Reverend Dr. Malcolm Guite

But, and this is a really significant but, and that course became the mainstream of, you know, modernist culture, the Siegfried Sassoons and the Wilfred Owens of this world. But Lewis and Tolkien saw just as much hideous action on the Western Front, but they came out and wrote stories in which it was still possible to have heroic courage.

But, and this is a really significant but, and that course became the mainstream of, you know, modernist culture, the Siegfried Sassoons and the Wilfred Owens of this world. But Lewis and Tolkien saw just as much hideous action on the Western Front, but they came out and wrote stories in which it was still possible to have heroic courage.

It was still possible for there, even in the midst of appalling odds and all the rest of it, for there to be human nobility, courage, but also compassion, comradeship. Do you know what I mean? So they salvaged. I think they were salvaging something. And for all the appalling, you know, for all that was regrettable about that war, they still felt something human and heroic could come out of it.

It was still possible for there, even in the midst of appalling odds and all the rest of it, for there to be human nobility, courage, but also compassion, comradeship. Do you know what I mean? So they salvaged. I think they were salvaging something. And for all the appalling, you know, for all that was regrettable about that war, they still felt something human and heroic could come out of it.

It was still possible for there, even in the midst of appalling odds and all the rest of it, for there to be human nobility, courage, but also compassion, comradeship. Do you know what I mean? So they salvaged. I think they were salvaging something. And for all the appalling, you know, for all that was regrettable about that war, they still felt something human and heroic could come out of it.

Now, in order to do that, they had to almost, well, Tolkien had to invent a whole other realm. But of course, you see images. If you read, I mean, I think probably it's quite well captured in the films as well. But if you read

Now, in order to do that, they had to almost, well, Tolkien had to invent a whole other realm. But of course, you see images. If you read, I mean, I think probably it's quite well captured in the films as well. But if you read

Now, in order to do that, they had to almost, well, Tolkien had to invent a whole other realm. But of course, you see images. If you read, I mean, I think probably it's quite well captured in the films as well. But if you read

when they're going through the dead marshes and there's all these ponds and pools and there's bodies kind of almost, and the gases from the corpses lighting fires and everything, that is straight out of, that is Tolkien, if you like to use a modern word, processing his war memories.

when they're going through the dead marshes and there's all these ponds and pools and there's bodies kind of almost, and the gases from the corpses lighting fires and everything, that is straight out of, that is Tolkien, if you like to use a modern word, processing his war memories.

when they're going through the dead marshes and there's all these ponds and pools and there's bodies kind of almost, and the gases from the corpses lighting fires and everything, that is straight out of, that is Tolkien, if you like to use a modern word, processing his war memories.

So it's not that he shies back from, you know, what Owen called war and the pity of war, but he doesn't allow the pity and the empathy to completely overwhelm overrule, the sense that there was and there still is heroic virtue and courage. And I think that's one of the most important things that came out of it.

So it's not that he shies back from, you know, what Owen called war and the pity of war, but he doesn't allow the pity and the empathy to completely overwhelm overrule, the sense that there was and there still is heroic virtue and courage. And I think that's one of the most important things that came out of it.

So it's not that he shies back from, you know, what Owen called war and the pity of war, but he doesn't allow the pity and the empathy to completely overwhelm overrule, the sense that there was and there still is heroic virtue and courage. And I think that's one of the most important things that came out of it.

Obviously, he started in the war and then he was carrying on thinking these things through. The Hobbit came out in the 30s, in the interwar years. And of course, unbelievably for that generation, who'd already been through one world war, Another one started brewing on the horizon.

Obviously, he started in the war and then he was carrying on thinking these things through. The Hobbit came out in the 30s, in the interwar years. And of course, unbelievably for that generation, who'd already been through one world war, Another one started brewing on the horizon.

Obviously, he started in the war and then he was carrying on thinking these things through. The Hobbit came out in the 30s, in the interwar years. And of course, unbelievably for that generation, who'd already been through one world war, Another one started brewing on the horizon.

Now, both Tolkien and Lewis and some of their other friends were not going to be called up into the Second World War in a direct way. Although, in fact, they did their thing. I mean, Lewis famously did these Christian broadcasts. And Lewis was taken out. When we think about the Battle of Britain, the last of the few, the last of the ones that has just died, it was 105.

Now, both Tolkien and Lewis and some of their other friends were not going to be called up into the Second World War in a direct way. Although, in fact, they did their thing. I mean, Lewis famously did these Christian broadcasts. And Lewis was taken out. When we think about the Battle of Britain, the last of the few, the last of the ones that has just died, it was 105.

Now, both Tolkien and Lewis and some of their other friends were not going to be called up into the Second World War in a direct way. Although, in fact, they did their thing. I mean, Lewis famously did these Christian broadcasts. And Lewis was taken out. When we think about the Battle of Britain, the last of the few, the last of the ones that has just died, it was 105.