Adoption and Foster Care

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by davem

Well, the Arthurian tales were pretty much the only body of legend associated with these Islands - Tolkien had to invent a mythology.

Did the English even need a 'mythology' or body of legend? The one available to the English, the Arthur stories, is very much altered from what it may once have been, and is also very French. Nevertheless these stories are very well loved. I think their introduction into English culture has a great deal to do with the Norman Conquest and several centuries where the Latin and French languages were the languages of those in power, and the desire to imprint the Norman culture of the conquering class on English society. The shadow of those centuries still looms large in the English consciousness and perhaps Tolkien's rejection of those stories may have been partly to do with this.

But there already was a strong tradition of legend in England - the problem is that it was and mostly is, held orally by ordinary people. These types of tales include Robin Hood, the best known, but also many other folk tales. Some have been lost with urbanisation, maybe their relevance was not as important, and it remains to be seen how many will survive the mobility of people that we see today; as children grow up far removed from older relatives will they hear the old folk tales as often? Will they be lost as we descend into the homogenised English culture which is dominant over regional identity such as identifying as Geordies, Tykes, Dalesmen, etc.

It isn't surprising that the Welsh and Scots are determined to hold on to their own regional cultures and languages. Although I understand that even in Scotland the dominance of the two largest cities is homogenising culture there.

These old folktales might have some hope of survival in the form of children's writers making great use of the evocative and exciting creatues and ideas they possess. JK Rowling (love her or hate her) is making use of them, and Tolkien made use of them (as seen with Tom Bombadil, Old Man Willow etc). Though I do have to say that Tolkien's own mythology makes much more use of creatures of his own imagining - he is no comprehensive saviour of the old English folk tale.