“The Ents destroying Isengard” by Melya-Anna
The Ents are a fan favorite in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings (LotR), and no wonder: Narratively, they’re the tree defenders vs. the tree killers, and they win. Metaphorically, they are Nature fighting Industry, the wild resisting exploitation, freedom asserting itself against oppression. What’s not to love?
[This essay assumes the reader’s familiarity with, at the very least, The Lord of the Rings books or movies. The more you’ve read, the more you’ll get out of it.]
Two Trees of Valinor by SarkaSkorpikova.
Trees are prominent figures in the geographic and narrative landscapes of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. Particular species are accurately described in the settings where characters live and travel. A special lineage of trees is older and more venerable than that of any royal house of men. Time itself is measured from the initial flowering of a pair of hallowed, light-bearing trees. On the maps included at the fronts of the books, forests are as prominent as mountains and rivers; they are primary features, not mere background. If you’re a lover of trees and forests, Tolkien’s books offer immense enjoyment besides the well-crafted storytelling. If you’re not one yet, they might make you one.
Tolkien himself was an adamant tree lover. In a 1955 letter to his publisher, he wrote:
I am (obviously) much in love with plants and above all trees, and always have been; and I find human maltreatment of them as hard to bear as some find ill-treatment of animals.
In a 1968 BBC interview, he said:
I have always for some reason, I don’t know why, been enormously attracted by trees. All my works are full of trees. I suppose I have actually in some simple-minded form of longing; I should have liked to make contact with a tree and find out what it feels about things.
In an Oct. 1944 letter to his son, Christopher, Tolkien made it plain that trees are more important to him than anything manufactured by humans:
It is not the not-man (e.g. weather) nor man (even at a bad level), but the man-made that is ultimately daunting and insupportable. If a ragnarök would burn all the slums and gas-works, and shabby garages, and long arc-lit suburbs, it [could] for me burn all the works of art—and I’d go back to trees.
He waxed poetic to Christopher in December of that same year about the trees in his neighborhood after a fresh snowfall:
When a gleam of sun (about 11) got through it was breathtakingly beautiful: trees like motionless fountains of white branching spray against a golden light and, high overhead, a pale translucent blue.
Most of the trees that Tolkien names are real ones found in the world today, often commonly. After all, Tolkien presents Middle-earth as our own earth in an earlier time. According to Flora of Middle-Earth: Plants of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium by Walter Judd and Graham A. Judd (a father and son), the real trees Tolkien mentions throughout his books are: Alders, Ashes, Bay, Beeches, Cedar, Elms, Firs, Hawthorns, Hazels/Filberts, Holly, Larches, Lindens, Oaks, Pines, Poplars, Rowan, Willows, and Yews. If you live in the temperate north, you’ve seen many if not all of these trees yourself. Further, the ecologies in which Tolkien trees are realistic and appropriate for the species, as botanists who have studied his works have observed. This verisimilitude grounds Middle-earth’s fictive locales in familiarity, providing a connection between here and there, or if you prefer, between now and then.
Tolkien’s mythological trees have traits that no real trees do, but they are not merely fanciful. They convey meaning as incarnations of the natural laws of Middle-earth itself and inhabit a through-line that runs from The Silmarillion to The Return of the King. They are not characters the way an Elf or Dwarf or Human might be, but some are named like individuals and play significant narrative roles, their fates reflecting that of the society they’re embedded in.
The topic of trees in Middle-earth is too big for one essay, so I am envisioning at least three. This first one is about mythological trees that are central to the entire legendarium in terms of plot and resonance. Future posts will cover important trees and forests and (of course) the Ents.
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Xanadu (here spelled Xandu) on a map of Asia made by Sanson d’Abbeville, geographer of King Louis XIV, dated 1650.
One night in October, 1797, the Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge awoke from an opium-influenced dream. Before he nodded off, he’d been reading a description of Shangdu–aka Xanadu–a city built by Mongol Emporer Kubla Khan as the his summer residence. Coleridge’s dream was so vivid that he immediately set quill to parchment to transform his inspiration into a poem.
Entitled, “Kubla Khan,” it’s only 54 lines long. Dense, but delightful, it is deservedly famous. Read it here.
