Nature is rich with personality. Be that the common nettle: drawing you in with a rich, enticing green, yet it is sharp and prickly, warning you of the sting sure to come. Or perhaps the colourful bluebell, almost bouncing with delight, imploring you to surround yourself with it, just as it spreads to cover the floors of forests and grassy banks. Tolkien observed this personality, and captured it masterfully in the Old Forest of The Lord of The Rings. Particularly in a sinister, haunting way in one instance, and a delightfully charming way in another. Yet in exploring this personality, he manages to beautifully capture and encourage deep engagement with life and experience itself.
"He lifted his heavy eyes and saw leaning over him a huge willow-tree, old and hoary. Enormous it looked, its sprawling branches going up like reaching arms with many long fingered hands, its knotted and twisted trunk gaping in wide fissures that creaked faintly as boughs moved. The leaves fluttering against the bright sky dazzled him, and he toppled over, lying where he fell upon the grass."
The Lord of The Rings, Book 1; Chapter 6, pg. 154 - J. R. R. Tolkien
This is Old Man Willow, an ancient tree in control of much of The Old Forest. He is bitter, resentful and malicious, yet powerful and noble. Much of this can be glimpsed from the passage above - you get a sense of age and majesty, yet also hostility and intimidation, all from a fairly simple description of a tree. Furthermore, the willow in our world too has this feel; it sprawls, weeps and sways, it is almost reaching out to you and lulling you to sleep, as Tolkien depicts. This is a powerful sensory translation from what is usually a peaceful and serene experience in nature, to a fearful seduction: being lulled into a sleep only to be taken within the tree and devowerd. Furthermore, this sense of alignment with the real life willow tree gives vividity and believability to this scene, heightening its terror. The Old Forest, which has previously felt somewhat living, is now generated with a realness which was yet to surround us. The experience of the literature becomes powerfully alive.
However this is not all Tolkien does with this character. Old Man Willow is hostile, but not without reason. The relationship between the Old Forrest and Hobbiton is microcosmic, mirroring the relationship between humans and nature generally. This is something Tolkien felt strongly about, and covers throughout the Lord of The Rings, but here the personification of nature gives it a voice and power to fight back against the tyranny of humans. And given the graphic and vivid nature of this scene, the voice speaks ever the louder. Old Man Willow is a demonstration of Tolkien’s adept weaving of theme, narrative and aesthetics, creating a striking scene, which furthers the meaning, plot and reading experience.
"But before they could say anything, she sprang lightly up and over the lily-bowls, and ran laughing towards them; and as she ran her gown rustled softly like the wind flowing in the flowering borders of a river. 'Come dear folk!' she said, taking Frodo by the hand. 'Laugh and be merry! I am Goldberry, daughter of the river.' Then lightly she passed them and closing the door she turned her back to it, with her white arms spread out across it. 'Let us shut out the night!' she said. 'For you are still afraid, perhaps of mist and tree-shadows and deep water, and untame things. Fear nothing! For tonight you are under the roof of Tom Bombadil.'"
The Lord of The Rings, Book 1; Chapter 7, pg. 161 - J. R. R. Tolkien
Goldberry is the "River Daughter", a sort of water Goddess - or nymph - and the partner of Tom Bombadil. She is wholly anthropomorphised, unlike Old Man Willow, and takes the form of a beautiful young maiden. This does not however limit the interesting things Tolkien does with her character, but possibly even enhances it. Given Goldberry's anthropomorphism, she is able to have a more active role in defining her personality, and her descriptions encourage a wider set of connotations and stronger sense of personality. For example, in the passage given above, Goldberry leaps over the table gracefully and runs around the room, clearly giving a sense of energy and excitement generally impossible with an inanimate object (without the use of metaphor).
As with the case of Old Man Willow, Goldberry too shares many features and similarities with running water, but here the similarities are made more through illusions, similes and mannerisms. For example when you first meet Goldberry, her dress is described as “green as young reads, shot with silver like beads of dew”, clearly likening her to the ecosystem of the river. Her movement however also, to me, feels inspired by the movement of rivers and streams, bouncing and unpredictable, yet smooth and flowing. It is notable that what we see in Goldberry is not just the river, but the ecosystem of said river. This creates a sense of place which absorbs you in the character and scene, giving a more immersive portrayal of the experience of the river, packaged in a character.
