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Death And Immortality In Middle-earth
J. R. R. Tolkien repeatedly dealt with the theme of death and immortality in Middle-earth. He stated directly that the "real theme" of ''The Lord of the Rings'' was "Death and Immortality." In Middle-earth, Men are mortal, while Elves are immortal. One of his stories, ''The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen'', explores the willing choice of death through the love of an immortal Elf for a mortal Man. He several times revisited the Old Norse theme of the mountain tomb, containing treasure along with the dead and visited by fighting. He brought multiple leading evil characters in ''The Lord of the Rings'' to a fiery end, including Gollum, the Nazgûl, the Dark Lord Sauron, and the evil Wizard Saruman, while in ''The Hobbit'', the dragon Smaug is killed. Their destruction contrasts with the heroic deaths of two leaders of the free peoples, Théoden of Rohan and Boromir of Gondor, reflecting the early medieval ideal of Northern courage. Despite these pagan themes, the work contains hints ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Lord Of The Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually developed into a much larger work. Written in stages between 1937 and 1949, ''The Lord of the Rings'' is one of the List of best-selling books, best-selling books ever written, with over 150 million copies sold. The title refers to the story's main antagonist, the Dark Lord Sauron, who History of Arda#Second Age, in an earlier age created the One Ring, allowing him to rule the other Rings of Power given to Men in Middle-earth, men, Dwarves in Middle-earth, dwarves, and Elves in Middle-earth, elves, in his campaign to conquer all of Middle-earth. From homely beginnings in the Shire, a hobbit land reminiscent of the English countryside, the story ranges across Middle-earth, following Quests in Middle-earth, the quest to destroy the One Ring, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paganism In Middle-earth
Scholars have identified numerous themes in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings, among them paganism. Despite Tolkien's assertion that ''The Lord of the Rings'' was a fundamentally Christian work, paganism appears in that book and elsewhere in his fictional world of Middle-earth in multiple ways. These include a pantheon of god-like beings, the Valar, who function like the Norse gods, the Æsir; the person of the wizard Gandalf, who Tolkien stated in a letter is an "Odinic wanderer"; Elbereth, the Elves' "Queen of the Stars", associated with Venus; animism, the way that the natural world seems to be alive; and a ''Beowulf''-like " northern courage" which is determined to press on, no matter how bleak the outlook. Tolkien was a Christian interested in religion, and placed many hints of Christianity in ''The Lord of the Rings'', but given that Middle-earth is the Earth in the distant past, long before the time of Christ, he could not make his characters Christian, even t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tolkien's Languages
The English philologist and author J. R. R. Tolkien created several constructed languages, mostly related to his fictional world of Middle-earth. Inventing languages, something that he called '' glossopoeia'' (paralleling his idea of ''mythopoeia'' or myth-making), was a lifelong occupation for Tolkien, starting in his teens. Tolkien's glossopoeia has two temporal dimensions: the internal (fictional) timeline of events in Middle-earth described in ''The Silmarillion'' and other writings, and the external timeline of Tolkien's own life during which he often revised and refined his languages and their fictional history. Tolkien scholars have published a substantial volume of Tolkien's linguistic material in the '' History of Middle-earth'' books, and the '' Vinyar Tengwar'' and ''Parma Eldalamberon'' journals. Scholars such as Carl F. Hostetter, David Salo and Elizabeth Solopova have published grammars and studies of the languages. He created a large family of Elvish langua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Milton Waldman
Milton Waldman (1895–1976) was an author of historical biographies and literary advisor at William Collins, Sons, London. He is also remembered for his correspondence with J. R. R. Tolkien who was seeking a publisher for his legendarium and ''The Lord of the Rings'', combined into one work. Waldman was interested but refused to publish the work. Biography Milton Waldman was born in 1895 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was educated at Yale University. During the First World War, he served in the United States Army. He wrote biographies of historical figures, especially Queens of England. His first published book was ''Americana'' in 1925, about American literature from the time of the first Europeans onwards. Around 1930 he moved to London, where he worked as an editor at the '' London Mercury'' literary journal, and as a literary advisor for the publisher Longmans, Green. In 1949 he became a literary advisor to the publisher William Collins, Sons. He rose to become director of that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Mythology For England
The English author J. R. R. Tolkien has often been supposed to have spoken of wishing to create "a mythology for England". It seems he never used the actual phrase, but various commentators have found his biographer Humphrey Carpenter's phrase appropriate as a description of much of his approach in creating Middle-earth, and the legendarium behind ''The Silmarillion''. His desire to create a national mythology echoed similar attempts in countries across Europe, especially Elias Lönnrot's creation of the ''Kalevala'' in Finland, which Tolkien read, mainly in English, and admired. That in turn inspired him to study the Finnish language, which he found beautiful. He imitated some of its features in one of his constructed languages, which became the Elvish language Quenya. He studied Welsh, too, and it led to another Elvish language, Sindarin. He realized that he needed some speakers of those languages, leading him to create tales of elves divided into different groups. Meanw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beowulf In Middle-earth
