Romantic Transformations, Part 1: Romantic Authorship in Ex Machina (2015)
During a recent flight I had the opportunity to reacquaint myself with Alex Garland’s Ex Machina (2015). What struck me within the opening minutes was…
The Fantastic Symphony of Middle-earth
In my last blog post I explored the mother tree concept in Middle-earth’s woods and forests. In this one I want to pivot from the…
Eldest and Oldest: Middle-earth’s Mother/Father Trees
This year’s re-read of The Lord of the Rings has led to some striking revelations. Many are intimately linked to British Romanticism and how Tolkien…
Nameless Things in Deep Places: Moria as Eerie Heterotopia
In my last blog post, I started to delve into mountain worlds from fantasy, science-fiction, and horror narratives. Here I focus solely on Moria from…
“Knowledge does not dispel mystery”: Fantastically Gothic Mountain Worlds
Following a call I put out on social media for recommendations of Fantasy mountains, this is the start of my work on the now colossal…
“So deep, even the rocks and roots now believe”: Metal music and Middle-earth
On Wednesday 7th August 2024 Tolkien and metal music fans were treated to a track from the upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Rings…
‘Introduction’ – The Romantic Spirit in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien
I wrote this introduction for The Romantic Spirit in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien (2024) which I co-edited with Dr. Julian Eilmann. It is reproduced…
How the Victorians (Re)made the British Romantics: Part 3 – Christian Appropriations
This blog series maps the contours of the ways in which the Victorians ‘created’ Romanticism. A term coined by the Victorians, ‘Romanticism’ as a movement…
How the Victorians (Re)made the British Romantics: Part 2 – ‘Renovating’ the Romantics
In my last blog post I considered why ‘revival’ isn’t the best word for discussing Romanticism as it existed in the Victorian period. Here I’m…
How the Victorians (Re)made the British Romantics: Part 1 – Change and Transition
In a recent Guardian opinion piece, Ross Barkan announced that “the new romanticism has arrived” (2023). Likening “today’s romantics” to those of a distinctly English…
Themes of Power: A Year Analysing the themes for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
August and September 2022 were monumental months for Tolkien fans. Love it or hate it, Amazon’s long anticipated first season of The Lord of the…
Tolkien’s Chatterton and Macpherson: Mapping Forgery at the turn of the Twentieth Century
*This blog post was originally published in 2020 as an accompaniment to my journal article ‘Tolkien and the Age of Forgery: Improving Antiquarian Practices in…
Will Sherwood 