Middle-earth: Myth, Legend or Tale?

(This reference is not meant to infer that Tolkien had drawn upon the work of the Brothers Grimm. It might simply indicate he was only as familiar with the work of the famous Brothers as anyone, adult or child, in Western Europe and North America. Considering his profession, his professional standing and his authoring of "On Fairy Stories", though, it can be confidently asserted that Professor Tolkien had more than a passing familiarity with Grimm's Fairy Tales.)

Referencing 'The Flight of the Gander' once again, Professor Campbell describes three types of stories: myths, legends and tales. Myths, according to his definition, are "religious recitations conceived as symbolic of the play of eternity in time. These are rehearsed, not for diversion, but for the spiri-tual welfare of the individual or the community." (It would behoove the reader to remember at this juncture that Tolkien had determined that his body of work would be a mythology for the English People.) Legends are defined by Campbell as reviews or episodes of traditional history which "permit mythological symbolism to inform human event and circumstance." Myths and legends are essentially tutorial in nature although they may provide entertainment.

The purpose of tales is, by Campbell's definition, to pass the endless nights and days and to satisfy "man's hunger for a good story." Although they may once have been infused with the power of myth and legend, this power has dissipated. Tales serve as charming diversion. Tales may titillate and delight, amaze and amuse but they are not primarily intended for instruction or spiritual guidance. On the other hand, fables, as a category of tales, such as those attributed to 'Aesop', were composed to provide moral or socio-political instruction albeit without addressing man's place in the universe or in history. Tales are, nevertheless, the conveyors of cultural legacies and present an inheritance derived from myth and should not be off-handedly dismissed as 'trifles'.

Given these definitions of myth, legend and tale, how might the works of JRR Tolkien be categorized? Tolkien's earlier writings - many of which have been edited by his son, Christopher Tolkien, and published posthumously - are compiled in volumes entitled 'The Book of Lost Tales 1', 'The Book of Lost Tales 2' and 'Unfinished Tales'. Were these stories intended as nothing more than charming diversion by which to pass the endless nights and days as their titles infer? If they were meant to be more -

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