Tolkien and Universal History
By Richard Rohlin
Tolkien and Universal History
By Richard Rohlin
The Symbolic World Goes to Middle-earth
In his famous Letter #131 to Milton Waldman, J.R.R. Tolkien described his Legendarium as an attempt to create a vast cycle of stories. These stories would be dedicated to his home country and as such this concept has often been described by Tolkien scholars as a “Mythology for England.” This course will take this concept a step further by examining the Legendarium as an attempt at a work of Universal History, one which uses both ancient and modern storytelling genres to reconcile conflicting visions of English, European, and Western identity. We will then apply those methods to contemporary storytelling efforts, revealing how Tolkien opens the way to a return to cosmological and legendary Christian storytelling tradition.
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TOLKIEN23695
Course Overview
I had a mind to make a body of more or less connected legend, ranging from the large and cosmogonic, to the level of romantic fairy-story – the larger founded on the lesser in contact with the earth, the lesser drawing splendour from the vast backcloths – which I could dedicate simply to: to England; to my country. ... I would draw some of the great tales in fullness, and leave many only placed in the scheme, and sketched. The cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama. - J.R.R. Tolkien, letter to Milton Waldman, 1951
This course will begin with an exploration of two medieval literary genres and how Tolkien used them in his early conceptions of Arda: the epic poem and the chronicle. These two genres of literature are essential to medieval Universal History, but are often considered “boring” by modern readers and thus it is easy to overlook their importance to Tolkien’s project. Then we will move on to the linguistic and philological dimensions of Tolkien’s Legendarium, showing how his “secret vice” is the key to Middle-earth’s deep sense of place and time. As surprising as it might seem, this philological frame is really the key to how the last two elements of Tolkien’s project come into focus: the connection of his Legendarium to the Christian story, and his final, successful use of modern literary genres.
It has been said that “The only honest response to a work of art is another work of art.” This certainly seems in keeping with Tolkien’s own mythopoeic convictions. Therefore, the fifth and final lesson in this course will be focused on the application of the genres and methods that we find in Tolkien to the mythopoeic and universal history efforts of three contemporary fantasy writers, and will include an optional writing assignment for those who would like to participate in mythopoeic efforts of their own.
Course Details
Live Course Schedule
Live classes take place on Mondays at 1 pm CST on the following dates:
- February 24, 2025
- March 3, 2025
- March 10, 2025
- March 17, 2025
- March 24, 2025
What you'll need
All readings will be provided, but we recommend you own your own copies of The Histories of Middle Earth, volumes 1-5, as a significant number of our readings will be drawn from them.
Course Outline
Lesson 1 (February 24, 2025): Tolkien’s Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of Paradise – In this lesson, we will study the medieval genres of the chronicle and the epic poem and look at Tolkien’s ultimately incomplete attempts at working within these genres, and how they nonetheless formed an important basis for his approach to Universal History.
Lesson 2 (March 3, 2025): Tolkien’s Secret Vice – In this lesson, we will study Tolkien’s philological approach, and how his linguistic projects went far beyond the mere “conlanging” of his later imitators. We will learn about the various disciplines which together make up the work of the philologist, and show how Tolkien used those disciplines to build Middle-earth.
Lesson 3 (March 10, 2025): Tolkien and the Mossy Face of Christ – An important dimension of any work of Universal History is how a people write themselves into the Christian story. This is no less true for Tolkien, whose pre-Christian Universal History nonetheless incorporates Genesis and anticipates the Gospels. These connections are little-known and often ignored by academics who study Tolkien, but in this lesson we will examine them and try to understand how Tolkien’s philological framework makes them possible.
Lesson 4 (March 17, 2025): Tolkien and the Novel – Over the course of the decades spent working on his Legendarium, Tolkien eventually found success and acclaim in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. These books are a unique test case for us to study, since they use a philological framework to transmit a work of Universal History in a deceptively modern genre.
Lesson 5 (March 24, 2025): Other Minds and Hands – Since “the most honest response to a work of art is another work of art,” we will spend our fifth and final class looking at three contemporary authors who have followed the trail blazed by Tolkien and as a result have been able to recover a legendary, cosmological vision for Christian storytelling. This class will also include an optional creative writing assignment for those who want to delve more deeply into the themes of this course.
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Presenters
Richard Rohlin
Richard Rohlin is a software developer, Germanic philologist, and Orthodox Christian living in Texas with his wife and children. He speaks and publishes on Germanic poetry, the Inklings, and the Sacramental Imagination. He regularly contributes to Jonathan Pageau’s The Symbolic World YouTube channel through the Universal History series, which has recently launched a 6-week course studying the epic poem Beowulf.
Richard co-hosts The Amon Sul Podcast, and has published several works of fiction and non-fiction. He’s currently working on a collection of essays called Finding the Golden Key: Essays Toward a Recovery of the Sacramental Imagination. His superhero pulp novel Guardians: The Eye of Horus is currently under development as a graphic novel. Richard is also a life-long tabletop gamer and wrapped up a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign to produce Amboria: Roleplaying in the World Under Starlight, which is now in production and preparing to ship.
