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Post by Andorinha on Jul 23, 2006 9:50:54 GMT -6
I would like to pursue here the many points of influence/ inspiration that the English Romanticist, social activist, craft-artist, poet, and novelist William Morris had upon JRRT's own developing mythology. Additionally, I am interested in why Tolkien's versions of romantic mythology became world-wide best sellers, and Morris, after initial great success in the last decades of the 19th century, secured only a small (but constant and vociferous!) audience thereafter.
"Personally I do not think that either war (and of course not the atomic bomb) had any influence upon either the plot or the manner of its [LotR] unfolding. Perhaps in landscape. The Dead Marshes and the approaches to the Morannon owe something to Northern France after the Battle of the Somme. They owe more to William Morris and his Huns [sic Goths] and Romans, as in The House of the Wolfings or The Roots of the Mountains."
Letters, ed. Humphrey Carpenter, 1981. Letter #225, 10 Dec. 1960, p. 303
"He [JRRT] punted, he played tennis, and now and then he did some work, enough to win the Skeat Prize for English awarded by his college in the spring of 1914. He used the five pounds of prize money to buy books of medieval Welsh and several of the works of William Morris: The Life and Death of Jason, Morris's translation of the Volsungasaga, and his prose-and-verse romance The House of the Wolfings."
Humphrey Carpenter, JRR Tolkien, A Biography. p.77
"He [JRRT] was also trying his hand at writing. His enthusiasm for William Morris had given him the idea of adapting one of the stories from the Finnish Kalevala into a Morris-style prose-and-verse romance. He chose the story of Kullervo... Tolkien began work on 'The Story of Kullervo' as he called it [Turin Turambar in later versions], and though it was little more than a pastiche of Morris it was his first essay in the writing of a legend in verse and prose."
Humphrey Carpenter, JRR Tolkien, A Biography. p.81
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Post by Andorinha on Jul 29, 2006 12:06:17 GMT -6
William Morris (1834-1896) was born into the Romantic Period of European culture history, a time when the various states of that continent were aggressively trying to create new national identities for themselves. They sought to validate their existences by claiming a deep historical past, so there was an enormous interest in finding the roots of one's people. The formerly neglected "folk-lores" and "folk-literatures of such polities as Finland, Germany, France, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Norway, etc., were all searched, systematized, analyzed, and distilled into new literatures, new national myths.
Elias Lönnrot wrote up (some say "made up") the Finnish Kalevala; while the Brothers Grimm collected Germanic Fairy Tales; and the Norse sagas were being retrieved from Snorri's Icelandic hoards. The ancient, classical literatures of the Graeco-Roman world now had considerable competition from the "barbaric" traditions of the north. Soon a flood of nationalistic folk-literatures swamped the bookstalls, but while there were many oral tales to be transcribed between 1820 and 1870, and many half-rotted texts to be restored, still there was never enough detailled material to fully sate the public appetite.
William Morris, from the late 1870s on, decided to "remedy" the defects of the real historical record by producing specific works of "pseudo-history," fully-fleshed stories that he could present as "re-discovered" manuscripts of ancient tribal lore. So eager were the Germanic speakers of 19th century Europe to know more about their ancestors, that sometimes even academically trained scholars would be fooled by the books Morris wrote, and asked him for his sources, and wanted to read the original saga manuscripts themselves. To which requests Morris replied "Doesn't the fool realize, that it's a romance, a work of fiction -- that it's all lies!" (from May Morris, daughter of W. Morris recollections).
JRRT, a generation later than Morris, got in on the tail end of this nationalistic/ romantic period, and became as fully enmeshed in its allures as Morris. Tolkien went on to "sub-create" his own "pseudo-histories," manufacturing his versions of the source myths that would allow a richer understanding of the Nordic tradition, especially the Anglo-Saxon phenomena of England. Between them, as much by accident as firm intent, Morris and Tolkien established an entire genre of pseudo-history that has, by now in the 21st century, become one of the most popular fields of literature.
"These two men knew either much (Morris) or most (Tolkien) of all that was known about these [northern] people and their lives. They used that wealth of knowledge to create 'dreamed realities' (Morris) or an 'imaginary history' (Tolkien) about what it might have been like to live in those days. While what they wrote wasn't necessarily true in a strict sense, both knew enough about the past and were talented enough as writers that what they wrote created a strong sense that they described what might have been." ( Michael W. Perry, More to William Morris, p. 7, 2003)
So, the question then becomes, for Tolkien readers, how does Morris stand up to JRRT? Is it worth the money to buy Morris's books? Will I get the same, or at least a very similar thrill from reading them as I get when running through the pages of LotR and The Hobbit? Well, that's what I am trying to decide in the next few installments of this topic. How do the works of the two authors compare, in what ways are they similar, in what ways do they differ?
