What's New at Middle-earth Journeys

Iolanthe · Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 5:15 pm Post subject:

For those of you that are fed up with me rattling on about it, I have finally finished the essay I've been mentioning for about two years now:

“Freedom from Time and clinging to Time”: Death in The Lord of the Rings

You will find it here in our Members' Essays Forum.

Iolanthe · Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2009 7:49 pm Post subject:

The Hero with a Thousand Faces Discussion

© New World Library

The Hero with a Thousand Faces is a hugely influential book, written in 1949 by Joseph Campbell. It’s a fascinating and challenging study of the Hero Myth in world mythology and what it means for everybody – men and women – today.

We know that Tolkien had an interest in Campbell’s work. In our discussions about Tolkien’s heroes, the Hero Archetype in its various forms and Campbell’s insights have come up many times. Many of us have either read the book or are about to do so to enhance our understanding of the mythological background against which Tolkien’s hero’s stand.

We plan to start discussing the book in mid July, giving ourselves a month to start reading. I hope many of you will join in! All the discussions will take place in our new The Hero with a Thousand Faces Discussion Thread.
_________________
Now let the song begin! Let us sing together
Of sun, stars, moon and mist, rain and cloudy weather...

Iolanthe · Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2009 12:31 pm Post subject: 2009 Yule Poetry Competition

2009 Yule Poetry Competition

Siegfried slaying Fafnir

It’s that time of year again. Just as you start to put your brains on ice for Christmas we set you a challenge to get all those little grey cells up and running again.

This year saw the publication of Tolkien’s wonderfully evocative The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, two ‘new’ lays from old legends, written entirely in 8 line Eddaic fornyrðislag metre. We thought it would be a bit of fun to have a go ourselves at choosing a hero and extolling him in a similar fashion. Click on the thread link below for more information:

Yule Poetry Competition

It’s not as hard as it sounds as we’ve lost most of the really tricksy fornyrðislag rules Wink

and to inspire you and give you a model to help you along, here are a couple of verses from Tolkien's The Lay of the Völsungs describing Sigurd finding the dragon’s hoard after slaying Fafnir:

Gold piled on gold
there glittered paley:
that gold was glamoured
with grim curses.
The Helm of Horror
on his head laid he:
swart fell the shadow
round Sigurd standing.

Great and grievous
was Grani’s burden,
yet lightly leaped he
down the long mountain.
Ride now! ride now
road and woodland,
horse and hero,
hope of Odin!

We're a talented bunch here and I know we can all have some fun with this Wink

.

All entries need to be in by New Year's Day.

The winner can chose between two books out this year: The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun (of course) or the new edition of Tales from the Perilous Realm, illustrated by the wonderful Alan Lee.

Excerpt The Lay of the Völsungs

Riv Res · Manwë Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 1302

VOTING: 2009 Yule Poetry Competition

Siegfried slaying Fafnir

Now it is time to vote for your favorite Yule poem!

Congratulations to all our entrants for giving us such wonderful poems and heroes to choose from! Applause

You will have until January 17 (6:00 am Mountain Time) to cast your votes. This will be a tough decision. Good luck!! Wink

REMEMBER...the winner can chose between two books out this year: The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun (of course) or the new edition of Tales from the Perilous Realm, illustrated by the wonderful Alan Lee.

Go HERE to cast your vote.

Merry · Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 10:06 pm Post subject:

Mythopoeia
On September 19, 1931, C. S. Lewis invited J. R. R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson to dinner at Magdalen College and after dinner they went for a walk. But not just a walk. Their talk that night was seminal, particularly for Lewis, who later cited that conversation as an important turning point in his conversion to Christianity. Their topic that night was the nature of myth. Lewis thought at the time that ‘myth’ was synonymous with ‘lie’ although, since he enjoyed mythology, he added that a myth was a lie “breathed through silver”. Tolkien contended that myths do not necessarily have to be false, that they still can function in the way myths do, even if they are true.

During the next several days, Tolkien composed the first version of the poem “Mythopoeia”, the title of which is a coined word from the Greek meaning ‘myth-making’. It is dedicated “To one who said that myths were lies and therefore worthless, even though ‘breathed through silver’” and it is subtitled “Philomythus [myth-lover] to Misomythus [myth-hater]”. As far as I know, the only place where the poem is published legally is in the third edition of a short collection entitled Tree and Leaf (Harper Collins, 1988). (It may also be found on the ‘net—enough said!)

In the preface to this collection, Christopher Tolkien wrote that “Mythopoeia” is so closely related to part of the essay “On Fairy-Stories” that his father quoted fourteen lines from the poem in the essay. Both texts defend myth-making as not lying, obviously: at the time it was written, Tolkien was well immersed in the writing of his mythology and so the essay and the poem are something of a self-defense. But in the process, Tolkien reveals some deep truths about life, the world, and creativity.

Such isles they saw afar, and ones more fair,
and those that hear them yet may yet beware.
They have seen Death and ultimate defeat,
and yet they would not in despair retreat,
but oft to victory have turned the lyre
and kindled hearts with legendary fire,
illuminating Now and Dark Hath-been
with light of suns as yet by no man seen.

