Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Our Times: The Age of Elizabeth II
The Wall Street Journal ^ | JANUARY 14, 2010 | A.N. Wilson

Posted on 01/17/2010 1:21:58 AM PST by Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Old Western Man

The travellers trotted on, and as the sun began to sink towards the White Downs far away on the western horizon they came to Bywater by its wide pool, and there they had their first really painful shock. This was Frodo and Sam's own country, and they found out now that they cared about it more than any other place in the world. Many of the houses that they had known were missing. Some seemed to have been burned down. The pleasant row of old hobbit-holes in the bank in the north side of the Pool were deserted, and their little gardens that used to run down right to the water's edge were rank with weeds. . . . . . And looking with dismay up the road towards Bag End they saw a full chimney of brick in the distance. It was pouring out black smoke into the evening air.

The Great War is over. The Ring of Power has been destroyed. As in Wagner's Ring cycle which is one of its primary analogues, The Lord of the Rings concludes with Middle-earth passing into the hands of the human race. The Dark Lord and his power were destroyed when the ring itself was thrown into the Cracks of Doom in the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie. The Elves of the High Kindred, together with Gandalf the Wizard, take ship at the Grey Havens and pass out of our world. The Shire, the comfortable, rural world of the Hobbits, will no doubt return to some kind of normality, but it has been wrecked during the war and it is difficult to believe, amiable and strong as old Sam Gamgee is, that the Shire will ever be quite the same.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; History; The Hobbit Hole
KEYWORDS: elizabeth; godsgravesglyphs; lewis; tolkien
The Wall Street Journal is publishing a multi-part review of A.N. Wilson's new book on modern history, modeling his thoughts in the first portion on 'The Scouring of the Shire' at the end of The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. The LOTR is the story of the destruction of the existing civilization as shown on a smaller scale in the Shire's fate. Wilson compares this to the current destruction of Western Civilization.
1 posted on 01/17/2010 1:22:00 AM PST by Lucius Cornelius Sulla
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: ecurbh; Homer Simpson

Of interest to Hobbits and modern history fans.


2 posted on 01/17/2010 1:24:42 AM PST by Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of.-- Idylls of the King)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fedora

ping


3 posted on 01/17/2010 1:28:02 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla

4 posted on 01/17/2010 1:51:21 AM PST by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Interesting stuff. I think CS Lewis is right. I think we (as in Western Civilisation) have gained in material prosperity and comfort, but lost the spirituality and sense of unity that underpins everything.


5 posted on 01/17/2010 6:16:31 AM PST by Vanders9
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla
"....the Shire will ever be quite the same."


6 posted on 01/17/2010 6:58:16 AM PST by Daffynition (What's all this about hellfire and Dalmatians?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla
No one supposes that Sam Gamgee and his wife, Rose, courageous as Sam has been, will ever repeat the glory, still less rise in his Hobbit life, to the levels of tragic grandeur known in the heroic days of Theoden, King of the Golden Hall, or of the cruel, majestic quasi-Byzantine courts of Gondor. Those glory times are forever over.

In my opinion, this writer has utterly missed the point of LOTR.

He considers it a story of pessimism and despair. I contend it's a story of hope, of pressing on despite great trials and in the end defeating darkness.

Does the world ever return to what it was before? Of course not.

Does the Shire produce glories comparable to those of Gondor or the ancient elf kingdoms? Nope. Hobbits aren't elves or men. Their desire is for simpler and less strenuous accomplishments.

But Tolkien is very clear that both Gondor and Rohan are revitalized by their victory in the War of the Ring and move together into the future, creating new glories worthy of being at least compared to the past. Gondor in particular has its King return, and the nation is blessed far more than under the degenerate interregnum of the Stewards.

The Shire in many ways becomes better than it was before. Hobbits are no longer ignored by the world, but become among its great heroes.

7 posted on 01/17/2010 9:26:10 AM PST by Sherman Logan (Never confuse schooling with education.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: piasa

LOL thanks piasa! :-)


8 posted on 01/17/2010 11:44:32 AM PST by Fedora
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Bump for later reading


9 posted on 01/18/2010 10:18:18 AM PST by SuziQ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·

 
Gods
Graves
Glyphs
Thanks Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
 

·Dogpile · Archaeologica · LiveScience · Archaeology · Biblical Archaeology Society ·
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google ·
· The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·


10 posted on 01/28/2010 8:15:39 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Happy New Year! Freedom is Priceless.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson