The Mythopoeic Code of Tolkien: A Christian Platonic Reading of the Legendarium (Paperback)

Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
1. Construction of Mythology 13
On Constructive Mythopoeics 17
A Fictional Mythology Dedicated to England 20
Speculative Historical Epic 22
Myth and Genre 36
2. Creation and Existence 57
The Song of Ainur: Christian Platonic Creation Myth in The Silmarillion 57
Cosmology and the Chain of Being 78
Tolkien's Christian Platonic Mythopoeics 90
Concerning Sidney and Coleridge 94
The Philosophy of Afterlife 101
The Inklings and the Power of Words 109
3. Fall and Struggle 117
Long Defeat 117
Mythopoeic Allegories 122
Mythic and Biblical Heroes 135
The Fall: Númenor as an Atlantis Myth 149
The Struggle: The One Ring and the Ring Motif 154
Conclusion 164
Notes 167
Works Consulted 175
Index 185