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Post by Stormrider on Jul 29, 2006 18:46:04 GMT -6
William Morris sounds like he might be interesting to read. I look forward to your findings. I hope he is as talented a writer as JRRT was. It may be worthwhile readings his stories.
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Post by Andorinha on Aug 24, 2006 17:38:33 GMT -6
The new semester is just beginning here and I will (somewhat unfortunately) have to shift my times and energies to a prolonged discussion of "real world" histories. But before I drop off line, I'd like to complete this comparison between Morris and JRRT.
From my interactions with fellow Tolkien readers on a number of internet forums, I find that most are really attracted to the narrative sweeps of The Hobbit, and LotR. The "secondary," backstory literatures found in The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and the manuscript pieces of Christopher Tolkien's HOME series do not usually engage the common reader quite so closely. Tolkien himself found, in the 1940s, that his "mythologies" were considered unpublishable, and I suspect that they are selling well today largely because people became so interested in the delights of The Hobbit and LotR that they wanted even the scraps and tatters he had left behind. Without the two primary books, I do not think many readers, even those with a "fairy-tale-fantasy" mentality would drop much good cash for the HOME materials.
So, would the average fantasy reader of today, be willing to buy up the fantasy novels of William Morris? Probably not, for it is precisely with Tolkien's backstory, and early mythologies that I think Morris' works may most closely be compared. If you have a copy of HOME 3, The Lays of Beleriand, pb version, pleaser refer to pages 209 - 290. Here, in "The Lay of Leithian," I think you'll find a close parallel to what you'll get from Morris in style, character portrayal, themes, events, and especially the use of verse form. Morris mixes prose and verse, probably in a 5:1 relationship, usually reserving the verse form for direct speeches among his characters, while Tolkien's "Lay of Leithian" is entirely verse (more like The Kalevala), but the sense and feel of "Wolfings" and "The Lay" were very similar in my mind.
In Tolkien's "Lay" the protagonists are made somewhat unapproachable by having their stories cast into verse, they are "high heroes," largely impersonal beings who may eat and drink, express fear, loathing, love, and joy -- but still, never become familiar to the reader (this one, at least), never become objects of identification. I can easily see myself as a Bilbo, or a Frodo, can enjoy vicariously the trickle of a cold ale down a parched throat, or a deep, satisfying pull on a curiously carved pipe (and I have never smoked, and never want to!). But I cannot "become" nor even have any wish to "share" the personae of Luthien and/ or Beren as portrayed in JRRT's "Lay of Leithian." I read their tale, it flowed about me like a faded scene from some distant age, melancholic, moving -- and then it dropped away. It is an ephemeral connection. Whereas Sam, Aragorn, Pippin, Frodo, Dwalin-Balin-Dori-Ori-Nori, etc. etc., stay with me, and are reawakened in vivid, near reality every time I re-read The Hobbit or LotR.
In some ways, reading William Morris' The House of the Wolfings left me as disengaged as I was when reading some of the HOME materials. With Morris, I never really "got into" the tale, never really read myself into sleep trying to see what would happen next. There was only a sort of impersonal interest in the characters and their story. I was never fully absorbed, completely charmed, or very anxious for the safeties of the Wolfing people and the eventual outcome of their tale. Yes, the book did keep me focussed, it was a pleasurable read, and I profited from the time I spend on it, but it did not transport me. The characters in Morris' "Wolfings" never seemed quite real, they remained remote and impersonal contacts -- just the same as Luthien and Beren in "The Lay of Leithian."
I think that I read Morris' "Wolfings," and have started reading his second novel, The Roots of the Mountains, largely because they were part of the literature that formed JRRT's mindset, and led him to create his own imaginary realm, Middle-earth. I am still interested in tracing the incidental similarities that Morris and Tolkien display, and I'll probably seek out more of Morris as time and the vagaries of my bank account allow -- but I doubt if his tales will ever become a greatly enthusing part of my personal library. In fact, I think I'm more interested in Morris' early socialism, and his activism, than I am in his historical fantasies. Morris is good stuff, as good as much of the HOME material, but not as gripping and involving as The Hobbit or LotR.
