sometime after his death. In other words, a long time ago during the Anglo-Saxon period. Today, directors in Hollywood did not keep from creating their own rendition of this epic poem As a result, plenty of modern interpretations of Beowulf, such as Sturla Gunnarsson’s Beowulf and Grendel, have been released. Naturally, the cultural values that might be reflected in modern Beowulf renditions will demonstrate a clash with those of the original fifth century Beowulf literature. One reason for this is that in the modern age we value characters with profound characteristics, characters that change due to the challenges they experience; characters that we as the audience can attach to. Flat characters like those of the original Beowulf text are difficult to empathize with since they are not realistic enough for our standards. Due to these differences in culture and values, the Beowulf and Grendel from the original Beowulf text possess definite contrasts when compared with their Beowulf and Grendel counterparts.

Beowulf is an epic dense with imagery derived from Anglo-Saxon Pagan culture and Christianity because it is was written in England during the 8th century, a period of Christian migration, growth, and conversion. From the sea where he loses a fight but fends off evil sea-monsters, the forests, and specific animals such as the raven, Beowulf blends nature, mysticism, and reality seamlessly. The descriptions of nature are general and vague which makes it hard to tell exact locations and lets the reader form their own, personalized visualization of the area; likewise, the role of nature in the lives of the Anglo-Saxon culture and Pagan religion remain unclear at best. Provided with many images of nature in Beowulf, this analysis will extract a deeper understanding of how the Anglo-Saxons used their Paganistic view of nature to help shape Beowulf.