“They felt the ground beneath their feet smooth & soft, & after awhile they walked more freely, without fear of hurt or fall… He could smell the trees & the trodden grass. He could hear different notes in the rustle of the leaves overhead, the river murmuring away on his right, & the thin clear voices of birds in the sky. He felt the sun upon his face & hands when they pass through an open glade.
“As soon as he set foot upon the far bank… a strange feeling had come upon him, & it deepened as he walk on… it seemed to him that he had stepped over a bridge of time into a corner of the Elder Days, & was now walking in a world that was no more…
“They were standing in an open space… Upon it, as a double crown, grew two circles of trees: the outer had bark of snowy white, & were leafless but beautiful in their shapely nakedness… still arrayed in pale gold. [...] At the feet of the trees, & all about the green hillsides the grass was studded with small golden flowers shaped like stars. Among them, nodding on slender stalks, were other flowers, white & palest green: they glimmered as a mist amid the rich hue of the grass. Over all the sky was blue, & the sun of afternoon glowed upon the hill & cast long shadows beneath the trees…
“It seemed to him that he had stepped through a high window that looked on a vanished world. A light was upon it for which his language had no name. All that he saw was shapely, but the shapes seemed at once clear cut, as if they had first conceived & drawn at the uncovering of his eyes, & ancient as if they endured for ever. He saw no colour but those he knew, gold & white & blue & green, but they were fresh & poignant, as if he had at the moment first perceived them & made for them names new & wonderful. In winter here no heart could mourn for summer or for spring. No blemish or sickness or deformity could be seen in anything that grew upon the earth. On the land of Lorien there was no stain.”
The Fellowship of the Ring, JRR Tolkien
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My true initiation to the wonders of the Internet coincided with my introduction to Tolkien; one passion certainly helping the other to grow. 2001 seems so very long ago, when I began college (my first computer & personal experience with high speed access) & Fellowship of the Ring first hit screens worldwide. I was… well, even obsessed is putting it a bit lightly, but Lord of the Rings is one of those few phenomenons that still inspires & welcomes admirers, long after each new entry into pop culture. & with good reason – the long journey of Frodo & Sam is filled with such beautiful language & images. Each time I take down my copy, I’m immediately drawn to the page, finding something as though I’ve never read it before. I know the story, but the words are what keep me coming back for more, time & time again.
If I could choose one place to dwell, in all the worlds real or imaginary, I would choose Lothlorien. What about you? Would you choose Hogwart’s Castle, or the palace of Tortall? Paris, the city of light, or Shakespearean London? Where would your heart find its beat?
