21st March 2009, 07:41 PM
Quote:quote:If modern Druidism is going to ignore the the brutal bits in favour of a Lord of the Rings approach, then they shouldn't be so surprised at a little resistance.
Like WH Auden, I feel I have to defend poor Tolkien just a little
He had the historian's view of humanity and certainly didn't shirk from the darker aspects. It's just that his characters don't wring their hands constantly in the way we're used to. Sad as I am I recently reread LOTR and was impressed by how deeply his experience of the trenches during WWI coloured his writing. :face-huh:
On an aside regarding the article in question, it never ceases to amaze me how readily we treat the Romans as "other." To me they are one European Iron Age culture amongst many and that neither takes away from them nor any of their contemporaries.