Quote:
Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin
Why would Tolkien have a vision of a Black Rider in this timeframe? His imagination was entirely in the First Age.
One also gets what looks like an image of JRRT charging across No Man's Land with an SMLE and Bayonet. Tolkien was a signals officer, he didn't "charge" anywhere and all he carried for weaponry was a Webley Mk VI revolver.
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You're certainly right here - if Tolkien 'saw' anything on the Somme, it was a fair city in ruins, dragons of steel and thunder, and brave heroes tumbling with craven cowards to the same inevitable end. I'm still hoping we get a glimpse of the Fall of Gondolin - but it's not
much of a hope.
I'm kind of inclined to rendering the idea in art, so... do you happen to know what Tolkien
would have had on him as equipment etc when going over the top? I assume he didn't carry phones, lamps, flags,
and pigeons with him at all times, though I'm willing to be proved wrong...
hS