Outline / Guide
Biography
Born in 1892 in the city of Bloemfontein in South Africa.
German origins, but he lived in England.
Deeply catholic convictions
Philologist, writer and professor in the University of Oxford.
Main works
The Hobbit (1937)
The Lord of the Rings (1954 - 1955)
The Silmarillion (1977)
(Essay) Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics (1936)
The Lord of the Rings: References
Old English poems and culture
The hall.
Anglo-Saxons:
The hall is treated in these poems as the lord in his castle surrounded
by all his knights, warriors and servants living in a close community, as if it
was their home, the place where they could rest and stay with their families
after the brutality of the battle and share their experiences in a full
camaraderie. These images are found in both human fortress in The Lord of
the Rings: Medusel, where lives Theoden, the lord of Rohan, and Minas
Tirith, the capital of Gondor, Denethor is the seneschal that lives there while
the legitimate king is in the exile. Tolkien, tried to describe people in the
Anglo-Saxon age with his books, for example, he treated eorlingas (warriors
from rohan) like this:
They are proud and willful, but they are true-hearted, generous in
thought and deed; bold but not cruel; wise but unlearned, writing no
books but singing many songs, after the manner of the children of
Men before the Dark Years.
Due to this, we can imagine that Tolkien was describing us how AngloSaxon people were if we consider the manuscripts that have been found of
this age and making similarities with Rohirrim. There is only one difference
between this people and the Anglo-Saxons: the horses, Rohirrim were brave
warriors and very powerful in the battle because of these animals, but if
Tolkien wanted to represent Anglo-Saxon people with Rohan, why he used
them? It is so easy, Tolkien always hated the changes that affected Anglo-
Saxon when they were conquered by Normans and he knew that in 1066 if
Harold II in the battle of Hastings would have had cavalry, he would not
have lost against the Normans of William the Conqueror and Anglo-Saxon
culture would not have been modified as it happened.
Ubi sunt and tempus fugit (The Wanderer)*.
It is strictly necessary to pay attention in the ubi sunt and tempus fugit,
two terms that are alive in The Wanderer in the entire poem and we can find
clearly that the famous writer used them as a source of inspiration as we
can see in these two pieces:
In the poem, the wanderer made reference to this feeling like this:
Where has the horse gone? Where the young warrior? Where is the
giver of treasure? What has become of the feasting seats? Where are
the joys of the hall? Alas, the bright cup! Alas, the mailed warrior!
Alas, the prince's glory! How that time has gone, vanished beneath
night's cover, just as if it had never been!
In the work of Tolkien, when Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn are
contemplating the barrows on the hill, Aragorn starts to sing a song in
rohirrim language that is very similar to the extract that we have seen
before in The Wanderer:
Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was
blowing? Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair
flowing? Where is the hand on the harp string, and the red fire
glowing? Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn
growing? They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in
the meadow; the days have gone down in the West behind the hills
into shadow. Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning?
Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?
Nordic Mithology: Odin and Gandalf
Gandalf. This character is named as the grey pilgrim; this aspect
makes us to remember again the poem The Wanderer, an exiled warrior
without lord and home that is continuously moving searching new
adventures, this character has been compared with the Norman god Odin,
or Merlin from the King Arthur, but there are much more similarities with
Vinminen Runoya from the epic Finnish novel Kalevala, this character has
the same skills than Gandalf, the physical aspect is the same, and is an
ancient powerful wizard
that has to fight versus the young wizard
Joukahainen, both wizards have their power in the voice and after fighting to
each other, Vinminen is defeated and thrown to the sea, where he will be
rescued by an eagle, something that is very similar to what happened in the
Lord of the Rings between Gandalf and Saruman. We can find more
resemblances in this character with Old English poems, for example, when
Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas arrive to Medusel in order to speak to
Theoden about Sarumans betrayal, Grima Wormtongue is Theodens
servant but hi is working for Saruman, and in this scene he is trying
continuously to leave Gandalf in a bad place, firstly he reproaches the
wizard that why in this age of difficulties, he does not bring with him an
army instead of his words, but it is possible to find again a big Old English
influence in Tolkien in the next words from Grima to Gandalf:
Why should I welcome you, Gandalf Stormcrow? Why indeed should
welcome you, Master Stormcrow? 'Lthspell' I name you, Ill-news; and ill
news is an ill guest they say.
In this piece of text, Grima tells that calamities are behind Gandalf like
crows, and compares him with one of them. In the tradition, crows are
related to bad news and disasters, but Tolkien is a very good expert in
English culture and although it seems to be an insult, in the English tradition
crows were symbol of hope. It is not a simple coincidence because the
Nordic god Odin is always surrounded the crows Huninn and Muninn so this
is another argument that remembers us the way in which Tolkien was
inspired when he wrote his greatest work.
English
A star shall shine on the hour of our meeting.
Good (day/morning/afternoon/evening).
Greetings (everyone).
Hail.
It has been too long.
My heart sings to see thee.
Pleasure meeting you.
Well met.
Fair winds.
Farewell.
Good (day/afternoon/evening/night).
Good hunting.
May the leaves of your life tree never turn
brown.
May the wind fill your sails.
May thy paths be green and the breeze be on
thy back.
May your ways be green and golden.
My heart shall weep until I see thee again.
Rest well.
Sleep well.
Sweet water and light laughter until next we
meet.
Until later(then).
Until next we meet.
Until then.
Until tomorrow(then).
Elvish (Quenya)
Elen sila lumenn omentilmo.
Quel (re/amrun/andune/undome).
Vedui' (il'er).
Aaye.
Nae saian luume'.
Cormamin lindua ele lle.
Saesa omentien lle.
Mae govannen.
Vanya sulie.
Namaarie.
Quel (re/andune/lome/du).
Quel fara.
Aa' lasser en lle coia orn n' omenta gurtha.
Aa' i'sul nora lanne'lle.
Aa' menle nauva calen ar' ta hwesta e'
ale'quenle.
Aa' menealle nauva calen ar' malta.
Cormamin niuve tenna' ta elea lle au'.
Quel esta.
Quel kaima.
Lissenen ar' maska'lalaith tenna' lye
omentuva.
Tenna' telwan (san').
Tenna' ento lye omenta.
Tenna' san'.
Tenna' tul're (san').
Bibliography:
The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th Edition. Volume 1. Ed. by
M.H. Abrams, et al. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., January 4, 2006. 111-113
Church in Anglo-Saxon Society Blair, John Oxford University Press ; 01/2005
Hobbits, elves, and wizards: exploring the wonders and worlds of
J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the rings" . Michael N. Stanton.
An invitation to Old English and Anglo-Saxon England Mitchell, Bruce Oxford:
Blackwell, 2003
Imagining the Anglo-Saxon past: the search for anglo-saxon paganism
andanglo-saxon trial by jury / Eric Gerald Stanley, Cambridge: D. S. Brewer,
2000