'Theoden Lying in State', used by permission of marbretherese

Riv Res · Manwë Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 1302

You're Invited!

It is July 1: Midsummer Day in Middle-earth!

We are Celebrating the Anniversary of the Royal Wedding of King Elessar and Arwen Undómiel this July 1 in a Very Special Way.

Middle-earth Journeys is delighted to invite all of you to our first Open House.

At Middle-earth Journeys we are all about J.R.R.Tolkien and his massive and masterful works of mythology and fiction. We discuss Tolkien's writings and the writings of others who are inspired by, and critique his mythology. We share our Tolkien inspired art and fictional short stories, as well as essays in study the Professor's extensive writings.

We discuss the Tolkien scholars from Shippey to Foster to Kocher and Fleiger and Anderson and Hammond and Scull and Drought ... to Fonstad and Garth and Carpenter and Christopher Tolkien ... and on and on (to name just a few).

We discuss Tolkien artists from Howe to Lee to Garland to Nasmith and Eissmann and the Hildebrandts and Edelfeldt and Carter-Hitchin ... to our own in house art group of Riv Res and Mabretherese and Iolanthe (to name just a few here as well).

But most of all, we discuss Tolkien's writings. We walk the paths and roads of Middle-earth with our friends like Frodo and Sam and Aragorn and Gandalf. We visit them often and are the better for taking our Middle-earth Journeys.

We also go back in time in Middle-earth and visit the like of The Children of Húrin, and Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham, and The Silmarillion, and (of course) The Hobbit. There is no corner of Middle-earth that we don't explore.

We are a small group, and we range from true Tolkien geeks to Tolkien novices. All are welcome and we enjoy the fellowship. We are holding this Open House in the hope that some of you may see the fun and enjoyment of joining us. The more the merrier!!

Here ... take a quick peak at what your can find if you take a few Middle-earth Journeys.

Come and Check Us Out

Spend some quiet time in The Tolkien Library.

Visualize Middle-earth with our in-house artists in the amazing Tolkien Art Gallery.

Take Your Own Middle-earth Journey: Another Place - Another Time

Follow the Fellowship's quest to destroy the Ring via Tolkien's Great Years Calendar.

Join Bilbo on a grand adventure via Tolkien's Hobbit Calendar.

Come Join in All the Fun and Conversations on Our Forums

Middle-earth Journeys: Talking Tolkien

Inspired Journeys: Tolkien Art

Middle-earth Journeys: The Books of J.R.R.Tolkien

Middle-earth Journeys: Tolkien Studies

Complete Forum Index

Upcoming Essay Competitions

From time to time we have some fun writing short essays and compete with each other on a particular subject. Here are some ideas we have for our upcoming essay writing ...

Pursuit of the Black Riders
Land of Lorien
The White Wizards
The Hold of the Ring
The Dominion of Men
Mordor’s Pervasive Gloom

Be sure to put your Tolkien thinking caps on (they look very much like Gandalf's enormous pointy hat Wink

) and join in the fun.

Tolkien Poll

We also thought that you may want to participate in a fun Tolkien poll as a way to ease into your Middle-earth Journeys. Very Happy

Come tell us Why I Love Tolkien. There are lots of reasons we all come back to Tolkien again and again.

You can browse the forums which are open to everyone, however, you will have to register on the forums in order to participate in the discussions, contests, and polls. We look forward to having you join us.

Merry · Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 3:02 am Post subject:

We'd also like to announce to our members, old and new, that we have done a bit of redecorating for the Open House! We have replaced some of the pictures in the introductions to some of the threads with works of art from our own in-house artists, Iolanthe, marbretherese, and Riv Res. I think they look stunning in their new settings: it's almost like finding new editions of our favorite works by the Professor with perfect illustrations by our friends!

So take a look at some of the first pages, particularly of the LOTR chapter discussion threads, to check out our new look!

Iolanthe · Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 2:51 pm Post subject:

Music of the Ainur, Second Movement

The Silmarillion Chapter by Chapter Discussion

Let's start at the very beginning...

The Silmarillion opens with Tolkien's great Creation Myth as the world is sung into being through 'the Great Music' of Eru (called Ilúvatar). The Ainur, Eru's first created beings, adorn His great theme with their own 'thoughts and devices' until Melkor, who has been given the greatest gifts of power and knowledge, begins a new theme of his own and discord comes into Creation.

Thus begins Tolkien's great sub-creation of Arda, its guardians the Valar and the toils and troubles of Middle-earth.

There is plenty to discuss here, so dust off your copies of the Sil, have a read and join in on our new Ainulindalë, the Music of the Ainur thread when you are ready!

_________________
Now let the song begin! Let us sing together
Of sun, stars, moon and mist, rain and cloudy weather...

Iolanthe · Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2010 6:49 pm Post subject:

Festival in the Shire

13-15 August 2010

Pontrhydfendigaid, Wales

Marbretherese, Jonick and I are back from another Excellent Adventure at the Festival in the Shire and will have lots to tell you when we get a chance to write our reports.

Keep an eye on the new Festival in the Shire thread Wink