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Post by Stormrider on Aug 26, 2006 5:59:58 GMT -6
Andorinha:
I agree that The Hobbit and LOTR are much more pleasant and easier to read than The Silmarillion or "Lay of Leithian." To me, the former are more tale-like readings with people that can be related to than the latter. The Silmarillion especially is similiar to reading The Bible. Reading a tale in verse is difficult for me. The rhyme and rhythm distract me and it isn't enjoyable for me.
What is the story, The House of the Wulfings, about?
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Post by Andorinha on Sept 7, 2006 17:58:44 GMT -6
Hullo, Stormrider!
Yeah, I have not yet done an official "book report" section on The Wolfings, merely my comparative commentaries... I'll work up a general plot/ character summary this next few days -- meanwhile: more commentary!
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Post by Andorinha on Sept 7, 2006 18:04:59 GMT -6
Tolkien and Morris: Relative Historicities
Where Tolkien was absorbed in his attempts to write an Anglo-Saxon based mythology (taking its material largely from the early medieval period AD 450 - 1000), William Morris was fascinated by the very earliest historical knowledge we have concerning the Germanic tribes and their cultural tradition (100 BC - AD 200).
Fortunately, for Tolkien, the Anglo-Saxons left behind a relatively extensive body of myths, poems, prose statements, religious tractates, daily life chronicles, legal/ economic texts, and some basic dynastic histories. Tolkien was able to pick and choose from this large data base enough accurate material to create a believable Shire culture for his Hobbits (with some 19th century anachronisms added to The Hobbit: tobacco, matches, Christmas Trees, waistcoats with brass buttons, potatoes, etc); and, for his LotR Rohirrim, he was able to devise a much more "historically-correct" Saxon-based kingdom to which he merely added the aspect of the horse -- the real Anglo-Saxons had few horses, and little use for, or experience with cavalry formations/ tactics.
Unfortunately, for Morris, the early Germans he chose to portray in his novels were an illiterate people, and the contents of their once extensive oral traditions have not been well-preserved. Morris was forced to base his stories on the data to be gleaned from the enemies of these tribal Germans -- the Romans. The Commentaries of Caesar, and the histories of Tacitus and Livy (circa 100 BC - AD 200) were the only primary sources available for Morris' attempt to re-create this early Germanic culture. While works such as The Germania of Tacitus include a wealth of ethnographic detail, there is still little actually known about the daily lives of these German tribes, their social interactions, their religious beliefs, their political histories, and their oral prose/ poetry. With such a paucity of authentic ancient German data, Morris had to borrow heavily from the late Norse tradition (circa AD 800 - 1300) when he wanted to add valid cultural details to his fictive narrative. Alternatively, Morris simply made up a lot of his descriptive passages: he made up the codes of behaviour that governed the relationships of men to women, strong to weak, noble to base, warrior to farmer, etc. Morris was compelled -- in the attempt to make the Wolfing tribe "come alive" for his readers -- to add this largely invalid social data.
Tolkien, likewise, found it helpful/ necessary to use this same late Norse material when he wanted to fill out his own details of social/ economic/ political description. But at least the Norse data Tolkien used was roughly contemporaneous with the Anglo-Saxon cultures that were his targets. Morris' Gothic tribes, on the otherhand, were almost 600 to 1000 years displaced from these Norse examples, and the Goths of the Early Roman Imperial centuries may have had only the most tentative of connections and similarities with/ to the Nordic cultures of the Great Saga Era.
Consequently, I believe, William Morris has to be read with greater caution than does Tolkien -- at least in so far as historical accuracy is concerned. For me, one of the major attractions of JRRT's writing is precisely the sense I get that a valid, historical culture is being described in the pages of The Hobbit and the LotR. Though both Tolkien and Morris are basically fantasists -- regarding the "historical novels" of Morris, I find them to be less engaging because they seem less well conceived, and less authentically grounded. I never quite got rid of my "historical scepticism" as I read The Wolfings, never quite suspended my "disbelief," the way I do when reading Tolkien.
