| Ent Wives [message #227159] |
So, 26 Februar 2006 23:33 |
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I'm sure there has been one hundred plus posting on the Ent Wives...
Any thoughts on what may have happened to them. I find Tree Beards
Lament (in the book and film) heart breakingly personal, and I cant
help but think it may have been Tolkiens heart break at losing his wife
which inspired this very sad tale in LOR. To me the tragedy is that the
Ents just have no idea as to what happened to their wives, their
reaction is almost child like, that they simply cant (or wont)
understand how this could be. I could be wrong regarding this as I'm
not sure if Tolkiens beloved wife died before or after these passages
were written.
Any thoughts?
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| Re: Ent Wives [message #227167 ] |
Mo, 27 Februar 2006 03:07 |
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Brego wrote:
I cant
> help but think it may have been Tolkiens heart break at losing his
> wife which inspired this very sad tale in LOR.
LotR was published in 1954-5. Edith died 1n 1971.
--
Bill
"Wise fool"
Gandalf, THE TWO TOWERS
-- The Wise will remove 'se' to reply; the Foolish will not--
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| Re: Ent Wives [message #227169 ] |
Mo, 27 Februar 2006 03:43 |
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Bill O'Meally
>LotR was published in 1954-5. Edith died 1n 1971.
--
>Bill
Thanks Bill, I didnt realise that it was that late in the piece. I
think that something very powerful must have occured in his life then,
to be able to write with such sorrow. Perhaps his Mother or Father...
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| Re: Ent Wives [message #227181 ] |
Mo, 27 Februar 2006 21:12 |
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Brego wrote:
> Bill O'Meally
> >LotR was published in 1954-5. Edith died 1n 1971.
> --
> >Bill
>
> Thanks Bill, I didnt realise that it was that late in the piece. I
> think that something very powerful must have occured in his life then,
> to be able to write with such sorrow. Perhaps his Mother or Father...
tolkien lost both of his parents, his father when very young (i think
about three years old), and his mother when rather older (about 11).
(this is related in carpenter's biography, and also in that other bio
[grotta?].)
he also lost two of his best friends in WWI, and saw unspeakable death
and destruction in that same conflict. a brilliant study of the
possible effects of WWI and his early friendships of the silmarillion
may be found in john garth's /tolkien and the great war/.
it's worth keeping in mind, of course, that biography can only supply a
partial explanation for a work of art. why did tolkien's mind provide
the elixir that turned his experiences into literature (and literature
of a particular kind) and not others? who can know? however, this does
not necessarily mean that seeking out such influences is wrong.
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| Re: Ent Wives [message #227183 ] |
Mo, 27 Februar 2006 22:13 |
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There are many occations throughout LOR and the Sil where Tolkien's
ability to portray both loss and anguish amaze me. I find generally
writers either under play or over write passages which deal with loss.
Tolkien manages to strike a cord with me. Another example is Theoden
reaction to finding that his son is dead. Theodreds passing is another
example where Tolkien's writing can strum a raw nerve without using too
many words. What puzzles me with the Ents reaction to their beloved
wives being lost is their inability to understand or remember why they
are gone or where they have disappeared to. Perhaps the trauma is too
much to bear.
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| Re: Ent Wives [message #227188 ] |
Di, 28 Februar 2006 02:22 |
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Brego wrote:
What puzzles me with the Ents reaction to
> their beloved wives being lost is their inability to understand or
> remember why they are gone
But that is the real tragedy, isn't it? That each were either unable or
unwilling to understand that which the other loved best.
--
Bill
"Wise fool"
Gandalf, THE TWO TOWERS
-- The Wise will remove 'se' to reply; the Foolish will not--
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| Re: Ent Wives [message #227189 ] |
Di, 28 Februar 2006 02:25 |
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Brego wrote:
> I'm sure there has been one hundred plus posting on the Ent Wives...
> Any thoughts on what may have happened to them.
Nothing is ever revealed, but some think that the reports of 'walking
trees' in the north of the Shire prior to the War of the Ring _might_
be a case of 'Ent-wife sightings', the moreso since Treebeard commented
from Merry and Pippen's descriptions that they would 'like your
country'. But it's just a possibility, and maybe a long shot.
The thing is, the Ents are something of an oddity in the theological
structure of the world, they exist in some sense because the Dwarves
exist. Whether Eru ever meant for them to survive into the Age of Men
is an open question, and nothing at all is known of their ultimate
spiritual fate.
Shermanlee
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| Re: Ent Wives [message #227193 ] |
Di, 28 Februar 2006 12:48 |
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In message
<news:1140993225.350879.169420 [at] u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com> "Brego"
<shooper [at] auspinners.com.au> enriched us with:
> I'm sure there has been one hundred plus posting on the Ent
> Wives... Any thoughts on what may have happened to them.
[...]
> Any thoughts?
He [Tom Bombadil (TF)] has no connexion in my mind with
the Entwives. What had happened to them is not resolved in
this book. He is in a way the answer to them in the sense
that he is almost the opposite, being say, Botany and
Zoology (as sciences) and Poetry as opposed to Cattle-
breeding and Agriculture and practicality.
I think that in fact the Entwives had disappeared for
good, being destroyed with their gardens in the War of the
Last Alliance (Second Age 3429-3441) when Sauron pursued a
scorched earth policy and burned their land against the
advance of the Allies down the Anduin (vol. II p. 79
refers to it[2]). They survived only in the 'agriculture'
transmitted to Men (and Hobbits). Some, of course, may
have fled east, or even have become enslaved: tyrants even
in such tales must have an economic and agricultural
background to their soldiers and metal-workers. If any
survived so, they would indeed be far estranged from the
Ents, and any rapprochement would be difficult - unless
experience of industrialized and militarized agriculture
had made them a little more anarchic. I hope so. I don't
know.
[Letter #144 To Naomi Mitchison, 25 April 1954]
--
Troels Forchhammer
Valid e-mail is <t.forch(a)email.dk>
Behold! we are not bound for ever to the circles of the
world, and beyond them is more than memory, Farewell!
- Aragorn, /The Lord of the Rings/ (J.R.R. Tolkien)
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| Re: Ent Wives [message #231993 ] |
Di, 07 März 2006 02:20 |
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Post removed (X-No-Archive: yes)
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