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davem · 10-25-2002, 02:42 AM

The way Tolkien changed me was in the way I look at the natural world. Long ago, in the first age (in 1976!) I read LotR for the first time. I'd never paid much attention to nature. But after that reading I became deeply aware of it. Now I can't walk through a wood without feeling a kind of Elvishness about it, or walk through farmland without a sense of Hobbits being just out of sight. In other words, I see the whole natural world through 'Tolkien coloured spectacles'.
Does that make sense to anyone? I also became interested in history & folkore. I also discovered a sense of 'Englishness', an identification with the Land - not in a Political/jingoistic sense - just in the sense of feeling 'connected with the land I was born in. I'm a different & I hope, a better person because of Tolkien.

10-25-2002, 02:42 AM	#8
davem Illustrious Ulair Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties Posts: 4,240	The way Tolkien changed me was in the way I look at the natural world. Long ago, in the first age (in 1976!) I read LotR for the first time. I'd never paid much attention to nature. But after that reading I became deeply aware of it. Now I can't walk through a wood without feeling a kind of Elvishness about it, or walk through farmland without a sense of Hobbits being just out of sight. In other words, I see the whole natural world through 'Tolkien coloured spectacles'. Does that make sense to anyone? I also became interested in history & folkore. I also discovered a sense of 'Englishness', an identification with the Land - not in a Political/jingoistic sense - just in the sense of feeling 'connected with the land I was born in. I'm a different & I hope, a better person because of Tolkien. __________________ “Everything was an object. If you killed a dwarf you could use it as a weapon – it was no different to other large heavy objects."