[greyhavener]

I found several sources particularly helpful in studying Tolkien and myth:

Joseph Pearce's Tolkien: Man and Myth,
Bradley J. Birzer's Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle Earth ;
This site with links to Tolkien's own Mythopoeia and several excellent articles on the subject of Tolkien andMyth: http://www.geocities.com/domachowski/myth.html

I'm sure someone has quoted this on the forum before: Tolkien's own words concerning myth:

We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed, only by myth-making, only by becoming a 'sub-creator' and inventing stories, can Man aspire to the state of perfection that he knew before the Fall.