Tolkien in Middle Earth

[Rumil]

Many aspects of Tolkiens own life creep into his mythology, Tom Bombadil was based upon a doll that was owned by one of his children; when his wife, Edith died in 1971, he put the following inscription on her tombstone: "EDITH MARY TOLKIEN 1889-1971 Luthien" and in one of the most moving of his personal letters he says of her:

"she was the source of the story that in time became the chief part of the Silmarillion. It was first conceived in a small woodland glade filled with hemlocks at Roos in Yorkshire ... her hair was raven, her skin was clear, hers eyes brighter than you have seen them, and she could sing and dance."

I have often though that the dead marshes are first world war battle field ... to what extent can ME be read 'biographically' given that Tolkien said:

"I shall never write any ordered biography - it is against my nature , which expresses itself about things deepest felt in tales and myths"

Can we read ME as an expression of the professor's own life?

[Periantari Andruil]

i think...even though Tolkien believed that he wrote a fantasy that was not allegorical, obviously lots of the stories there are derived from some important occurrence in his life..
For example, the scenes from the Scouring can be thought of a result of the Industrial Revolution in Europe at that time... the lost of the hobbits' innocence can be thought of his lost of innocence after the war...
also, even though Tolkien wouldn't want us to read into his characters, Sauron and Saruman can be thought of as imperialists...people who want power over all.....
just some thoughts..i have more...but i'll share later =)
nice topic, Rumli :thumbs:
:)

[HobbitFriend]

yeah, i agree. I've said this before, but i really think that all great stories are the ones that the author put themselves into. Based on the things they know and what they have experienced throughout their own lives. Through a story such as Frodo's courage in The Lord of the Rings and how he had to overcome the power of the Ring and defeat evil, would probably reflect Tolkien's own courage in facing things and how he overcame his own obsticles. And i'm sure that some of the things (ie. the Dead Marshes as Rumil said) reflected his life during the war. I mean you really can't come out of a huge battle like that unchanged or unmoved in some way.

[Periantari Andruil]

Tolkien had strong feelings against Industrialization after the period of the War and those feelings can be related to the chapter "Scouring of the Shire"... Because Tolkien felt like a hobbit, preferring the quiet and countryside and not so much of technology, that can be conveyed through the second to last chapter of the trilogy...
Tolkien did not mean for LOTR to be allegorical in any way, but as Hobbitfriend said, "you can't come out of a huge battle like that unchagned or unmoved in some way" and as a writer, every writer draws from their own experiences to write something that they would like to call their own, so it is expected that some of his feelings and views shine through his great fantasy work :thumbs:

[HobbitFriend]

yep, and that just makes it all the better, too! :thumbs:

What else, would you say, reflected parts of his life in The Lord of the Rings? Or even his other works? :)