The Mystery of Light - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Lalwendë · 12-02-2004, 12:55 PM

There's plenty of food for thought already here, excellent!

Now, if the use of the breaking of light into many colours is indeed metaphorical, then why did Tolkien choose this metaphor? Did he himself disagree with what Newton did? Did he see it as wrong in some way? I'm asking these questions from the angle that Tolkien was a Catholic, and clearly Light as a concept would have been important to him. Throughout his work I keep coming across Light as a concept of Divinity or purity.

What is troubling me is that according to Newton, white light is not pure, it is the sum of the coloured light. And in effect, Newton did break the light to discover its properties. Yet Tolkien uses white Light as a symbol of purity and says that Light should not be broken. And the fact that he also used this metaphor in Mythopoeia would suggest it is a scientific theory he was well aware of.

12-02-2004, 12:55 PM	#6
Lalwendë A Mere Boggart Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: under the bed Posts: 4,737	There's plenty of food for thought already here, excellent! Now, if the use of the breaking of light into many colours is indeed metaphorical, then why did Tolkien choose this metaphor? Did he himself disagree with what Newton did? Did he see it as wrong in some way? I'm asking these questions from the angle that Tolkien was a Catholic, and clearly Light as a concept would have been important to him. Throughout his work I keep coming across Light as a concept of Divinity or purity. What is troubling me is that according to Newton, white light is not pure, it is the sum of the coloured light. And in effect, Newton did break the light to discover its properties. Yet Tolkien uses white Light as a symbol of purity and says that Light should not be broken. And the fact that he also used this metaphor in Mythopoeia would suggest it is a scientific theory he was well aware of. __________________ Gordon's alive!