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Post by Andorinha on Jan 25, 2007 20:23:12 GMT -6
I found a section of works by William Morris that is easily accessed at the online book depository of the Gutenberg Project: www.gutenberg.org/catalogIt has both The House of the Wolfings, and The Roots of the Mountains. I am just now on page 214 of "Roots," and it seems to me that it reads far better than "Wolfings." I've only been reading it for three or four days now, so it has definitely held my interest. A lot of the descriptive passages had me making automatic comparisons with JRRT's style and language-use from his early version Silmarillions; and especially, the way JRRT treats the Rohirim is very close to the social structure, and personalities that Morris uses for his "Burg Folk." One chapter reminded me very, very much of the meeting between the Hobbits and Goldberry in the Old Forest -- some of the same, or very close to same, descriptive phrases are used of Moriss' "Sunbeam" and Bombadil's chosen mate. Supposedly, the archetype images used by JRRT for his description of the Dead Marshes on the Battle Plain of Dagorlad, come from The Roots of the Mountains, but I have not yet reached that part. The Dusky "Men," of "Roots" are very close in manners and features to JRRT's Orcs, and serve the same function... I'll eventually get around to working up a few posts on this latest (latest read by me!) of Morris' works, which I find far closer in readability to JRRT than I did The House of The Wolfings.
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Post by Andorinha on Jan 29, 2007 12:25:31 GMT -6
"The Dead Marshes and the approaches to the Morannon owe something to Northern France after the Battle of the Somme. They owe more to William Morris and his Huns [sic Goths] and Romans, as in The House of the Wolfings or The Roots of the Mountains."
Letter 225, JRRT to Rayner Unwin, 10 Dec. 1960, p. 303.
Alas, JRRT must have "mis-remembered" his sources... Having recently read both of these heroic romances by Morris, I'll be pickled if I can find any alllusion to a cratered, blasted, diseased land; or any dank-dreary-foul marshes with the dead lying exposed in the evil pools. Either JRRT meant to attribute the Morannon scenery and the Dead Marshes to some other Morris book (Morris has at least a dozen epic, saga-based romances), or he meant that he got some general inspiration from Morris to write about a degraded, poisoned landscape? I have four more of Morris' books, and I'll search through all of them to see if Morris does actually have a "Dead Marsh" in his writings.
But, meanwhile, I found many details of language use, even some direct phrases that Morris wrote between 1850 and 1896 that show up now and again in JRRT: -- "the wearing away of the days..." and "So wore the day through afternoon to even and night." Some of this mimicry might be due to the simple fact that both Tolkien and Morris were using similar sources (Nordic/ Saxon sagas), and both were using archaic dialects to give a suitable sense of antiquity to their narratives. A lot of "dost thous" and "thus spake he unto the hosts," are characteristic features of these two authors. Morris uses an antique dialect far more often than JRRT, and, he slips more rhymed-verse into his tales than Tolkien. I think JRRT was making more concessions to his modern readers by leaving the basic narrative in standard english, and using antique dialectic speech for direct quotes, especially when he deals with the Rohirim, and the formal speech of Elves and the Men of Gondor. Morris, on the otherhand, uses antique speech forms throughout his books, which may get tedious for some readers, while others may be able to just "get used to it."
In overall structure, I think Tolkien probably learned a good deal of his own craft from Morris' example. The Roots of the Mountains starts off with a description of the Burgdale people that reads very much like LotR's initial chapters explaining the geographical scene of the Shire, and just who the Hobbits were, and how their society functioned. In Morris, the Burgdale is a peaceful, idyllic community, no great bosses, no great concentration of wealth in the hands of the few. It is a pre-industrial, law-abiding, mutually self-respecting community, where its members work well together meeting the needs of the day.
But, just as the Shire will be thrust into a period of tumult, and war, so Burgdale's happy peace is shattered by the encroachments of a hostile, wider world. The rest of The Roots of the Mountains becomes then a war narrative, something that LotR replicates. Within the context of this war tale, are interwoven several personal histories where amours are closely followed between an "Aragorn-like" leader (Gold-mane) and both an Arwen-like woman of foreign, almost "godly" nature, as well as a figure who reminded me greatly of the love-lorn Eowen (the "Bride").
Like Eowen, "The Bride" finds that her love for Aragorn/ Gold-mane is not returned in the way she would wish it, and she dedicates herself to an alternative service: she becomes a warrior, decks herself in chain mail, and girds on a sword, and then seeks her death in battle. She does survive, but is wounded, and falls into a fever. The 'leeches" of the people heal her body, and she meanwhile has gained the love of an alternate lord, the second most mighty and powerful, Folk-might. "The Bride" then marries Folk-might, as Eowen married the second most powerful Lord of Gondor, Faramir, and everything works out for the best.
