Letter 163

This letter is to W.H. Auden, a friend and great admirer of the tale contained in the Red Book. The parts of this letter I like the most are those that many writers can read and appreciate with an understanding nod, knowing they are the words of a kindred spirit. The professor speaks of not “consciously” inventing the Ents at all, even though he admits he wanted to “devise a setting in which the trees might really march to war” to counter the disgust he felt at Shakespeare’s “shabby” use of trees. He also mentions the “feeling throughout, especially when stuck, that I was not inventing but reporting (imperfectly) and had at times to wait till ‘what really happened’ came through.”

He also speaks of that fateful moment while correcting exam papers, when he wrote on a blank page those famous first words of The Hobbit and that “I did not and do not know why.” Thank God he did though! Sometimes it is only after we have done something, not before, that we realize we have been the instruments of the One.

Other examples of a kindred spirit quote are that while writing the tale, “...I met a lot of things on the way that astonished me. Tom Bombadil I knew already; but I had never been to Bree. Strider sitting in the corner at the inn was a shock, and I had no more idea who he was than had Frodo. The Mines of Moria had been a mere name; and of Lothlórien no word had reached my mortal ears till I came there. Far away I knew there were the Horse lords on the confines of an ancient Kingdom of Men, but Fangorn Forest was an unforseen adventure. I had never heard of the House of Eorl nor of the Stewards of Gondor. Most disquieting of all, Saruman had never been revealed to me, and I was as mystified as Frodo at Gandalf’s failure to appear on September 22. I knew nothing of the Palantíri, though the moment the Orthanc stone was cast from the window, I recognized it, and knew the meaning of the ‘rhyme of lore’ that had been running in my mind: seven stars and seven stones and one white tree. These rhymes and names will crop up; but they do not always explain themselves. I have yet to discover anything about the cats of Queen Beruthiel.”