Middle earth= middle ages?/Barrow Downs= Ireland and Scotland?

[MLD-Grounds-Keeper-Willie]

I brought up my theory in the thread, 'Do we live in Middle-earth? Pages: 1 2,' and I was wondering if anyone agrees with me. My theory is that ME is just an edited version of the middle-ages. Some people say that ME is like earth, where England is the shire and North America is Valinor etc. But I disagree with that to some level. I don't think that ME is an exact reference to our earth. I think that maybe some places can represent places in ME but not all.

What I'm particularly interested in is with the Barrow Downs. Now, I think that saying England represents the shire is a good quess. I think that it further represents where tolkien grew up in England. Ireland and Scotland are very close to England. Ireland is on its own island and Scotland is connected to England on an island also. I think that the Barrow Downs and quite possibly the Old Forest might represent Ireland and Scotland. Think about it. The Barrow Downs and the Old Forest are foggy like Ireland and Scotland can be. Also, the barrow wights remind me of the Celts, Glasgow, and the Druids.

I don't have too much to support my theory so I was wondering what you think about it. I kind of have a gut feeling about this but I may be wrong. Please tell you what you think of my theory. Do you agree/disagree? Try to focus more on the part about the Barrow downs, but if you have something to add about the MA, go ahead. If you want to, check out my reply on the thread that I mentioned at the top, it might help explain my theory better. Thanks.

[ December 01, 2002: Message edited by: MLD-Grounds-Keeper-Willie ]