Abstract
Tolkien's unfinished Lay of the Children of Húrin, written primarily during the second half of the 1920s, is a distinctive and remarkable piece of writing whose style stands apart from much of his other writing. In particular, it demonstrates the aesthetic of the sublime as explained and described by Edmund Burke in his 1757 work A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. The Lay presents a range of scenes and images that portray the qualities which (for Burke) generate the sublime - such as terror, obscurity, power and vastness - and which also reveal its impact in rendering the characters incapable of moving or acting.
Recommended Citation
Thompson-Handell, Matthew
(2024)
"'Their Limbs Were Loosened in Listening Horror': The Sublime in the Lay of the Children of Hurin,"
Journal of Tolkien Research: Vol. 20:
Iss.
1, Article 7.
Available at:
https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol20/iss1/7