Litsy

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I enjoyed this unfinished piece of Arthurian poetry by Tolkien, along with the accompanying essays by Christopher Tolkien (that make up most of the book). Overall, though, it was a bit unsatisfying—I wanted a little bit more from all of it (but that‘s my own issue, not an actual problem with the book). “The Poem in Arthurian Tradition” made me want to study the poem in the context of an Arthurian Literature course, to go deeper into the sources ⤵️

Daisey, JazzFeathers

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …Tolkien drew from. With “The Unwritten Poem & its Relation to The Silmarillion,” I wanted more analysis of the connections & parallels (and character comparisons) not only with the Silmarillion, but also the rest of Tolkien‘s work. (I realize literary interpretation/analysis wasn‘t Christopher Tolkien‘s purpose, and I understand why, but that‘s what I wanted!) My favorite part of the book, though, was the appendix on Old English Verse.⤵️ (edited) 1d

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) I loved reading more about the alliterative form—it enriched my reading of the poem to go back and examine the form Tolkien was using, and it made me wish even more for a completed version of the poem. I‘m glad I read this #MedievalTolkien pick with the #FellowshipofTolkien! 1d

kspenmoll Wonderful review! 1d

Daisey Great review and I completely agree! I also really enjoyed the section on the verse form. 1d

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Bookwomble

Tolkien & the Silmarillion | Clyde S. Kilby

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This is a lovely little book, covering Kilby's stay with the Tolkiens in the summer of 1965, invited by JRRT to give him "editorial and critical assistance", and an impetus to focus on his authorial task at a time when age and the distractions of a fame to which he was ambivalent combined with a natural dilatoriness and a tendency for his interests to be "Like butter that has been scraped over too much bread". His personal impressions of ?

Bookwomble ... Tolkien's character are fascinating.
He goes onto a sketch of the composition of the Silmarillion, something that Christopher Tolkien later greatly expanded upon, then a consideration of how Tolkien's Christianity is embedded in his work, not as deliberately as that of C.S. Lewis but as a natural effect of his deep belief, and rounds up with a consideration of the three major Inklings, JRRT, Lewis and Charles Williams.
Lovely! 😊 5d

Leoslittlebooklife What a lovely cover! 5d

Bookwomble @Leoslittlebooklife It's vibrantly coloured, isn't it, which is what struck my eye as I took it off the shop's bookshelf 😍 5d

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Bookwomble

Tolkien & the Silmarillion | Clyde S. Kilby

Next up, a memoir of Kilby's summer assisting JRRT with his Silmarillion materials, after which he was asked to read the manuscript prior to publication. Kilby's book was published 1976, the year before The Silmarillion, so his impressions will be personal & unaffected by its general & critical reception.
Kilby was an Inkling scholar, with several academic books about Tolkien, Lewis and the others, so I'm also expecting it to be well-considered.

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Daisey

Perilous and Fair: Women in the Works and Life of J. R. R. Tolkien | Janet Brennan Croft

Chiasmus: a figure of speech in which the grammar of two parallel phrases is inverted

#WeirdWordWednesday #WeirdWords #FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

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Daisey

Perilous and Fair: Women in the Works and Life of J. R. R. Tolkien | Janet Brennan Croft

From “Speech and Silence in The Lord of the Rings: Medieval Romance and the Transitions of Eowyn”

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

Daisey @JazzFeathers @Wordslinger42 @curiouserandcurioser @BarbaraJean @BookwormAHN @Susanita @TheAromaOfBooks @AllDeBooks @Cheryl_Russell_BookNotes @BethM @AnishaInkSpell @BooksAndCoffee4Me

*Let me know if you want to be added or removed from the tag list. 2w

BarbaraJean I hadn't heard of this book--and it sounds fabulous! I've just discovered I can check it out on Hoopla. (Adding it to the reading list now!) 2w

