Background Tolkien had a desire to fill the void created in world literature by the Norman Conquest suppressed English storytelling traditions.

The Fellowship of the Ring

J.R.R. Tolkien

BackgroundTolkien had a desire to fill the void created in world literature by the Norman Conquest suppressed English storytelling

traditions. The Norman conquest of England was

the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army of Norman, Breton, and French soldiers led by Duke William II of Normandy, later William the Conqueror.

Background

Wanted to answer: What might the lost tales and poems of the English peoples — the Saxons and other tribes — have been like?

Might it be possible to weave these hypothetical narratives into an ambitious work of fantasy?

Background

It was written in stages between 1937 and 1949, much of it during World War II. Copyrighted 1955.

It is the second best-selling novel ever written, with over 150 million copies sold.

(Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities is first.)

Effects in Modern Culture

Tolkienesque tropes in the popular culture Fantasy role-playing games best-selling "epic fantasy" novels movie heroes wielding light sabers

against dark lords

these phenomena owe a huge debt to Middle-earth.

Philology Tolkien imagined what elven tongues

— Quenya and Sindarin — he fashioned them in full.

A brilliant philologist, Tolkien had a gift for devising syllables and syntaxes no one had ever heard before.

The author’s primary motive in creating Middle-earth was to give his invented languages a home.

About Hobbits

and video

Allegory and Expectations

Your Theme

Your Motif

Your Symbol

They must all tie into your ALLEGORY

Allegory and Expectations

Allegory: a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

Create your own allegory for LOTR. Tie in your theme, motif, and symbol. Be prepared to defend it with quotes, of course.