The Keys of Middle-Earth Discovering Medieval Literature through the Fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien

by Lee, Stuart; Solopova, Elizabeth

• ISBN13: 9781403946720
• ISBN10: 1403946728
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-03-03
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The Keys of Middle-Earth introduces the reader to the world of medieval literature through the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien. Using key episodes in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , readers are taken back to the works of Old, Middle English and Old Norse literature that so influenced Tolkien. The original texts are presented with helpful new translations to help the reader approach the medieval poems and tales, and introductory essays draw on recent scholarship and Tolkien's own unpublished notes.

Author Biography

Stuart Lee teaches Old English at the University of Oxford. Elizabeth Solopova works in the Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library, and teaches Medieval English Literature and the History of English Language at the Departments of Continuing Education in Oxford and Cambridge.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
Abbreviations	x
How to Use This Book	1	(1)
Introduction	2	(52)
Background	2	(10)
Why another book about Tolkien?	2	(1)
This is not a source book	3	(1)
Tolkien's career	4	(3)
Tolkien's fiction and medieval literature	7	(4)
Medieval sources	11	(1)
Medieval literature	12	(13)
Old English	16	(4)
Middle English	20	(3)
Old Norse	23	(2)
Thematic and technical parallels	25	(29)
The theme of the quest	25	(3)
The epic	28	(3)
The runes	31	(7)
Alliterative verse and Tolkien's verse	38	(12)
The names	50	(4)
The Editions	54	(3)
The Texts	57	(209)
The Hobbit	59	(1)
Gandalf and the Dwarves -- Voluspa, stanzas 9--16 (TH, `An Unexpected Party')	59	(14)
Bilbo and Gollum's Riddle-Game -- Vafpruonismal and Solomon and Saturn II, II. 47--68 and 104--23 (TH, `Riddles in the Dark')	73	(33)
Bilbo meets Smaug -- Beowulf, II. 2207--311 (TH, `Inside Information')	106	(17)
The Lord of the Rings	123	(1)
The Elves at Rivendell -- Sir Orfeo, II. 107--94 (FR, `Many Meetings'; TH, `A Short Rest' and `Flies and Spiders')	123	(10)
Legolas's `Lament of the Stones' -- The Ruin (FR, `The Ring Goes South')	133	(13)
The Fight at Balin's Tomb -- The Fight at Finnsburg and `Cynewulf and Cyneheard' (FR, `The Bridge of Khazad-Dum')	146	(18)
The Crossing of the Nimrodel -- Pearl, II. 61--276 (FR, `Lothlorien')	164	(13)
Boromir's Death -- Beowulf, II. 26--52 (TT, `The Departure of Boromir')	177	(6)
Treebeard's List -- Maxims II (TT, `Treebeard')	183	(11)
The Rohirrim -- The Wanderer and Beowulf, II. 306--70 (TT, `The King of the Golden Hall')	194	(23)
The Death of Theoden and the Arrival of the Mumakil -- The Battle of Maldon, II. 111--84 and Ælfric's Homily on the Maccabees, II. 499--519 (RK, `The Battle of Pelennor Fields')	217	(18)
The Landscape of Mordor -- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, II. 713--63 and Beowulf, II. 1345--82 (RK, `The Land of Shadow')	235	(15)
The Final Journey -- The Seafarer (RK, `The Grey Havens')	250	(16)
Bibliography	266	(11)
Index	277