Tolkien is Not Yeats

[Bill Ferny]

Squatter,

I can’t comment on Sylvia Plath due to ignorance… I’m not much of a poetry aficionado anyway. However, after reading an excerpt from Tolkien’s translation of Beowulf, I definitely prefer Heaney’s translation… on the other hand I prefer Raffel’s translation over Heaney’s… go figure.

I don't love Tolkien's poetry because I admire him. I admire him because I love his poetry.

I can respect that, though subjectively I would disagree. For me, I put up with Tolkien’s poetry because I admire the whole of the narrative. Also, probably due to my ingrained cynicism, I never admire an artist because of his art; I’ve found that the artist’s art usually far surpasses the qualities of the artist, himself.

I slammed the article for being facile and ignorant, not for attacking Tolkien.

I for one didn’t get the impression that you slammed the article in your post. Rather, I got the impression that you disagreed with the article, and the manner in which it was presented. I’m in agreement with you.

This, however, was that to which I was referring:

I'M OUTRAGED!
How dare they insult Tom Bombadil!
And Tolkien as well, I enjoy poetry, and especially the poems in LOTR!

I don’t mean to single out Theodred21. However, I really didn’t perceive in the article an outright insult leveled against Tolkien, himself. I perceived, perhaps, a veiled insult toward Tolkien fans, though. But I’m not going to sit here and say certain people don’t deserve insult sometimes. There are those who at times seem to scream for insults, myself included. When admiration for Tolkien or his art becomes fanboyism (“Tolkien rules! Everybody else sux!”), then by all means, dish out the well deserved insults.