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#arthurian
review
JazzFeathers
The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien
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Pickpick

#MedievalTolkien #FellowshipOfTolkien

I loved it! I loved the story and it was so frustrating to leave it as it was just beginning. All the characters were so intriguing.

I loved Christopher's commentary, though it was in places a bit too granular for my understanding.

I lived the chapters about the Silmarillion. It wasn't what l was expecting, because l noticed other, different relationships with Tolkien's work. I wanted more! ⬇️

JazzFeathers But maybe what l loved the most were Tolkien's own words about the alliterative text and the storie expressed in that metric. We know and love Tolkien for his imaginative stories, and we often forget he was a very passionate scholar too. I'm always impressed by the depth, and the passion of his scholarly work, few as we have the chance to read. I wish l had the education to understand more of his scholarly work. 22h
Daisey I very much agree with your review as well. I‘ve come to appreciate this style of poetry so much through reading his work and find that description incredibly interesting. 13h
22 likes3 comments
review
BarbaraJean
The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien
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Pickpick

I enjoyed this unfinished piece of Arthurian poetry by Tolkien, along with the accompanying essays by Christopher Tolkien (that make up most of the book). Overall, though, it was a bit unsatisfying—I wanted a little bit more from all of it (but that‘s my own issue, not an actual problem with the book). “The Poem in Arthurian Tradition” made me want to study the poem in the context of an Arthurian Literature course, to go deeper into the sources ⤵️

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …Tolkien drew from. With “The Unwritten Poem & its Relation to The Silmarillion,” I wanted more analysis of the connections & parallels (and character comparisons) not only with the Silmarillion, but also the rest of Tolkien‘s work. (I realize literary interpretation/analysis wasn‘t Christopher Tolkien‘s purpose, and I understand why, but that‘s what I wanted!) My favorite part of the book, though, was the appendix on Old English Verse.⤵️ (edited) 3d
BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) I loved reading more about the alliterative form—it enriched my reading of the poem to go back and examine the form Tolkien was using, and it made me wish even more for a completed version of the poem. I‘m glad I read this #MedievalTolkien pick with the #FellowshipofTolkien! 3d
kspenmoll Wonderful review! 3d
See All 6 Comments
Daisey Great review and I completely agree! I also really enjoyed the section on the verse form. 3d
JazzFeathers What a great review, Barbara 🤩 l found it more difficult than others we read, but l still enjoyed it a lot. Especially the chapter about the Silmarillion, though l, too, would have liked a lot more from it. 'Cause I'm sure there's more, there. 22h
BarbaraJean @kspenmoll @Daisey Thank you! @JazzFeathers I agree, I found the essays in this one more difficult than some of our other reading—especially when Christopher Tolkien got so detailed about the various drafts of the poem. I wanted less of that and more analysis—I understand why CT‘s focus is where it is, but I guess my preference/interest is sometimes different than his goals! 18h
39 likes6 comments
blurb
bibliothecarivs
Once & Future Vol. 2 | Kieron Gillen
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Random book from our home library:

📖 Once & Future volume 2 by Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain

review
Daisey
The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien
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Pickpick

I finished this book with breakfast this morning. As with many of these incomplete works by Tolkien, it‘s a combination of fascinating and frustrating. They always leaving you wanting to know and be able to read more. I‘m so grateful to Christopher for putting the work into sharing this, but I only recommend it to serious fans of Tolkien‘s writing process or readers interested in various versions and retellings of the King Arthur legend.

60 likes1 comment
quote
Daisey
The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien
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I thought this quote about how Tolkien viewed language and the change in it over time interesting.

“Our language now has become quick-moving (in syllables), and may be very supple and nimble,
but is rather thin in sound and in sense too often diffuse and vague. The language of our forefathers,
especially in verse, was slow, not very nimble, but very sonorous, and was intensely packed and concentrated — or could be in a good poet.”

tpixie Interesting. I‘m reading about Barbara Newhall Follett- she also created a world & language- Farksolia & Farksoo- as a child. Wrote her first book at eight and it was published at 12 years of age. She disappeared at the age of 25 and was never found. https://farksolia.org/category/farksolia/ 3w
tpixie Patti Callahan Henry learned about her when she was doing research on Beatrix Potter. She also had her own language. Patti then went down the rabbit hole of other authors who created languages & learned about Barbara. Her new book is inspired by Barbara. 3w
See All 8 Comments
Daisey @tpixie Sounds interesting! 3w
tpixie @Daisey 🦋 3w
BooksandCoffee4Me His passion really was language. I once read that he wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Ring series in order to create worlds for the languages he‘d invented. 2w
Bookwomble @BooksandCoffee4Me Tolkien started creating languages in his childhood. He wrote about his process and the fascination he and others have with creating languages in the tagged book 🙂 2w
Daisey @BooksandCoffee4Me Languages absolutely were his first passion. It‘s amazing to think how all@of this started there. @Bookwomble The book you tagged isn‘t on my TBR yet; I‘ll have to add it! 2w
45 likes8 comments
blurb
Daisey
The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien
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Reading Tolkien‘s commentary about Old English Verse this morning. I really do enjoy this poetic style.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

BarbaraJean I think this was my favorite essay in the book. It was fascinating to learn about how this poetic style was constructed and then to flip back to the poem and notice so much I didn't notice the first time! 2w
Daisey @BarbaraJean Yes, I enjoyed it a lot! 2w
40 likes3 comments
blurb
JazzFeathers
The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien
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Daisey You‘re not really that far behind . . . I‘m in the middle of that section and also hoping to finish this weekend. 3w
22 likes1 comment
quote
Daisey
The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien
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This is my favorite line so far in this section, “The Evolution of the Poem.” Even after works were published, they weren‘t always safe from further revisions by Tolkien.

“As a rule, indeed, no manuscript of my father‘s could be regarded as ‘final‘ until it had safely left his hands.”

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

KadaGul What a great quote. Loved😍 it. 3w
BarbaraJean Haha—yes! This made me chuckle. Nothing was safe from further revision! 3w
JazzFeathers I love Christopher 😂 3w
Daisey @KadaGul @BarbaraJean @JazzFeathers Yes! It‘s such a great line from Christopher. 3w
46 likes1 stack add5 comments
blurb
Daisey
The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien
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I haven‘t had a lot of reading time this past week, so my priority was finishing The History of Love. Now that it‘s done, I finally settled in to start “The Evolution of the Poem” this evening with supper. Also, crazy Missouri weather was in the 60s yesterday and back in the 30s today, so it was chili for supper again.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien #ReadAndEat

46 likes1 comment
blurb
JazzFeathers
The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien
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#MedievalTolkien #FellowshipOfTolkien

So, these are some of the images I've found when l googled 'Avalon Arthur'.
I had never realised before how much of the imagery of the Arthurian legends exists in Tolkien's world.

I enjoyed reading Christopher's comparison between Avalon and Numenor, which wasn't what l was expecting from bringing Arthurian legends and Middle-earth together.

Daisey As always, you found some beautiful images to go along with our reading. They really do fit my imaginings of both worlds. 1mo
BarbaraJean It's amazing how these images (especially the two on the right) would fit as illustrations of Middle-earth! 1mo
24 likes3 comments