The first five lines are among the most well-known in English-language poetry:
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
From there, he describes the landscape and its wonders, including a chasm, a fountain, and the river–“five miles meandering with a mazy motion”–that flows to the sea. The imagery is fantastic, the language sensational, and the impression otherwordly, yet lucid.
On a berry-picking camping trip to Ollalie Lakes a few years back, I designed and sewed a specialized harvest bag. The original use was for Huckleberries, but it will work for any small fruit or nut, such as Pinenuts. For especially juicy fruits (think Blackberries), a gallon-sized ziplock plastic bag fits into the pouch very well.
Like many people, I was shocked when I first heard the news that the Cathedral of Notre Dame was on fire and saw the photos of smoke pouring out of the iconic structure. Though I’ve never been to Paris, I can imagine something of what was lost, since I have visited other architectural wonders in Europe including St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City and the Duomo di Siracusa in Sicily, which incorporates columns from the fifth-century BC, Greek doric temple that it replaced on the same site.
Such places undeniably have a power when experienced in person. They are at once both monumental, with their soaring roofs and larger-than-life scale; and intricate, in their detailed ornamentation in stone, glass and wood. A palpable sense of history also inhabits these spaces. Certainly, damage to them is a real thing. But how real? And compared to what? In a world on the brink of multiple planetary-scale disasters, it is fair to ask such questions.
A collection of 18 memes, free for distribution…
Full size versions appear below…
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Collage: “Hey Jude” 45 center, with sheet music
Musically, 2018 marked a multitude of 50th anniversaries. Among the songs that hit big that year were “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” “Sunshine of Your Love,” “Mrs. Robinson,” “Hello, I Love You,” “Born to Be Wild,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Hurdy Gurdy Man,” and “Say It Loud–I’m Black and I’m Proud.” The best-selling albums included Beggars Banquet, the White Album, Astral Weeks, Electric Ladyland, Music from Big Pink, We’re Only in It for the Money, and Lady Soul. The fact that you probably know most of the recording artists responsible for these works without me naming them says something about that year. At the very least, it says, “Wow!”
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This is an art book featuring over 150 full color photographs, all taken by me on my travels. Length: 102 pages; format: 8.5″ x 8.5″ softcover.
Accompanying text includes common & scientific names, ecological & ethnobotanical info, gee-whiz facts and personal stories. Sample pages and the introduction follow below.
Forty-five years ago this month, Miles Davis released his album, Live/Evil. The first time I listened to it, eight years ago, I was astounded, most especially by the song, “Sivad.” The next day, I biked around feeling that my life had changed unalterably; knowing that that music was in it the universe made the universe a different place, and joyfully so. My perception of what is possible had expanded. I also thought, a little crossly, about all the music-loving friends I’d known over my life who had never brought this song to my attention. It seemed like an inexcusable oversight. Regardless, I had heard it now, and could never go back.
Live/Evil is a sprawling work, clocking in at over two hours and ten minutes. Four of the songs (or ~3.9, maybe – more on that later) are live performances and four are studio recordings (and presumably the “evil” portion). Despite its length, it fascinates for its entire duration, if only for being so unconventional, if not outright outlandish.
front cover of original CD booklet, which was designed by Rachael McIntosh, founder of Entropy Press
Originally released by Entropy Press in October 1998 under the nom d’arte “Russ.” A novel in scope, but a collection of short stories in form, the narrative (such as it is) follows the adventures of a male character named “T.” from birth to ~27 years of age. My take on the classic coming-of-age narrative.
“(t)h(i/e)m” (which I pronounce as “the aim”) is a multimedia project featuring visual art and a soundtrack, and was originally distributed on CD. The vision was to create a Gesamtkunstwerk, a “unified work of art” that would synthesize different forms into a totality whose sum was greater than its parts.
Download it here:
[purchase_link id=”1357″ text=”Add to Cart” style=”button” color=”blue”]
The book is in the form of a website. All the files (including the MP3s of the music) are packaged in a .ZIP file you will need to uncompress. Then, simply open “home.htm” in a web browser and you will have opened the cover, so to speak. (Also included is “bonus-chapter-2015.htm,” the new story written to mark this re-release.)
