Just Breathing

How to spend a week

Probably my favorite character in all of literature is Treebeard, from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. I was sorely tempted a few weeks ago to join up with

John Halbrooks

reading group, but I resisted. There are too many other things for me to be reading right now.

But I’m drawn by the title of his Substack,

Personal Canon Formation

. I believe in developing a personal canon, getting to know an author or a work deeply, returning again and again, holding a special place for it on your favorite shelf — and on your lap. Canonical books aren’t just making up the Tradition. One’s personal canon is made up of books that speak to you decade after decade.

For me that wouldn’t be Tolkien or related Inklings, as for many people, as much as I do admire this literature. (And I wish I had the same opportunity to join such a close-knit group of friends, all of whom were creative geniuses!) I’m a bit chagrined to say that I’m not even sure who or what works do comprise my personal canon yet. There have been many contenders over the years, but it seems I eventually grow out of, or move beyond, or even get tired of them. — That last excuse might be, in large part, because of an overly-academic approach to studying Big Texts that I was taught. There is such a thing as making reading for insight and wisdom into sheer work.

In any case, discovering and growing one’s personal canon is an ongoing process, and one I devoutly believe in.

What are your personal canonical authors and works? Could you name at least one or two candidates?

Okay, back to Treebeard. Probably my favorite quote from all of literature is when Treebeard says:

I used to spend a week just breathing.
~ Treebeard

I might be taking it out of context, but these are the kind of words that to me become astonishly simple, practical, and wise, all at the same time. It’s the kind of wisdom I trust more than other kinds that become too precious, too heady, too “profound” within an ill-defined scope. These words speak in a way that can legitimately be taken to heart, lifelong. Sometimes I forget them, but then I’m delighted whenever I find them again.

I ultimately decided now is not the time for me to reread Tolkien, but I am enjoying dipping occasionally into Halbrooks’ essays for his group.

Here’s the latest, on Treebeard and well beyond.

Tolkien's Ents: Ecology Meets Philology

Rohan is adjacent to the forest of Fangorn, of which the Rohirrim tell old wives' tales about creatures called ents, as the major river flowing through their land is the Entwash. Here ecology and philology combine to trace an historical-linguistic path through a lost, legendary past of Mercian horse-lords, to a much older culture and language—obscure even to the horsemen—which is completely Tolkien’s invention.

Ents: Philological Origins

Like that of Rohan, this culture is engraved in the English landscape, in the last remnants of old forest remaining in a country that was mostly cleared by the Middle Ages—a culture of beings much like the trees themselves. Ent is a word that Tolkien took from Beowulf. It seems to mean "giant," and the enten are listed with other evil creatures that are associated with the descendants of Cain, along with Grendel. Tolkien rescues the ents from these demonic origins, which, after all, were inflicted on them by the officious Christians who wrote down the poem.

The result is perhaps Tolkien's most remarkably original literary creation: the Ents, the shepherds of the trees. While they clearly reflect his ecological concerns, they are also the aspect of the book that most profoundly connects his twin devotions to ecology and philology. In a sense, the language of the ents is philology, or perhaps more accurately, a language that contains its own philology, in which words correspond directly with the reality of things…

And:

Like the elves in Lothlórien (as we discussed last week), Treebeard provides a memory of time that is beyond even the historical records of humans, a memory which goes back to a time when the woods of Fangorn "were like the woods of Lothlórien, only thicker, stronger, younger. And the smell of the air! I used to spend a week just breathing" (469).

Enjoy! Link again here.

Image by eyne81 at DeviantArt.

And now I can hear my kids belting away at their favorite musical versions of a variety of Tolkien poetry and song. Let me see if I can get them to post in the comments. 😁