Another shared element in Morris and Tolkien is their almost identical use of the enemy forces, an unredeemable foe who represents all that is Evil. The Dusky Men of Morris are shown as brutal, half-mad, exploitative, evil beings who may actually be non-human. They have no women of their own, and must pro-create by raping captured women who then give birth, not to half-bred children, but usually to full-bred Dusky Men, troll children. The Dusky Men delight in torturing their captives, and reduce to abject slavery all the humans who fall under their control. Their very presence befouls the land, they spoil and make filthy all they touch. They have no pity, and are used exactly the way Tolkien uses Orcs, they are there to be slaughtered by the heroic Men of Burgdale and their allies.
One section of The Roots of the Mountains reminded me greatly of the four hobbits' reactions to Goldberry and Tom Bombadil, (maybe even Frodo's reaction to Galadriel?) their feeling that they were in the presence of very special, higher, more powerful characters:
"Face-of-god beholding her the while, deemed that her beauty grew and grew till she seemed as aweful as a Goddess; and into his mind it came that this over-strong man and over-lovely woman were nought mortal..." (Roots, chpt 6, p. 112)
Again, in LotR, Tolkien ends his high narrative of Gondor with the marriages of Aragorn and Arwen, Faramir and Eowen; and Morris, in his 1890s work, likewise ends his war narrative amidst the feasting-peace of the wedding ceremonies that unite the "godly-seeming" Sumbeam with Gold-mane, and Folk-might with "The Bride." This action re-unites the two long-sundered kindreds, The Folk of the Wolf and the Folk of Burgdale, and thus united, and restored, the two peoples will be better able to meet the emergencies of the future.
It is sometimes hard to tell just how much JRRT was deliberately using the general patterns found in Morris, and how many of their similarities are due simply to the fact that both men were scholars of ancient-medieval languages, and both were specialists in Nordic-Saxon sagas and myths. I suppose it remains for each reader to make up his/ her own mind, but I certainly found that these two writers have profound similarities in style, general philosophies, narrative organization, characters, and plot.
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Post by fanuidhol on Feb 3, 2007 15:03:01 GMT -6
The JRR Tolkien Companion and Guide: Readers Guide by Hammond and Scull, devotes fully six pages to William Morris. One and a half pages are a short biography and the remainder focus on his influence on Tolkien.
Hammond and Scull suggest that similarities between LotR and The House of Wolfings include the name Mirkwood (but also comes from medieval sources), the place Midmark (Morris)/ The Mark (Tolkien), Wolfings and Rohirrim both summoned to war by a war-arrow.
They cite other examples (from a number of sources) of the influence of Morris on Tolkien: Richard Mathews, Fantasy: The Liberation of Imagination. Humphrey Carpenter, Biography of JRRT Tom Shippey, introduction to The Wood Beyond the World Marjorie Burns, Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien's Middle-earth (I talked about this in another thread) There are several articles mentioned, also.
Fan
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Post by Andorinha on Feb 5, 2007 23:56:16 GMT -6
Ah, Thank You, Fanuidhol!
I am reading the Elder Edda again, and a lot of Morris's background material comes from these old sources, including terms like "myrkwood," Middle-earth, "Grey Wanderer," (Odin) etc. It becomes difficult at times to tell if Tolkien was influenced by Morris, or picked up some of the references himself directly from the sagas.
I'm glad you brought up the "war arrow" from the "Companion and Guide," it is a very exact reference, with detailed descriptions in both Morris and Tolkien that match on four or five particulars. Now, I need to see if Morris got the "war arrow" concept from the Norse-Germanic sagas, or if he originated this bit...
