Word: tolkien
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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...
...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...
...darkness as inherently self-destructive, by nature incapable of exercising their full potential or adequately coping with altruism. While the history of recent totalitarianism affords a limited example of this situation, the attitude seems at times overly optimistic, and the plot structure sometimes strains to justify it. Had Tolkien converted the work into a tragedy, he might well have made his impact even greater. Yet the portrayal of the conflict's complexities, especially the use of evil to a good end, is without parallel in a work of this scope...
...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...
...book's success, a proof that emotive language need not be confined to poetry and advertising. Yet to call a work a successful epic, even when it combines scope, structure, and expression, is always dangerous. Perhaps more fitting would be the suggestion that for the twentieth century, Tolkien is more acceptable and more comprehensive than Malory, Spenser, or Milton...