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Originally Posted by Lalaith
All this leads me to wonder - is it in fact possible to draw as many parallels between myth and folk tradition as we are all wont to do? Are they that connected?
Perhaps myth is what Tolkien called " 'high', purged of the gross" - metaphysical questions, the nature of creation, art and knowledge; folk tradition is much more concerned with the basic human requirements: food (lack of or plenty); fidelity (ditto, whether between men and women, brothers-in-arms, or men and beasts), and fighting.
And where do fairy tales fit in? Perhaps most fall into the folk category, although some, like the Cupid & Psyche variants (Beauty and the Beast/East of the Sun West of the Moon etc) might have more mythical elements.
The themes of the Silmarillion tales seem more metaphysical/mythical than folk tradition: Feanor (art and creation) Beren and Luthien (love beyond death) The children of Hurin (fate and despair).
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I think ultimately they are all leaves on the same tree. Mythology could be said to be concerned mostly with 'creation', the cosmology of a world and it's Gods while folklore is concerned more with the everyday, or else putting the 'high' into an everyday context. But the problem is where does one end and the other begin?
The other problem is that all mythology and folklore has once been the belief or religion, the 'truth' of its day or society. So if I include the Bible in this I am not deliberately setting out to offend.
If we consider the Bible, it includes not only Genesis, but also The Song of Solomon which is much more 'earthy'; we also have the Gospels which consider the metaphysical questions of Christianity alongside everyday concerns and life. Both high myths and low folktales contain lessons and truths, and all can work on many levels. We can see this today in our own culture - the film Troy talkes the 'high' myth of Achilles and brings it to the level of entertainment and action; we could even say that about the film versions of LotR (though many also get this pleasure from the books)!
Even 'high' creation myth can be 'gross', Cronos castrates his own father, Uranus, and then goes on to eat his own children.
If we look at Tolkien's work, even here it is hard to discern between what is myth and folklore, if there is such a big difference; both are melded together in one whole. If the tales of the Silmarillion seem to work more on the level of myth, then I would think it is the style in which they are written as opposed to the themes; Frodo's story alone is more than worthy of 'mythical' status, and yet it seems at face value to be much more intimate and contemporary.