Tolkien's grave

Since it's relevant to Thursday's reading from the Silmarilion, I thought I'd put up a photo of the headstone under which Tolkien and his wife are buried. Look closely--the "epitaphs" here are his choosing (he ordered hers, and left instructions for his).

War poetry

Crumbs. I apparently didn't copy the Wilfred Owen and Jessie Pope poems I wanted. Here is the Wilfred Owen one. Some of you may have seen it before.

Here is "The Call," Jessie Pope's best known poem, which you should also read. As this site tells you, Owen wrote "Dulce et Decorum Est" in direct response to Pope. In fairness to Pope, as the war dragged on she got much less gung-ho than she is here and in this similar poem, "Who's for the Game"?

You may want to print these out so you can refer to them easily in our on-line discussion on Tuesday.

Readings for the rest of the semester

Here are the readings for the remainder of the semester:

Tues: Nov. 27: Items from the "War writing" folder in library (poems by Kipling, Owens, Pope)
Thurs: Silmarilion. Skim the preface, read the "Ainulindalë,” and “Valaquenta” and the Beren and Luthien chapter of the “Quenta Silmarilion.” For comparison, you may want to refresh your memory of Sir Orfeo and look over some Paradise Lost if you have a copy and have the time.

Tues., Dec. 4: “Leaf by Niggle” and “Farmer Giles of Ham” from the Tolkien Reader. I didn’t get a copy of “Smith of Wooton Major” made, so we’ll skip it.

Wed., Dec. 5: Submit your paper as an MS Word doc or rtf file in Blackboard. Go to the “Assignments” Content Area to do this. If you have Word 7.0 you will need to save your file as an earlier version of Word (.doc extention); if you have Word Perfect you will need to save it as an .rtf file.

Thurs. Dec. 6: Readings from the “Retro-Medievalism” folder on reserve in the library (Kipling and Morris).

Don’t forget to go fill out a course evaluation in Norma Wells’ office next week!!!

Blackboard site

The Blackboard sites for this class are now visible. I am using the "announcement" function to send you all mass emails. These are set up to go to your LMU address. Be sure to check that email address for these announcements and log in to Blackboard. If your LMU address doesn't work or you can't get in to Blackboard, email Sherry Lang and ask her to fix it. The final exam will be administered over Blackboard, so make sure this works now.

I am going to set up Blackboard for the papers to be submitted there. I realize it's easier for you to email it to me, but for some reason the web portal I use at home for our LMU email sometimes doesn't let me open attachments. It's random as near as I can tell, but since right now I can't get to my LMU office computer, I need to make sure I can open your documents. Please remember that I cannot read Word Perfect files, and save it as a Word document.

Finally: free candy! Norma Wells will have it (if you get there fairly soon) and she'll give you some when you drop by to fill out course evaluations. Please, please make sure you do that at some point in the next few weeks.

Visual reference in movie version of RotK

Hey, everyone.

Remember what the throne room of Gondor looked like in the film? I'm struck by its similarity to the Palace Chapel / throne room of Charlemagne in Aachen.

If Peter Jackson is deliberately evoking Charlemagne here, why? How does his interpretation arise from the text, and do you agree with it?

See you all online this afternoon!

Update

Well, things did not go as planned. I'm going to have to finish the semester with you all on-line as we discussed. This is sad, because you're a terrific group of students and I really enjoyed meeting with you all. However, we'll forge on with Chat, Blogger, and Blackboard and we'll get through the rest of the term.

If anyone had any questions or comments about the appendices from REturn of the King, please post them as a comment to this post and we'll discuss them there. For Tuesday's chat discussion on MSN Messenger, we'll be discussing the REturn of the King movie. We'll probably want to keep a list of things that we notice are different, or things that we otherwise want to talk about. I'll start Tuesday's "class" by throwing the floor open to your comments, and we'll take it from there.

I will post the workshopping sheets on Blackboard (the course should become available next week). Once you get to the class in Blackboard, look for the handout under the "Course Documents" content area. you will be able to download the forms from there. You do not need to turn these in, but I want you to have them. You will have to set up your own workshopping groups in person or over email, as you prefer.

I hope this is coherent, as painkillers evidently do not do much for my style (I keep typing sentences that don't make sense--how the heck did Coleridge manage Kubla Khan on opium?). I'll be on email intermittently to answer questions.
Prof. B

No class Thursday November 8

No class Thursday. Class next Tuesday as announced.

An Anglo-Saxon Chamber burial

Tolkien's description of the burial of Theoden, "he was laid in a house of stone with his arms and many other fair things that he had possessed, and over him was raised a great mound. . ." is reminiscent of an Anglo-Saxon chamber burial. In the last few years, the best chamber burial site ever found was unearthed at Prittlewell. Tolkien didn't know about it, of course, but this site provides good illustrations of what a chamber burial might have looked like, as well as some really great images of the actual treasures that have been unearthed.

Prittlewell Prince.

I'll try to remember to bring in a little pamphlet I have that contains even more pictures on Tuesday.

Bibliographies and Year's Work in Tolkien Studies

Hi, everyone!

I have put copies of the annual bibliographies and Year's Work in Tolkien Studies (YWTS) from the journal Tolkien Studies on reserve in the library. This will be invaluable to you in attempting to form your topic and research your papers--they can also help you find some books for review, if you still need one.

