A Sense of History: Spiral Staircase

[daughterofshadows]

This month's A Sense of History article, written by Simon J. Cook, continues to engage the question of how Tolkien's work on his legendarium informed his scholarship on Beowulf and vice versa. Simon extends the metaphor of the tower found in Tolkien's lecture-turned-essay "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics"—and of course towers bristle across the landscapes of Arda—to consider what it reveals of the Anglo-Saxon imagination.

This month's column considers what it means to climb the tower, descend it again, and peer through its windows at each landing. The spiral shape of the staircase, Simon argues, is essential to understanding the meaning of the tower.

You can read Simon's article "Spiral Staircase" here.