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Post by Andorinha on Mar 5, 2007 13:34:20 GMT -6
The War Arrow:JRRT wrote a memorable passage for LotR that describes the official announcement of a state war. As a part of this protocol, an arrow with a red tipped head and black feathers is show to Theoden King of Rohan: "In his hand he bore a single arrow, black-feathered and barbed with steel, but the point was painted red. ... 'Hirgon am I, errand-rider of Denethor, who bring you this token of war.'" " 'The Red Arrow?' said Theoden ... 'The Red Arrow has not been seen in the Mark in all my years! Has it indeed come to that?'" (HB ver, LotR III - 72) In Wm. Morris' The Roots of the Mountains, written in the 1890s, there is a prefiguring statement that also uses the device of a special arrow that can be shown to various allies in order to authenticate that a state of war exists, and a muster of the forces must commence: " 'Now my rede is, that we send out the War-arrow at once up and down the Dale...' " (RotM, p. 180) "Therewith they showed two great spears, and athwart the one was tied an arrow, its point dipped in blood, its feathers singed with fire; and they said: 'This is the banner of the War-shaft.' " (RotM, p. 182) It appears that JRRT used this "War-arrow" device straight from Morris, but there is still a chance that Morris himself took it from a stave of some Norse saga, or even Tacitus' account of the ancient German tribes. I'm poring over the texts of the Volsunga Saga, translated by Morris, hoping to find the War-arrow concept therein, but so far, no luck. A "Google" search online reveals that in the saga, "The Gold Scales," the Norwegian King would send round a War-arrow to all of his adherents, and when presented with this arrow they must arm themselves and their men, and meet at a mustering point. From "The History of the Kings of Norway," we have the following: "Now just about the time when Tryggveson, spy, and party had landed in Norway, and were advancing upon Lade, with what support from the public could be got, dissolute old Hakon Jarl had heard of one Gudrun, a Bonder's wife, unparalleled in beauty, who was called in those parts, 'Sunbeam of the Grove'* (so inexpressibly lovely); and sent off a couple of thralls to bring her to him. 'Never,' answered Gudrun; 'never,' her indignant husband; in a tone dangerous and displeasing to these Court thralls; who had to leave rapidly, but threatened to return in better strength before long. Whereupon, instantly, the indignant Bonder and his Sunbeam of the Grove sent out their war-arrow, rousing all the country into angry promptitude, and more than one perhaps into greedy hope of revenge for their own injuries." emphasis mine, cited from www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/hst/european/EarlyKingsofNorway/chap6.htmlEgil's Saga also uses the device of the War-arrow, so this "token of imminent war" seems to be quite well established as a Nordic custom. But, so far I have not found any description that speaks of a blood-red point, and blackened-singed feathers... "By such persuasion king Arnvid was determined to gather his forces and defend his land. He and Solvi made a league, and sent messengers to Audbjorn, king of the Firthfolk, that he should come and help them. Audbjorn, after counsel taken with friends, consented, and bade cut the war-arrow and send the war-summons throughout his realm, with word to his nobles that they should join him." cited from www.northvegr.org/lore/egils_saga/003.phpWith the great number of "War-arrow" citations available from the Norse Sagas, I suppose Tolkien could have found this device independently of Morris? ___________________ *I had thought that the name "Sunbeam," which Morris uses, was his own creation. Now I see that Morris's "Sunbeam", like Tolkien's Dwarf names, was a ready-made Norse monicker that Wm. M. simply borrowed.
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Post by Andorinha on Apr 5, 2009 8:20:18 GMT -6
Reading Marjorie Burns' Perilous Realms, 2005; and she has a ten page chapter detailing the comparative themes, treatment, and incidents of The Hobbit and Morris' autobiographical Icelandic Journals.
********
"The influence of William Morris's romances, translations, and poetry on the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien has long been recognized. But what has not been properly considered is the effect of Morris's Icelandic Journals on Tolkien's Middle-earth. In The Lord of the Rings, influence from The Journals is mostly a matter of similarities in wasteland or mountain scenes. In The Hobbit, however, certain of Bilbo's adventures not only come remarkably close to experiences Morris described during his first Icelandic visit but Bilbo himself, in a number of ways, closely resembles the Journal persona that Morris chose to assume. (p. 75)
"What is more impressive are sections of The Hobbit that closely approach passages in the Journals. Early in Bilbo's adventure, the May pony-ride aspects of the trip disappear and Bilbo finds himself cold, miserable, hungry, and wet. 'It was pouring with rain,' Tolkien writes, 'and had been all day; [Bilbo's] hood was dripping into his eyes, his cloak was full of water; the pony was tired and stumbled on stones.' They attempt a camp and the miseries continue. 'The mischief seemed to have got into the fire. Dwarves can make a fire almost anywhere out of almost anything, wind or no wind; but they could not do it that night ... Then one of the ponies took fright at nothing and bolted' (35). The baggage he carries is lost. 'Of course it was mostly food.' The troll adventure follows; then, after a short and less than satisfactory pause, Bilbo, Gandalf, and the dwarves head outward again, over the high mountain plains, a strange, barren, and lonely region), looking for Rivendell, where comfort and elves reside.
