Das Irrlicht, by Arnold Böcklin, 1882 Will-o’-the-wisps are little dancing lights sometimes seen on bogs and moorlands, and occasionally in forests. Some have been reported to retreat from the viewer if followed, thus giving the impression that it was leading the viewer somewhere. Unfortunately, because will-o’-the-wisps were often seen on bogs and marshes, people who … Continue reading “Tricksy lights”: Will-o’-the-Wisps in Folklore & J.R.R. Tolkien
Tag: The Two Towers
Tolkien & The Wanderer
Back in November I shared the “Lament for the Rohirrim,” by J.R.R. Tolkien on Remembrance Day. Tolkien was a gifted poet, but because much of his poetry as we know it is contained in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, it tends to be overshadowed by his substantial prose. However, a decade spent … Continue reading Tolkien & The Wanderer
Lament for the Rohirrim, by J.R.R. Tolkien (Remembrance Day 2021)
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 harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
“The Feminine Principle in Tolkien,” by Melanie Rawls
“The Feminine Principle in Tolkien” is an essay I happened upon about a month ago. I was meandering through various byways---an article to a book to an article on that book which mentioned this essay---and discovered it like one finds a pretty pebble on the road. It appeared at a particularly timely moment, as in … Continue reading “The Feminine Principle in Tolkien,” by Melanie Rawls
The Wearing of Time on Mortal-Immortal Relationship
Sometimes, in reading a work of literature, I encounter a snippet of wording which illuminates a previously unnoticed pattern in another work. This was the case with a particular reference in W.B. Yeats’ preface to Lady Gregory’s translation of the Finn Cycle to the degradation of the mortal-immortal relationship over the course of Irish mythology. … Continue reading The Wearing of Time on Mortal-Immortal Relationship
Rereading The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings, Part 4: The Return of the King (Raw Reflections)
It appears that The Return of the King is the hardest book in the trilogy for me to put down or, more accurately, the hardest for me to resist picking up. This may be because of the many day-spring moments in The Return of the King: flashes of incredible beauty...
Remembered Lore 