The Fireside

I've always loved, and been inspired by various aspects of Tolkien's mythology: not only the in-universe lore itself, but how he came to create the tales. Even in the sense of 'prose' and 'verse.' I do not know much about epic poetry (beats? chanting?) I just enjoying reading them. I've always sort of been inspired to do my own Tolkien-esque poem...a 'lay' if you will. Somebody else, did just that. They didn't steal my idea, but this is what I would have liked to have done, or something very similar. The author is James Moffett. Many may know him best for his blog, "A Tolkienist's Perspective". This blog, my own, isn't a Tolkien specific one; however it's a key interest of mine so it gets lots of coverage. What follows is his blog post about the book, and the official description: Paperback: 176 pages Publisher: Independently published (Nov. 2 2019) [as far as I'm aware, only available through Amazon] Language: English ...

Yesterday's post got out of my hands. There are some tales and stories that I was interested in, and wanted to share with you, so I did.  Today, however, I would like to tell you about two collections (both by Penguin) that belong in that post. Since they are collections, I thought it best to give them their own spot here. THE SAGAS OF THE ICELANDERS In Iceland, the age of the Vikings is also known as the Saga Age. A unique body of medieval literature, the Sagas rank with the world’s great literary treasures – as epic as Homer, as deep in tragedy as Sophocles, as engagingly human as Shakespeare. Set around the turn of the last millennium, these stories depict with an astonishingly modern realism the lives and deeds of the Norse men and women who first settled in Iceland and of their descendants, who ventured farther west to Greenland and, ultimately, North America. Sailing as far from the archetypal heroic adventure as the long ships did from home, the Sagas are written...

It is neat how influence and inspiration work, and how an interest in one thing can lead to an interest in another.  As I said many times before (and will do so here again, although very briefly) I have Peter Jackson to thank for discovering, reading, and appreciate Tolkien and his works.  However, in doing so, I have to appreciate something else because of Tolkien: poems.