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The Ents: Tolkien and the trees

Something which Tolkien succeeded in doing better than almost any other writer I have read (though we will meet a rival below) was to convey to his readers, and instil in them, his appeciation of the beauty of the natural world. It is unusual in novels, at least in English, that descriptions of landscapes, forest and trees go beyond mere scene-setting; but it is hard after reading the earlier parts of The Lord of the Rings--before the pace and bleakness of the second half begin to burn these riches away--to step outside without finding one's eyes newly opened to the beauty of tree and leaf. This is a profound change from Beowulf; the following would never have occurred in that poem:

They found that they were looking at a most extraordinary face. It belonged to a large Man-like, almost Troll-like, figure, at least fourteen foot high, very sturdy, with a tall head, and hardly any neck. Whether it was clad in stuff like green and grey bark, or whether that was its hide, was difficult to say. At any rate the arms, at a short distance from the trunk, were not wrinkled, but covered with a brown smooth skin. The large feet had seven toes each. The lower part of the long face was covered with a sweeping grey beard, bushy, almost twiggy at the roots, thin and mossy at the ends. But at the moment the hobbits noted little but the eyes. These deep eyes were now surveying them, slow and solemn, but very penetrating. They were brown, shot with a green light.

It was the custom of King Arthur's court that the meal of an important feast-day cannot be begun without

Of sum auenturus žyng . . an uncouže tale,
of some adventuring matter . . a strange tale
Of sum mayn meruayle, . . žat he my3t trawe,
of some great marvel . . which he might believe,
Of alderes, of armes, . . of ožer auenturus,
of ancestors, of arms, . . of other adventures;
Ožer sum segg hym biso3t . . of sum siker kny3t
or [until] some man sought from him . . a trusty knight
To joyne wyth hym in iustyng, . . in jopardé to lay,
to join with him in jousting, . . to take a gamble,
Lede, lif for lyf, . . leue vchon ožer,
?[a] man, life for life, . . each one to allow the other,
As fortune wolde fulsun hom, . . že fayrer to haue.
as fortune would favour them, . . to have the advantage.

For vneže watz že noyce . . not a whyle sesed,
For barely was the noise . . over for a moment,
And že fyrst cource in že court . . kyndely serued,
and the first course in the court . . appropriately served
Žer hales in at že halle dor . . an aghlich mayster,
[when] there comes in at the hall-door . . a fearsome lord,
On že most on že molde . . on mesure hyghe;
the very most on the earth . . in stature high
Fro že swyre to že swange . . so sware and so žik,
from the neck to the girdle . . so well-built and stout,
And his lyndes and his lymes . . so longe and so grete,
and his loins his limbs . . so long and so big
Half etayn in erde . . I hope žat he were,
half-giant, for sure, . . I think he must have been,
Bot mon most I algate . . mynn hym to bene,
but the biggest man, at any rate, I . . reckon that he was
And žat že myriest in his muckel . . žat my3t ride;
and the handsomest of his size . . ever to ride;
For of bak and of brest . . al were his bodi sturne,
for although in the back and in the chest . . his body was forbidding,
Both his wombe and his wast . . were worthily smale,
both his belly and his waist . . were laudably slender,
And alle his fetures fol3ande, . . in forme žat he hade,
and all his features in proportion . . to the shape that he had

ful clene;
through and through;

For wonder of his hwe men hade,
And men were in wonder at his colour,
Set in his semblaunt sene;
plain to see in his appearance;
He ferde as freke were fade,
he proceeded as a man who was ?bold--
And oueral enker-grene.
and, all over, bright green.