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100 years since Somme

S-J-Hawk
The Shire


Jul 1 2016, 1:27pm

Post #1 of 11 (1143 views)
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100 years since Somme Can't Post

For those of us who have read Tolkien's letters and know his history this is nothing new. But, a good cursory review of Tolkien's time in The Great War on the anniversary of the Battle of Somme.

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

-the Litany against Fear


N.E. Brigand
Half-elven


Jul 1 2016, 6:16pm

Post #2 of 11 (1099 views)
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One of Tolkien's best friends, R.Q. Gilson, died 100 years ago today. [In reply to] Can't Post

Another, G.B. Smith, would be killed in December. Upon learning of Gilson's death, Tolkien wrote to Smith and his other closest friend, Chris Wiseman:

"So far my chief impression is that something has gone crack. I feel just the same to both of you--nearer if anything and very much in need of you . . . but I don't feel a member of a little complete body now. I honestly feel that the TCBS has ended . . . I feel a mere individual."

I take the text from John Garth's Tolkien and the Great War. Garth also had two fine articles about Gilson and his family in Tolkien Studies a few years ago. One was "J.R.R. Tolkien and the Boy Who Didn't Believe in Fairies" (the boy being Gilson's younger half-brother) in volume 7 of the journal, and the other was "Robert Quilter Gilson, T.C.B.S.: A Brief Life in Letters" in volume 8.

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squire
Half-elven


Jul 1 2016, 7:55pm

Post #3 of 11 (1090 views)
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Do you know when Tolkien discussed the horrendous death rate for junior officers? [In reply to] Can't Post

S J Hawk's link cited a Tolkien quote I don't remember from his Letters, and an internet search only got me as far as it being from an interview he gave. But none of the many many instances of it online actually cited a traceable source.

Loconte's 6/30/16 NY Times article's second paragraph:
“Junior officers were being killed off, a dozen a minute,” recalled J. R. R. Tolkien. “Parting from my wife,” he wrote, doubting that he would survive the trenches, “was like a death.”




squire online:
RR Discussions: The Valaquenta, A Shortcut to Mushrooms, and Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
Lights! Action! Discuss on the Movie board!: 'A Journey in the Dark'. and 'Designing The Two Towers'.
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S-J-Hawk
The Shire


Jul 1 2016, 8:07pm

Post #4 of 11 (1085 views)
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Maybe not the first part. [In reply to] Can't Post

I don't remember the part about Junior Officers, which he was. But, I do remember the line about parting from his wife. Although I don't recall where.


edited - Wikipedia ( I know ) footnotes it as "Quoted in John Garth, Tolkien and the Great War, p. 138."

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

-the Litany against Fear


(This post was edited by S-J-Hawk on Jul 1 2016, 8:12pm)


dormouse
Half-elven


Jul 2 2016, 10:17am

Post #5 of 11 (1059 views)
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For anyone with access to UK TV... [In reply to] Can't Post

There's a programme - 'War of Words: Soldier poets of the Somme' - on BBC 4 at 9pm on 3 July. It was shown two years ago and is really worth watching if you can.

Tolkien is one of the writers featured with John Garth speaking about him, and it sets him into the context of where he was and what was happening around him. The thing that really sets the programme apart is that the main presenter is a military historian, not a literary one. It gives a very different take on the thing and leads to writers like Tolkien being included along with the more predictable Owen, Sassoon and so on. They also make use of some lovely delicate animations to accompany readings of poems.

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood and every spring
there is a different green. . .


squire
Half-elven


Jul 2 2016, 1:22pm

Post #6 of 11 (1061 views)
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Did Garth focus on Tolkien's poetry, or his later works in prose? [In reply to] Can't Post

As far as I know, Tolkien wrote quite a number of poems while he was at the front. As far as I know none of them are regarded as being anywhere near of the quality of the verses of "Owen, Sassoon, and so on." But they, being mostly about Tolkien's budding sense that England is a later incarnation of Elvendom, would certainly open up the general public's idea of what the "Soldier Poets" were writing during the Somme.



squire online:
RR Discussions: The Valaquenta, A Shortcut to Mushrooms, and Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
Lights! Action! Discuss on the Movie board!: 'A Journey in the Dark'. and 'Designing The Two Towers'.
Archive: All the TORn Reading Room Book Discussions (including the 1st BotR Discussion!) and Footerama: "Tolkien would have LOVED it!"
Dr. Squire introduces the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: A Reader's Diary


= Forum has no new posts. Forum needs no new posts.


dormouse
Half-elven


Jul 2 2016, 5:16pm

Post #7 of 11 (1050 views)
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So far as I remember.... [In reply to] Can't Post

...his focus is on the effect the Somme had on Tolkien's development as a writer - and on his writing as an aspect of the literature that grew out of that experience.

And yes, 'opening up the general public's idea' was a large part of what the programme set out to do. Generations of us have 'done' First World War poetry in school English lessons learning a fixed narrative based largely on Brooke, Sassoon and Owen. The poetry of the war was supposed to have followed a linear progression from patriotism through disillusion to bitterness and protest. I remember being taught that Brooke was bad because he said 'England' too much, Owen and Sassoon good because they wrote about mud and blood and futility. Anything that didn't fit the pattern was discarded - including a lot of things that had more meaning for people at the time. Also a lot of more individual responses, like Tolkien's. I think that's why they used the contemporary expression 'Soldier Poets' rather than our 'war poets.'

Coming from a history background freed the programme to look much more widely at men writing during the battle in different voices and styles. It's not so much about the quality of the verses as about the ideas the men were voicing and the ways they found to describe the experience.

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood and every spring
there is a different green. . .


Ent Wife
The Shire


Jul 2 2016, 5:41pm

Post #8 of 11 (1045 views)
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Interesting article, thanks for the link... [In reply to] Can't Post

...I see Sir Ian McKellen also shared that link via Twitter today.


N.E. Brigand
Half-elven


Jul 4 2016, 6:12am

Post #9 of 11 (1009 views)
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We still haven't seen a number of Tolkien's poems of that period. [In reply to] Can't Post

A volume he submitted was rejected by the potential publisher. Scull and Hammond list many unpublished poems in an appendix to their J.R.R. Tolkien Companion & Guide, a number of which apparently would have appeared in that collection.

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<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Discuss Tolkien's life and works in the Reading Room!
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
How to find old Reading Room discussions.


Eldy
Tol Eressea


Jul 11 2016, 7:14pm

Post #10 of 11 (879 views)
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Haven't seen the TV programme... [In reply to] Can't Post

...but in Garth's Tolkien and the Great War he talks extensively about Tolkien's poetry, painting, and language development before his deployment to the Somme as well as his prose work on The Book of Lost Tales after his return from the front. I didn't get the sense from Garth's book that Tolkien had done a lot of writing during his months in (and just behind) the trenches.



There's a feeling I get, when I look to the West...



Alassëa Eruvande
Valinor


Jul 12 2016, 4:09pm

Post #11 of 11 (873 views)
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The Weekly Standard had a nice feature article [In reply to] Can't Post

about Tolkien's experience. You might be able to find it here. I'm a subscriber, so I'm not sure if you need to be a subscriber to read it. I didn't log into the site, so maybe not.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/issue/21-41

It's the second article, The Somme, 1916.



I am SMAUG! I kill when I wish! I am strong, strong, STRONG!
My armor is like tenfold shields! My teeth like swords! My claws, spears!
The shock of my tail, a thunderbolt! My wings, a hurricane! And my breath, death!

 
 

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