"Teaching Tolkien’s Translations of Medieval Literature:" Topic

… Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Orfeo, and Pearl

"Recently, I had the pleasure of teaching an author course, "The Mythology of J.R.R. Tolkien," as an upper division seminar for English majors at a private, Christian liberal arts college, and in it, teaching three of Tolkien's translations of medieval poems in relationship to Tolkien's legendarium: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Orfeo, and Pearl. For my students and me, this learning experience led to new understanding about the influence of medieval literature on Tolkien's fertile imagination. Specifically, his ideas about fantasy, recovery, escape, consolation, and eucatastrophe, expressed in his essay "On Fairy-Stories," appear to be concepts he derived in part from his reading of medieval poetry and later developed in his own works of fantasy literature.

In order to explore how my students and I gained new insight into Tolkien's creative process, this essay will first give an overview of the organization of my course, "The Mythology of J.R.R. Tolkien," then consider approaches to teaching Tolkien's three modern English verse translations of Middle English poetry. By sharing these ideas, I hope other teachers will also gain inspiration for their own teaching of the original works of Tolkien and Tolkien's translations of medieval literature…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Tolkien's mythology ‘is' his book "The Silmarillion". Clearly influenced by his faith. He created worlds with their own histories and legends. Don't read other peoples interpretations of his works, just read his works.

Glup!….

Amicalement
Armand

Sorry Tango, I didn't intend to illicit the "Glup" response. I'm very passionate about Tolkien's works and generally recommend reading source material over interpretation. (I see bogus interpretations everyday from the main stream media.). Tolkien was great. Keep posting.

Thanks my good friend!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand