SOURCE: Lobdell, Jared. “Tolkien's Genius: Mind, Tongue, Tale—and Trees.” In England and Always: Tolkien's World of the Rings, pp. 73-91. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1981.

In the following essay, Lobdell discusses the widespread appeal of The Lord of the Rings.

A people without history Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern Of timeless moments. So, while the light fails On a winter's afternoon, in a secluded chapel, History is now and England. 

T. S. Eliot, “Little Gidding”

God gives all men all earth to love But since man's heart is small, Ordains for each one spot shall prove Beloved over all. 

Rudyard Kipling, “Sussex”

“The incarnate mind, the tongue, and the tale are in our world coeval.” 

(“On Fairy-Stories,” p. 48)

We have thus far considered the tale, and especially its Edwardian antecedents and Edwardian mode; the study of tongues and its...