The panel concludes a three-week reading of The Lay of the Children of Hurin, examining the connexion between the history, geography, and cosmology of Tolkien’s imagined Middle-Earth and that of our own, very real, terrestrial middle-earth.

– Thoughtful Analysis of Essential Literature
The panel concludes a three-week reading of The Lay of the Children of Hurin, examining the connexion between the history, geography, and cosmology of Tolkien’s imagined Middle-Earth and that of our own, very real, terrestrial middle-earth.
The panel reads the second part of The Lay of the Children of Hurin, which relates the tale of Beleg Strongbow, and the doom of Turin Turambar, giving special attention to how the text connects to other mythological and Anglo-Saxon poems and narratives.
The panel begins a three-week reading and analysis of the first version of J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Lay of the Children of Hurin”, a poetic account of Turin Turambar, written between 1918 and 1925, and first published in The Lays of Beleriand (1985).
The panel concludes “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” with an examination of the poem’s liminal spaces, an evaluation of Gawain’s moral virtue, a discussion on the nature of courage, and questions about the role of community in the act of contrition.
The panel reads the third part of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, with particular attention to the juxtaposition of the forest hunting, killing, and skinning/gutting scenes with those of courtly love in the luxurious bedchamber of Sir Gawain.
The panel reads the second part of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, and examines the theological significance of the seasons, the detailed military fortifications of Castle Hautdesert, and the appearance of the beautiful Lady Hautdesert.
The panel reads the first part of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, providing an overview of the formal aspects of the poem, the history of the manuscript (Cotton Nero A.x), theories about authorship, and analysis of the poem’s titular, veridian symbolism.