Daisey @BarbaraJean It‘s been on my list for a while now. I don‘t know that I‘ll do more than read an essay randomly, but I‘m so glad to have finally started it! 2w

JazzFeathers I'm always interested in reading about Tolkien's female characters. I think there's so much more to them than so many readers give them credit to. 2w

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Daisey

Perilous and Fair: Women in the Works and Life of J. R. R. Tolkien | Janet Brennan Croft

After finishing The Fall of Arthur this morning, I pulled this book from my shelf this evening. In the introduction, the description of this essay relating Eowyn to a female medieval knight seemed a perfect complement to my earlier reading. It‘s a truly interesting analysis of Eowyn‘s character development from court lady to acting lord of Rohan to shield maiden and finally to wife and healer.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

Leftcoastzen 🐶👏 2w

dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 2w

JazzFeathers I've needed to get this book for such a long time! 2w

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Daisey

The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien

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I finished this book with breakfast this morning. As with many of these incomplete works by Tolkien, it‘s a combination of fascinating and frustrating. They always leaving you wanting to know and be able to read more. I‘m so grateful to Christopher for putting the work into sharing this, but I only recommend it to serious fans of Tolkien‘s writing process or readers interested in various versions and retellings of the King Arthur legend.

Daisey #BreakfastWithTolkien #FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien
@JazzFeathers @Wordslinger42 @curiouserandcurioser @BarbaraJean @BookwormAHN @Susanita @TheAromaOfBooks @AllDeBooks @Cheryl_Russell_BookNotes @BethM @AnishaInkSpell @BooksAndCoffee4Me

*Let me know if you want to be added or removed from the tag list. 2w

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Daisey

The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien

I thought this quote about how Tolkien viewed language and the change in it over time interesting.

“Our language now has become quick-moving (in syllables), and may be very supple and nimble,
but is rather thin in sound and in sense too often diffuse and vague. The language of our forefathers,
especially in verse, was slow, not very nimble, but very sonorous, and was intensely packed and concentrated — or could be in a good poet.”

Daisey #FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien
@JazzFeathers @Wordslinger42 @curiouserandcurioser @BarbaraJean @BookwormAHN @Susanita @TheAromaOfBooks @AllDeBooks @Cheryl_Russell_BookNotes @BethM @AnishaInkSpell @BooksAndCoffee4Me

*Let me know if you want to be added or removed from the tag list. 2w

tpixie Interesting. I‘m reading about Barbara Newhall Follett- she also created a world & language- Farksolia & Farksoo- as a child. Wrote her first book at eight and it was published at 12 years of age. She disappeared at the age of 25 and was never found. https://farksolia.org/category/farksolia/

Barbara Newhall Follett: A Life in Letters

tpixie Patti Callahan Henry learned about her when she was doing research on Beatrix Potter. She also had her own language. Patti then went down the rabbit hole of other authors who created languages & learned about Barbara. Her new book is inspired by Barbara.

The Story She Left Behind: A Novel

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Daisey @tpixie Sounds interesting! 2w

tpixie @Daisey 🦋 2w

BooksandCoffee4Me His passion really was language. I once read that he wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Ring series in order to create worlds for the languages he‘d invented. 2w

Bookwomble @BooksandCoffee4Me Tolkien started creating languages in his childhood. He wrote about his process and the fascination he and others have with creating languages in the tagged book 🙂

A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages

Daisey @BooksandCoffee4Me Languages absolutely were his first passion. It‘s amazing to think how all@of this started there. @Bookwomble The book you tagged isn‘t on my TBR yet; I‘ll have to add it! 2w

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Daisey

The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien

Reading Tolkien‘s commentary about Old English Verse this morning. I really do enjoy this poetic style.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

BarbaraJean I think this was my favorite essay in the book. It was fascinating to learn about how this poetic style was constructed and then to flip back to the poem and notice so much I didn't notice the first time! 2w

Daisey @BarbaraJean Yes, I enjoyed it a lot! 2w

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