The significance of a myth is not easily to be pinned on paper by analytical reasoning.
— J. R. R. Tolkien
About this Quote
Quote in Context
The significance of a myth is not easily to be pinned on paper by analytical reasoning. It is at its best when it is presented by a poet who feels rather than makes explicit what his theme portends; who presents it incarnate in the world of history and geography, as our poet has done. Its defender is thus at a disadvantage: unless he is careful, and speaks in parables, he will kill what he is studying by vivisection, and he will be left with a formal or mechanical allegory, and what is more, probably with one that will not work. For myth is alive at once and in all its parts, and dies before it can be dissected.
Quote Source Information
• "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" (1936), p. 14
• Source: Wikiquote: "J. R. R. Tolkien" (Quotes)
About this Picture
Name: Stories of beowulf fighting the dragon
Summary: "Now he belched forth flaming fire."
Description: "Now he belched forth flaming fire." An illustration of Beowulf fighting the dragon that appears at the end of the epic poem. Marshall, Henrietta Elizabeth (1908) Stories of Beowulf, T.C. & E.C. Jack, p. 93 Stories of Beowulf-1 Page 122 Image 0002.jpg
Date: 1908
Source: Marshall, Henrietta Elizabeth (1908) Stories of Beowulf, T.C. & E.C. Jack
Author: J. R. Skelton
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