A Sense of History: Passing Ships

A Sense of History - Passing Ships by Simon J. Cook

The arrival and departure of ships across the Great Sea carries mythic significance for the peoples of Middle-earth. The image of ships crossing out of and back into a mysterious West appears as well in Beowulf and is alluded to in Tolkien's tower analogy in his lecture "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics," where the tower allows those who climb it to observe the passage of the ships.

For the past year, Simon J. Cook has been writing a series for our Sense of History column about towers: the tower analogy in the "Monsters and the Critics" essay (which has long fascinating critics and for which he offers a new reading) and the many towers the pepper the landscape of Middle-earth. In his latest installment, he considers the ships we view from the tops of those towers.

You can read Simon's "Passing Ships" here.

Posted on 22 June 2024 (updated 13 July 2024) by SWG Moderators