It feels different near the Shire....

[Bêthberry]

Drowning? Us? Where's that Lonely Star when we need her? [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

lmp, don't mind me. As a citizen of a former colony of England, I take umbrage at the idea that the blessed isle (the Shire) shall redeem us all. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Nar, *curtsies a pleasant greeting on a first meeting*

I would say that JRRT saw past ages as slightly different than modern ages, in that evil aspects were clearer to see-- more embodied and less distributed, if you know what I mean? And that in past ages, nearly-unmarred islands existed, one type in Elf-havens and the other in Bombadil and Treebeard (call them spirit/light and earth/water) whereas now, there are no more less-marred islands. Corruption is smoothly distributed throughout all-- now we suffer psychological darkness rather than epic darkness.

I had never really thought of "the long defeat" in quite this way, of the gradual elimination of unmarred sites as corruption spreads. This is a valuable point. And even the sites of renewal/ retreat are lost, with the abandonment of Rivendell and Lothlorien. *nods respectfully* What I am not so sure about, though, is the way you extrapolate the extension of evil to modern psychology. Are you generalizing about the modern condition or are you thinking of something specific in Tolkien which foretells this?

Bethberry

[ October 03, 2002: Message edited by: Bethberry ]