J. R. R. Tolkien, a fantasy author and professional philologist, drew on the Old English poem ''Beowulf'' for multiple aspects of his Middle-earth legendarium, alongside other influences. He used elements such as names, monsters, and the structure of society in a heroic age. He emulated its style, creating an impression of depth and adopting an elegiac tone. Tolkien admired the way that ''Beowulf'', written by a Christian looking back at a pagan past, just as he was, embodied a "large symbolism" without ever becoming allegorical. He worked to echo the symbolism of life's road and individual heroism in ''The Lord of the Rings''. The names of races, including ents, orcs, and elves, and place names such as Orthanc and Meduseld, derive from ''Beowulf''. The werebear Beorn in ''The Hobbit'' has been likened to the hero Beowulf himself; both names mean "bear" and both characters have enormous strength. Scholars have compared some of Tolkien's monsters to those in ''Beowulf''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translations of Beowulf, most often translated works of Old English literature. The date of composition is a matter of contention among scholars; the only certain dating is for the manuscript, which was produced between 975 and 1025 AD. Scholars call the anonymous author the "''Beowulf'' poet". The story is set in pagan Scandinavia in the 5th and 6th centuries. Beowulf (hero), Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes (Germanic tribe), Danes, whose mead hall Heorot has been under attack by the monster Grendel for twelve years. After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother takes revenge and is in turn defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland and becomes king of the Geats. Fifty years later, Beowulf def ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England or early medieval England covers the period from the end of Roman Empire, Roman imperial rule in Roman Britain, Britain in the 5th century until the Norman Conquest in 1066. Compared to modern England, the territory of the Anglo-Saxons stretched north to present day Lothian in southeastern Scotland, whereas it did not initially include western areas of England such as Cornwall, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, and Cumbria. The 5th and 6th centuries involved the collapse of economic networks and political structures and also saw a radical change to a new Anglo-Saxon language and culture. This change was driven by movements of peoples as well as changes which were happening in both northern Gaul and the North Sea coast of what is now Germany and the Netherlands. The Anglo-Saxon language, also known as Old English, was a close relative of languages spoken in the latter regions, and genetic studies have confirmed that there was significant migrat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and transitioned into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages. Population decline, counterurbanisation, the collapse of centralised authority, invasions, and mass migrations of tribes, which had begun in late antiquity, continued into the Early Middle Ages. The large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the 7th century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medievalist
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematician, mathematicians often vocalize it as star (as, for example, in ''the A* search algorithm'' or ''C*-algebra''). An asterisk is usually five- or six-pointed in printing, print and six- or eight-pointed when handwritten, though more complex forms exist. Its most common use is to call out a footnote. It is also often used to censor offensive words. In computer science, the asterisk is commonly used as a wildcard character, or to denote pointer (computer programming), pointers, repetition, or multiplication. History The asterisk was already in use as a symbol in ice age Cave painting, cave paintings. There is also a two-thousand-year-old character used by Aristarchus of Samothrace called the , , which he used when proofreading Homeri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of literary texts and oral and written records, the establishment of their authenticity and their original form, and the determination of their meaning. A person who pursues this kind of study is known as a philologist. In older usage, especially British, philology is more general, covering comparative and historical linguistics. Classical philology studies classical languages. Classical philology principally originated from the Library of Pergamum and the Library of Alexandria around the fourth century BC, continued by Greeks and Romans throughout the Roman and Byzantine Empire. It was eventually resumed by European scholars of the Renaissance, where it was soon joined by philologies of other European ( Romance, Germanic, Celtic, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earthly Paradise
In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden (; ; ) or Garden of God ( and ), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the biblical paradise described in Genesis 2–3 and Ezekiel 28 and 31.. The location of Eden is described in the Book of Genesis as the source of four tributaries. Various suggestions have been made for its location: at the head of the Persian Gulf, in southern Mesopotamia where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers run into the sea; and in Armenia. Others theorize that Eden was the entire Fertile Crescent or a region substantial in size in Mesopotamia, where its native inhabitants still exist in cities such as Telassar. Like the Genesis flood narrative, the Genesis creation narrative and the account of the Tower of Babel, the story of Eden echoes the Mesopotamian myth of a king, as a primordial man, who is placed in a divine garden to guard the tree of life. Scholars note that the Eden narrative shows parallels with aspects of Solomon's Temple and Jerusalem, attest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
