Impacts Other works of Literature Had On the Writing of Tolkien's Secondary World of Middle Earth

Professor Jrr Tolkien was predominantly a philologist and an active student of Medieval literature besides being one of the world's most widely respected writers. Most of what he read threw out his life that was not apart of his own mythic magical subcreation was either the literary masterpieces of the early Middle Ages or writings from his good friends. That is not to say he never read any other books besides works of fiction or historical chronicles but what I'm trying to say is that these ancient mythic sources had a major impact on how he wrote. For example professor Tolkien was a big fan of the Vulsunga Sagas of Norse mythology. In those sagas there are references to dragons, wizards, and grate warriors such as Cularvo. Cularvo in particular is verry similar to Turin son of Hurin in more then one way. Both men are larger then life heroes and commit the terrible sin of incest and if I'm not mistaken thay also both face a fire breathing dragon. Yet lets not get carried away. There also some very big differences between Cularvo and Turin as well and I am certain that if I were to list them one by one i would probably bore you to death. One of those deference is that Turin is described as the most good looking man on earth while Cularvo is described as simply ugly. Tolkien's first dragon Glaurung unlike his thousands of offspring did not have wings while I'm pretty sure that the Vulsunga's dragons all have wings. HOwever for all these diferences the silmarities are doubtlessly verry striking and even mor evident when we study Beowulf and the connections that story holds when compared with the hobbit or the lord of the rings.
Thare thoes who are reading this blog who might have read Beowulf and thare thoes then again who might not have. But regardless I believe that with a few quick summeries of particular seens we could mark out the connections with relatively ease. The only reservation I have for you who have seen the Beowulf movie is not to confuse or scip over elements of my description of the epic anglo sackson poem with the film since thare more then one varations betwene the poem and the movie. To drastically summarise the poem Beowulf is kind of a crime aggenst the integretty of the literary work since thare is much i myself could screw up in the telling or miss but regardless of these few mistakes that might appear i think that it is probably the right course to take. Beowulf was acording to the poem one of the Getts someware near Denmark if I'm not mistaken living as a warrior amung his people. He was the nefew of the king of Geetland and known for his strength and native currage. As a result he left his land to go and seek glory and fame and discovered that the kingdom of a wise Dain named TThrothgar was under attack by a monsterous beast named Grendel. King Trothgar bult a beutiful meed hall. Then Grendell hating men and being a monster desended from the first murderor to walk the earth came and killed all thoes who ate in the hall frightening the locals half to death. When Beowulf came to save Throthgar's kingdom he killed the monster Grendel and later the beast's mother. For his bravery he was given lots of gold and prized armor. He returned home safe and sound. Then Beowulf became king of geetland after his uncle died and ruled his people with out shame or remorse born from defeat or failed conquests until a slave stole a cup from a dragon's pile of horded gold and enraged the beast so mutch that the dragon attacked Geetland reeking havoc as he went. Eventually Beowulf kills the dragon with the help of his trusty friend Wiglaf but is mortally wounded and ultimately gives his throne and armor to Wiglaf sinse he had no sons to inherit his kingdom. Thus ends one of the most revered epics in world history. As you can see Tolkien barroed menny elements from the poem to construct the plots of some of his best known stories. For example the incident with the dragon in with the slave steels a golden cup angering the beast and triggering the destruction of mutch of Geetland reminds me of when Bilbo the hobbit steels a golden cup from the dragon Smaug's lare enraging the dragon so mutch that he attacks Lake Town to his death in The Hobbit. In the poem there is no mention of plate armor and as in the Lord of the Rings or any other of Tolkien's works there is also no mention of plate armor as well. The entire concept of a dragon hording gold in the first place is one that Tolkien clearly was keen on using and reusing aggen threw out his writings such as the Silmarrillion's account of Glaurung's abode in Nargothrond and obviously Smaug in the Lonely Mountin. Finally the meed hall that we see in Beowulf is similar to the court of King Théoden of Rohan in the two towers. Everything besides the horses of the Roherrim match the Anglo sackson world of the middle ages with the people of Rohan of Middle Earth. They even speech the same old b. The fact that Tolkien didn't make up a knew form of speech for the Roherrim shoes is respect for the SAnglo Sackson world let alone Beowulf witch was one of his most favorite stories. As you see works like the Vulsunga Sagas or the epic of Beowulf had a clear impact on the stories of Middle Earth. The armor, the use of runic inscriptions witch I'll get to later in another blog, and even the entire use of dragons all made a mark on Tolkien's books because thay were orginally apart of his personal collection of sagas that he felt were classics that needed to be preserved and taught to the knew generation of readers flooding the world. The only reason I read Beowulf or even saw the movie was because of Tolkien.