Random Tolkien thought
Jul. 5th, 2010 06:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icepixieToday, on Obscure Questions I Pose Because That Was Always My Favorite Part of Studying Literature: Was Tolkien a John Masefield fan?
The MLA database is silent on the matter. Me, I'm going to go with "yes."
Back to your regularly-scheduled B5 commentary in a bit. I spent the past two days re-reading The Historian (which I just, oh, I love it, even if I do see what critics mean about the characters being a bit featureless--but vampires and history and working with primary sources and YES), so I've left other things by the wayside for a bit.
The MLA database is silent on the matter. Me, I'm going to go with "yes."
Back to your regularly-scheduled B5 commentary in a bit. I spent the past two days re-reading The Historian (which I just, oh, I love it, even if I do see what critics mean about the characters being a bit featureless--but vampires and history and working with primary sources and YES), so I've left other things by the wayside for a bit.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-07-05 11:01 pm (UTC)*Snerk* As good a theory as any I've ever heard for the whole sea-fever thing...
Honestly, I keep hoping someone will turn up some old Anglo-Saxon poem that ties back to that whole trope, because it's such a lovely concept and growing up in a coastal city in a family that did a lot of boating I really identify with it. But if someone has, I haven't heard of it.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-05 11:21 pm (UTC)Obviously I should write an article! *giggle*
Honestly, I keep hoping someone will turn up some old Anglo-Saxon poem that ties back to that whole trope
At the risk of sounding incredibly obvious...The Seafarer? Especially around lines 36 and 58? (I'm not a huge fan of that translation, but the one I made in my Anglo-Saxon class is buried somewhere on my hard drive.) It's not a perfect match by any means, but it speaks to that idea.
because it's such a lovely concept and growing up in a coastal city in a family that did a lot of boating I really identify with it.
It is gorgeous. My favorite part of the whole trilogy is the moment in ROTK where Legolas hears the gull and knows he's never going to rid himself of the longing. So sad and beautiful.
(Me, I'm a lifelong inlander and don't really identify with it, especially as my last boating experience made me swear off ever getting on any kind of water again. Damn tippy canoes.)
no subject
Date: 2010-07-05 11:40 pm (UTC)where Legolas hears the gull and knows he's never going to rid himself of the longing. So sad and beautiful.
Agreed. Although I do wonder sometimes if European gulls are perhaps slightly more musical than the ones on the NW coast of the US. Fond as I am of ours, and as much as I'd miss them if I was away from home for long, they can be obnoxious if you hear them all the time.
Me, I'm a lifelong inlander and don't really identify with it, especially as my last boating experience made me swear off ever getting on any kind of water again. Damn tippy canoes.
Awww, I'm sorry to hear about the crappy boating experience. Canoes are untrustworthy little monsters sometimes. My dad's whole family for the last few generations has had sea-fever - great-grandpa ran away from the middle of the country to be an engineer in the navy, and my grandpa and dad have always found a way to time-share or own boats. Honestly, the worst bit of living on my own is that I can't sponge off Dad's boating as easily anymore - but at least I live right by the harbor (to the sound, alas, not the ocean proper). In fact, a sea-gull just started yelling out my window as I typed that. Gotta love the coast. :P
no subject
Date: 2010-07-06 12:28 am (UTC)Although I do wonder sometimes if European gulls are perhaps slightly more musical than the ones on the NW coast of the US.
I spent my junior year on the southwestern coast of England. Although I have sadly never been to the PNW, I can say with authority that no, European gulls are not at all musical. And they are really incredibly obnoxious at six o'clock in the morning when you've forgotten to shut your window. (Plus, they mug you for your sandwiches.)
That's very cool that your family is so into boats! My mother's father was in the Navy, and she grew up in Florida and did some boating, but it definitely never rubbed off on me.
Canoes are untrustworthy little monsters sometimes.
Gaaaah. Although I think it was less the fault of the canoe in principle than it was the crappy canoe outfit that hosted our class trip--they just herded us into boats and shoved us into the river (running extremely high and fast due to excessive rain earlier in the week). Not only did they not tell us how to steer, but they didn't even tell us how far it was to the put-out point or which side to take when the river forked. But yes, my friend and I managed to tip our canoe not twenty-five feet from the put-in point, resulting in a long, cold trip down the river. Thankfully, the canoe outfit did provide life jackets, or I seriously and without hyperbole believe there's a good chance I would not be typing this today.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-06 12:51 am (UTC)Class was in this seminar room from the 1800s, all wood-paneled and with big windows, and it was basically the most awesome thing ever.
*Flails like a jealous flaily thing* Yes, that would pretty much exactly be the most awesome thing ever. That and the professor having tea for class. My university, not nearly so awesome as all that. Although to be fair, part of that might have something to do with my university's original campus being abandoned for newer buildings at the end of the 19th century (I believe, though I cannot confirm this on wiki, that the original campus was in the part of Seattle that got burned down around that time).
European gulls are not at all musical. And they are really incredibly obnoxious at six o'clock in the morning when you've forgotten to shut your window. (Plus, they mug you for your sandwiches.)
So yes, just like PNW gulls. I love them, but they really are rats with wings. They're just... aesthetically pleasing rats with wings. (I am reminded of going to Hawaii, and being astounded by all the gorgeous little white egrets that were everywhere. A friend very gently informed me that they were pretty much the Hawaiian equivalent of seagulls, and nothing special at all. But they were pretty, damn it.)
And a big EUUUUGHGHHH to the tipping story. Brrrr. I've (thank goodness) not yet managed to tip myself all the way overboard, and only ever got wet boating in Hawaii, where it didn't matter. The nice thing about sailboats and other big boats (most of my boating experience) is that they're much less inclined to tip. The worst you get usually is spray on the big boats, and that's not bad (except for glasses and hair). Hooray for life-jackets, anyway. o_O I can see how you would not be wanting to go out on the water again after something like that!
no subject
Date: 2010-07-06 04:32 am (UTC)Talking about it made me nostalgic, so I found a picture of the room. It's in an old house that dates from the 1850s--several classrooms and offices are housed in similar residences. We had several buildings burn down over the years as well, but we just rebuilt them, unlike your university. (I imagine part of that had to do with there being no other buildings in town to move to. Even now there are only 600 permanent residents in Gambier. The college is just about the only employer.)
they really are rats with wings
EXCELLENT description! Although they're kind of cute as well. Still, rats with wings, yes.
I can see how you would not be wanting to go out on the water again after something like that!
Heh, yeah, at least in anything smaller than, oh, a car ferry or the like.