"At this point Tolkien's hobbit adventure and Morris's Icelandic one become increasingly alike. Bilbo's account begins with rain, a startled pony, lost equipment, a fire that will not light, a weariness (on the trolls' part) with mutton, and finally a move towards Rivendell. The chapter describing Morris' 1871 journey to Vatnsdale, or 'Water-dale' (Morris often mixes Norse and English forms), is very much the same. Shortly before the last approach to Water-dale, a pony, or 'horse' (Morris uses both terms), suddenly bolts. 'We were like to have lost one of our pack-horses, who taking fright at something set off at score galloping furiously.' Finally one of the pony's boxes becomes unhooked and drags on the ground. 'Of course,' writes Morris (using a phrase and tone that Tolkien later uses as well), 'the lid flew open, and our candles and spare boots and a few other things strewed the soil of Iceland.'
"And the similarities continue on the following day, a day that begins with mutton, a failed fire, and rain. Here are Morris's words:
" 'I groaned and got up and went out into the bitterest morning, the wind NW and plenty of it and of rain; Magnusson and I made a desperate attempt at a fire, and failed of course; ... well, we de-camped and packed, and walked up and down eating our breakfast of cold mutton bones and cold water, and chaffing each other the while to keep up our spirits, and so, after a sloppy half-hour, to horse, and away into the very teeth of it. I don't like to confess to being a milksop: but truth it is that it beat me: ... as we rode now we could not see a rod in front of us, the rain, or hail, or sleet, for it was now one, now the other of these, did not fall, we could see no drops, but it was driven in a level sheet into our faces, so that one had to shut one eye altogether, and flap one's hat over the other.' (IJ 86-7)
"Morris, on the last leg to Water-dale, nearly goes to sleep while riding and 'dreaming of people at hime'; stones along the way leave the ponies 'cut and bleeding' (87 and 88). Bilbo, feeling 'more tired than he ever remembered feeling before,' thinks longingly of 'his comfortable chair before the fire in his favourite sitting-room in his hobbit-hole'; and at the final approach to Rivendell, he nods off and bumps his nose on his pony's neck; his pony stumbles over 'roots and stones' (46-7).
"Morris must cross 'a narrow ravine going down at right angles into the main gorge.' There is a stream thundering down it' and 'a cloud of spray from the waterfall' (88). Occasionally clusters of flowers appear and 'swampy' or 'marshy' terrain. Shortly after they leave Water-dale, a horse 'sinks up to the girths' in one of these marshes, 'a most evil bog' (107). For Bilbo too 'There were gullies that they could almost leap over, but very deep with waterfalls in them. There were dark ravines that one could neither jump over nor climb into. There were bogs, some of them green pleasant places to look at, with flowers growing bright and tall; but a pony that walked there with a pack on its back would never have come out again' (H 47). And ultimately, for both Morris and Bilbo, one of these narrow, hidden valleys offers shelter, comfort, warmth, and cheer -- for Bilbo an elven (and therefore Celtic) shelter, for Morris a typically Icelandic one." (PR, 86)
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Burns goes on to detail more similarities, making it quite plain by the end of her chapter that Tolkien had used the data of Morris' trek through Iceland as the model of Bilbo's travel to the East. But also, the character of Morris on his trip, is seen re-worked as the hobbit Bilbo. Both Morris and Bilbo are poked in their tummies (somewhat disrespectfully) and are told they are becoming plump. Both Bilbo and Morris smoke pipes whenever chance allows, both endure the hardships of the road but frequently wish they had never left the comforts of home. Both eventually do "heroic" deeds along the way, but never become conventional "heroes." Both return home with a new respect for peace and comfort, and both have been "broadened" in mind by their travels, becoming new persons (in some ways) with a renewed interest in life, and a greater self-confidence-competence as a result of all their travails.
Ah, since I deeply enjoy travel literature (especially the pre-industrial sorts!), and find Tolkien's descriptive narratives of travel so enthralling, I'll have to pick up a copy of Morris's Icelandic Journals now!!!
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Post by Andorinha on Aug 19, 2020 14:23:17 GMT -6
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Post by fanuidhol on Aug 19, 2020 16:28:49 GMT -6
I would think not. Going to have to reread this thread. And you should send it to Holly!
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