If J.R.R.\nTolkien liked to write satire, the satire he wrote was secured in what he\nloved. He loved languages, of course, importantly. But I’m not learned enough\nto say if his languages are in anyway satirical. I can say however that he\nemployed his love of language in his satires. What did he love so\u2014enough to\nsubject it to caricature however gentle or otherwise? Read about hobbits and\nHobbiton to discover it. As a child he lived in Sarehole and explored rural and\nvillage environs, communities. One wonders if he is also satirizing himself\nsomewhat in these expressions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We see\nhis satire in all things rural and village. The settings and characters are\nwhere he deploys it to great, good and fond consequence. Look for his rural\nsettings and you will find satire. It’s in Smith of Wootton Major<\/em>\u2014a\nserious tale in which some characters are parodied, one in particular a village\narchetype. Tolkien does not satirize real people, he uses town roles to create\ncharacters. Such as the Cook who bakes the \u201csplendid\u201d cake that was \u201cno bigger\nthan needed.\u201d Farmer Giles of Ham<\/em> is satire from one end to the other\nand here we find his language-love deployed to glistening capital effect. And\ndragons!<\/em> (Which he also loves.) \u201cGood AEgidius<\/em>,\nBold Ahenobarbus<\/em>, Great Julius,\nStaunch Agricola, Hero of the Countryside.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n I had not\nrealized much about his love of this genre. I saw it in Bilbo Baggins first,\nand then in full and fruity depictions of the Shire and Shire folk at the\nbeginning of The Lord of the Rings<\/em>. But it wasn’t until I listened to an\naudio version of Leaf by Niggle\u2014<\/em>read by a synthesized digital voice\u2014that\nI realized. This story is satire. Tolkien satirized not only the parish and\nrural community and characters that he loves, but he satirizes the human\ncondition in this devastating story. I was laughing out loud, and cringing,\neven sorrowing as I listened while working in the kitchen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sorrowing\nyes, yet one cannot call his lampoons harsh or unloving, lacking redemptive\npower. Giles of Ham<\/em> is satire front to back. Smith <\/em>contains\nleavening irony. Leaf by Niggle <\/em>burlesques with intimate knowledge of\nthe Self. The Shire is leveling satire in a profound epic of spiritual warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ancalagon<\/em> the Black was of the first wing\u00e9d\ndragons of Middle-earth from pits in Angband, mighty even to drive back the\nWarriors of the Valar \u2014 but before that was Glaurung, wingless great worm.\nTolkien was ever dragon-hungry. And this worm, tormentor of T\u00farin, was his best\nin my regard. But Tolkien’s absolute fondness for dragons is revealed in satire,\nthe dragon in Farmer Giles<\/em> and, in Middle-earth, the Lonely Mountain,\nnorth of Dale, east of Mirkwood. Here the great fantasist is playing with\ndragons, Smaug<\/em> and Chrysophylax<\/em>, who was subject to\nTailbiter, and \u201cpast all shame\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lampooning\ndragons is his way of taming them for readers. He once wrote that his desire\nfor them was \u201cprofound.\u201d But also that he did not want them in the\nneighborhood. So he never leaves their dragonness behind. With the self regard\nof each, they are fully dragon\u2014and yet it is the very dragon\u2014this vanity and\npride\u2014that make for delicious satire. And. And Tolkien likes them. This is\nplain. (I can’t help wondering what he thought of Lewis’s dragon, Eustace.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I like\nwhat Samuel James said about parody. It’s a genre of illustrative not\nexpository story, sometimes while mimicking style. Tolkien mimics village\nlife. God mocks the faults of fallen humans, says Terry Lindvall, in his rich\nmagisterial book of the same name. God Mocks<\/em> gives a fascinating history\nof satire and shows its basis in Scripture, and throughout Western and\nChristian literary history. Throughout this artistry and history we find God\nmocking humans. But not so gently as does Tolkien.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a9 S.\nDorman, who likes to write satire. This piece is part of\na collection on writerly creativity. The unpublished collection contains\nexplorations in satire, craft, creativity and The Fantastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n