I had mentioned in a previous post about Tolkien’s opposition of machinery in favor of trees. Carpenter elaborates on Tolkien’s love for trees in chapter two of his biography:
(Tolkien) was more interested in the shape and feel of a plant than in its botanical details. This was especially true of trees. And though he liked drawing trees he liked most of all to be with trees. He would climb them, lean against them, even talk to them.
Reblogged this on Latrappemonk's Blog and commented:
I love reading Tolkien’s battle between the Ents and Saruman. Saruman obviously represents industrialization, and as he and Sauron rise in power, a black fog falls over Middle Earth. This black fog is no doubt meant to represent the soot that at one point covered the urban centers of England, a soot that was created by the factories. Tolkien was not the only British writer to express his dislike for such industrialization. Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is also a criticism of the industrial revolution. In his “Songs of Innocence,” William Blake penned a poem titled, “The Chimney Sweeper.” It too denounced the factories and criticized England’s industrialization. That poem was published in 1789, a little over a century and a half prior to the release of the Lord of The Rings trilogy.
This has always been a topic that interested me, but lately I’ve approached it with some renewed enthusiasm. After watching the opening ceremony for the London Olympic Games, I could help but reflect on these writers who were not complementary of the industrial prowess England came to exude. It struck me as humorous that the ceremony flaunted the fact that the Industrial Revolution started in England, yet so many of England’s prominent writers of the past would ask, “at what cost?”
I also particularly enjoy reading of the Ents in Tolkien, because they are one of the greatest images borrowed from George MacDonald’s “Phantastees,” and I always appreciate it when a great author borrows from another author they greatly respect. I also appreciate the time when such an act would not be labeled as plagiarism, but instead be treated as the acknowledgement of gratitude it is intended to be.