What's the difference? The YWTS is a descriptive essay giving an evaluative overlook of all the relevant articles or books published that year. It gives you a sense of not only what's out there, but what (in the opinion of the YWTS author) it says. The Annual bibliography is just that--a list of bibliographic citations. Why have both? The Annual bib can be a little more comprehensive, and it comes out faster--the most current YWTS covers things from 2004; the Bib covers things from 2005. The YWTS, on the other hand, gives an overview of the shape of current arguments. It's longer, but worth searching.

Neither Academic Search Premier or JSTOR really covers much on Tolkien, so your usual electronic searches won't get you very far. Make sure you look over the YWTS and Bibliographies when you start your papers!

Readings for midterm exam.

Here are the supplementary texts that I've handed out in class. The identification portion of the exam will be over these materials:

• Excerpt from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (description of Green Knight)
• Excerpt from Macrobius' Commentary on the Dream of Scipio
• Excerpts from King Hrolf's Saga (Bodvarr Bjarki stories)
• Excerpt from Beowulf (cup stealing and awakening of the dragon)
• Excerpt from the Song of Roland (Ganelon's treachery and Roland's horn)
• Excerpts from Beowulf (building of Heorot and exchange with the door-guard)
• The Wanderer (stapled with the above).
• The Second Dialogue of Solomon and Saturn
• Sir Orfeo (description of fairyland)
  
• Maxims II
• The Battle of Maldon
• Ozymandias (handed out on Tues., Oct. 16)

Focus on these texts. What features about them make them easy to identify (versification, theme, dialogue, character names, etc)?

Post any questions about the midterm here in the comments.

Article on Tolkien and Old English

I found this article on Tolkien's use of Old English words. Notice that they don't only appear in the part of the book dealing with Rohan, but they are most concentrated there.

We're going to focus on the Riders of Rohan as a re-vision of the Anglo-Saxons. If you have a chance before class, skim over the start of Beowulf before class (I'll be handing it out in class as well).

Tolkien class Sept. 13: Class is cancelled. Get the 3 handouts from my office door or from Mr. Harden in class, and then go to the course blog for our “discussion” this week. I am requiring each of you to make at least one comment on this post. Take one of the following topics as your starting point (or ask your own interpretive question). I’d also really like it if you started responding to each other in the comments!

Read the textual handouts. One is from Tolkien’s translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the other is from a translations of Macrobius’ Dream of Scipio

SGGK:

• This is the description of the Green Knight, whom critics often say is supposed to be a “green man” or Nature figure.
• How does he compare to Tom Bombadill, Tolkien’s Nature figure? What do the differences suggest about the author’s attitudes toward the natural world? Are there any similarities between the Green Knight and Bombadill/Goldberry?

Dream of Scipio

• Macrobius was the medieval authority on dreams. As you read, list out for yourself the various types of dreams he explains (you can just do this in the margins).
• Notice all the dreams and visions that appear in this section of The Fellowship of the Ring (Frodo in Buckland, Frodo, Merry, and Pippin in Bombadill’s house, Merry outside the barrow, hobbits while Bombadill speaks, Frodo in Bree. . . ) How does Tolkien draw on Macrobius for his notions of what dreams can do? Where do you think he might differ from Macrobius? What do these differences (if any) signify?
  

And another Tolkien Book:

Kevin points out an edition / commentary on the Hobbit that gives original drafts, illustrations, and (I think) editorial apparatus.

It's a little pricey, so I may not be able to get it for our class reserve, and UTK doesn't have it. But if any of you want to collect some Tolkieniana, this might be a good book to get.

Great on-line reference

Wayne has pointed out to me the on-line "Encyclopedia of Arda." This site is a massive encyclopedia of Tolkien's world. This would be a great resource for any of you struggling to keep things straight as you read (and who doesn't at times?).

Have you all subscribed to the blog so you know when there's a new post? Please do in case I forget to announce something in class.

Mad Theory of the Week

As I re-read The Hobbit this summer for class, I was struck by the resemblance between the Carrock and this landmark in England:


This is Glastonbury Tor in Somerset. It's a hunk of rock that sticks up (kind of like a hill with a flat top) in the middle of what was once a flooded, marshy area. This is maybe important, because many people believe that the Tor, which used to be more-or-less surrounded by water until the marshy plain around it was drained, is the Isle of Avalon in the Arthurian legend. It's in about the right place in England, has the right geography (an island), and the Welsh Ynis Avalon translated to "Isle of Apples." Somerset is a major apple and cider producing area.

So if this is a reference to the Tor, why? Why bring up King Arthur here, when we're about to meet Beorn, the most Old Norse character in Tolkien?

See you all in class.

Battle of Maldon

Hi, everyone! Keep going on the interesting comments in the first post (now below this one). I wanted to give you a link with a little more background on the historical Battle of Maldon. You can see a map of the probable location of the fight at the Battle of Maldon site. You can also see photographs of the causeway in the "Site images" link to the right on the Battle of Maldon page.

Welcome to ENGL 443

Hi, everyone! Welcome to the course blog for ENGL 443, The Writings of JRR Tolkien. I will post links and announcements here for the course. Let's get some practice with using a blog!

Turgon's Bookshelf will give you some idea of the books currently published on Tolkien. Go to the page, and look over at the box on the right. That lists his previous posts, many of which are reviews. I'm not necessarily recommending him as a reviewer, but you can use this as a quick overview of recent work.

For now, let's try commenting on a blog post to respond to it. Comment on this post and tell me what you read this summer (not necessarily by Tolkien) that you recommend to your classmates! Clink on the "comments" link below the post to get to the comment page. If you do not have a blogger account, please set one up now.