Art!

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

It makes me wonder - it just occured to me - it is really possible that Tolkien himself did not perceive, or expect, the deeper thoughts and meanings behind his texts, and when he was writing it, he, just like Valar in his own story, "did not know that it had any other purpose apart from its own beauty".

This is what I often think. Tolkien seems to have been somewhat bemused by the fandom which suddenly blew up, and somewhat disheartened at having so many interesting letters to answer (he doesn't seem like the type who would just ignore it when a fan had gone to the effort of writing to him). The answers he gives to them are quite often contradictory when you read his letters in bulk - as shown by our endless discussions over "what he meant by x".

I think the germ of his work was simply an urge to write, to create this thing of beauty being inspired by so many different works of literature and art, and by his own life, by faith, by language. He spent years perfecting this writing so that it was coherent, even to the extent that he made names fot the linguistic patterns he had laid down, that moon phases and stars were correct. He was like a painter working in the most meticulous detail imaginable.

It almost seems a shame to pick it all apart and try to impose meanings upon it all, rather like looking at a beautiful painting and instead of sinking into the view to examine what sort of brushes were used and why. I wonder why we do that?