The Mountain and the City
Throughout Tolkien’s major works we can see patterns and resonances of certain images. It is as though the whole edifice of Middle-earth...
Tolkien and the Cats of Queen Berúthiel
In 1955, poet W. H. Auden was asked by the BBC to talk about The Lord of the Rings. Auden asked Tolkien for some background information...
Tolkien and 'The Kalevala'
’Do not laugh!’ Tolkien famously wrote in a letter to Milton Waldman ‘But once upon a time (my crest has long since fallen) I had a mind...
'Eucatastrophe' in Stories
Consider the most powerful, memorable moments in your own reading. Think for a moment about the scenes in your favourite books or films...
Tolkien and 'Final Participation'
According to Owen Barfield, close friend of C. S. Lewis and a member of the Inklings group, as well as being an influence upon Tolkien,...
Yorkshire and Middle-earth 4
If you look closely at maps of Tolkien's Middle-earth, there are plenty of places for the imagination to wander unhindered. The story...
Tolkien and the Somme
On July 1, 1916, the British launched a massive offensive against the German lines in the Somme River region of France. A few days...
The Influential Wisdom of Owen Barfield
Educated at Highgate School and Wadham College, Oxford, Owen Barfield was a solicitor in London, from which he retired in 1959 aged 60....
Owen Barfield and 'Original Participation'
(Some of this blog article is drawn from the blog of Father Stephen Freeman, an Orthodox priest in the United States, whose continuing...
Caging Unsuspecting Readers
Master authors use every trick in the book to capture and hold reader attention. What is known as ‘great writing’ or even ‘good writing’...