This powerful sense of immersion created from the text is not, however, inward facing. It doesn’t solely push you further into the story, but instead - it seems - out into the world, and into nature. When I see the way that Goldberry graciously gallivants around Tom Bombadil’s dining room, it makes me want to be able to experience that, but also makes me think of a bounding mountain stream, carving its way through the countryside. It gives me a powerful sense of the wonder and personality of the world I actually inhabit, and makes me want to experience it. This is something which the best art seems to do for me: make me want to experience my world more, not less.
I have felt this often about things such as youtube videos, although the algorithm incentivises creators to keep people on the platform, the videos which most impact me, and keep me coming back to Youtube, and not abandoning it entirely, are those which make me want to go out in the world and truly live my life. (A brilliant example of this would be the above video by Liam Thompson.) In this same way, a book like the Lord of The Rings, which shows me the beauty of my world, when I choose to actually live in it, is also one of the greatest forms of art. But Tolkien’s art doesn’t just push me into the real world, it affects how I see it. The running water not only reminds me of, but becomes the bounding Goldberry. The charm embedded into Tolkien’s depictions of nature allow you to see the world through his lens.
There is more to Tolkien’s writing here, however, than what I have previously discussed. A quote often attributed to Thales of Miletus is thus: “all things are full of Gods”. This could express much, such as the divinity of natural phenomenon, and the pervasive nature of the Greeks understanding of their Gods. The way Tolkien’s art makes me consider my own world and nature is similar to this - all things are full of life, art, divinity, soul. These things could almost be interchangeable, it doesn’t really matter what we wish to call them, but the characters of the Old Forest deeply connect with the intimacies and joys of the human experience.
When I encounter a view so perfectly ordered and beautifully arranged it could be a work of art in and of itself, I think of how the world is full of art. When I go for a walk and end up chatting with a stranger about their dog, the weather, and local environment, I think of how the world is full of soul. When I go to the nature reserve on a warm morning and as animal after animal - squirrel, heron, goose, rabbit - interact and engage with one another’s environment, I think about how the world is full of life. And When I go to my local church with my mother to visit the graves of my Grandparents, we sing together, we laugh together, we console each other and commune with the deceased, I am reminded that the world is full of divinity. What Tolkien is able to so masterfully capture is this, he emplores you to seek this out through his beautiful depiction of life and experience.
That ultimately is what it all come down to - experience. Be that my own anecdotes or Tolkien’s brilliant writings, it’s all about experience: deep, meaningful and powerful. It is human and it is what makes life special. This, is what Tolkien taps into when he breathes such life into the characters which he so brilliantly forms with nature. It is a deep and significant relationship between the natural and human, the sensory and the perceived. So when you next experience a piece of art that makes you want to go out, live your life and truly experience - don’t ignore it.
Tolkien had this weird thing where the driving force of his writing was an abiding love of the world around him, and it’s woven into his stories in such a way as to spark the same love in others. His love and respect of nature, of women (as equals to men), of male companionship, of fantastic dreams. His belief that things *can* get better, that justice and love *can* triumph.
And he doesn’t idealize the way to that victory— Frodo bears his wound the rest of his life for a reason.
He says “it will take sacrifice. So: Sacrifice.”
Prescience bought by blood, in the Great War. He was among the best of us. To suffer so much, and come out kind
I saw your note seeking rather than a viral note for readers and thoughtful comments and despite needing to be asleep already I couldn't resist trying my best to deliver because I too seek for real and authentic engagement and connection with others in a world dominated by trivialities and shallow "engagement"
From the first couple sentences your post got me thinking, the image and description of something as simple as a nettle made my mind take a short virtual detour down a train of thought about all the "mundane" things so often taken for granted or not even seen that hold such grandeur and beauty if we will take the time to really see them in a new way. Plants are so incredible and so symbolic to me. I was just thinking the other day how right now so much is blooming out in my yard and how often these beautiful flowers don't last. But they are no less beautiful for being transient and short lived. After all, nothing truly lasts. All things shift and change, the only difference is the scale of time.
Your descriptions of Tolkien were Intriguing despite never really reading much of his work.
And your summation regarding the supremacy of experience resonated deeply. At times life can get difficult and with my mental struggles I can lose sight of the sheer joy and exhilaration of being able to experience the plethora of phenomena available for my senses to experience. The range of emotions and thoughts I can engage with like chasing my son through the house because it makes him so excited for me to chase him. Watching my children grow, but also even the sad emotions are majestic in their own way, and in the way that you mentioned capturing the whole ecosystem these experiences are also a part of my ecosystem, and life would not be whole without feelings of grief, loss, sadness, and all the other hard things life brings. Like the beauty and the thorns of the nettle or a rose, they are both part of something ineffable that can only be experienced.