Word: epical
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Although the English language has never suffered a dearth of would-be epic writers, none since Milton has achieved general recognition. The latest creator of a saga for Middle Earth is an Oxford professor, J. R. R. Tolkien...
...tension depends not only on expansion but also on alternation. By varying the outlook from personal to epic, the author not only maintains the opposition between subjective and objective reality, but increases the suspense...
...scholar, Tolkien is well aware of the successes and failures which have marked the progression of both the epic and the language. He has faced the obstacles of any modern epic-maker: comprehending and making meaningful an ever-more-complex pattern of human existence and understanding, and evoking both awareness and awe with an increasingly vulgarized language. In these terms, he has succeeded...
Structural and dramatic skill alone have never made a successful epic, however. Effectiveness of expression is probably the most important single criterion. The written word has in this respect always been at a disadvantage when compared with the oral epic. Writers, unlike bards, can test neither the effectiveness of their subject matter nor its mode of expression, for they lack the opportunity to repeat, modify, and retest their work...
...success of a written epic has therefore usually come from reliance on words and symbols already tried and accepted in the consciousness of a people. Both erudition and genius are necessary to utilize be the full potential of this tradition in both language and myth, Tolkien has been able to set forth his story in a heroic style not only appropriate but effective. His chapter endings are indicative...