I sometimes get the impression that he wouldn't take anything I said about
Tolkien seriously unless I, too, were a philologist. I also get the
impression that he overemphasizes the influence of philology on LotR because
Shippey is, after all, a philologist. Of course, I could just be
revealing my own biases, since I have no aptitude for languages or
philology. But then Tolkien did not write LotR for an audience of
philologists.
How do we know that philology was Tolkien's "ruling passion," and not just his
day job? After all, most of Tolkien's fellow philologists considered LotR
a sad waste of time, and wished that Tolkien had applied himself to scholarly
works instead. And I can think of other candidates for the title of
Tolkien's ruling passion: history, Catholicism, his love for his mother, World
War I, his love for the English countryside, his love of trees, and his love of
fairy-stories, to name just a few.
And indeed some of Shippey's statements indicate that Tolkien took digs at
philology, rather than putting it on a pedestal. If the herbmaster and
Gollum are philologists, what does that say about philology? Would
Tolkien approve of the typical philologist who finds an Anglo-Saxon grocery
list as fascinating as Beowulf? Isn't one of Tolkien's greatest
contributions to the field of philology his argument that we should appreciate
Beowulf as a work of literature, and not just as an insight into the
Anglo-Saxon language?
Of course Tolkien's world-class knowledge of the history of the English
language, and of language in general, helped him invent names and phrases in
fictional languages and archaic speeches in the English language with a sense
of authenticity few other authors could match. One of my favorite
examples comes from Aragorn's visit to the Houses of Healing, where he uses one
mode of language to speak to the Prince Imrahil, and another to speak to Pippin
and Merry, and then matches the herbmaster in his knowledge of ancient
languages. Aragorn too has philological skills -- but he is so much
more!
“I dislike Allegory - the conscious and intentional allegory - yet any attempt to explain the purport of myth or fairytale must use allegorical language. (And, of course, the more 'life' a story has the more readily will it be susceptible of allegorical interpretations: while the better a deliberate allegory is made the more nearly will it be acceptable just as a story.)” (From Tolkien Letter # 131.)
Tips for posting in the Reading Room.
