"On Fairy-Stories" is by far the most compelling and artfully written essay on fiction that I have ever read; beautifully teaching the reader how to appreciate those things that are true within the best fairy tales.
"Mythopoeia" is an interesting poetic discourse, also expertly giving a defence of story telling and myth. I don't know if I enjoyed the subtlety and brilliance of the discourse more, or just the fact that the dialogue is based on a real dialogue between Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, before Lewis became a Christian.
"Leaf by Niggle" is of course excellent as well, and "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth" I like an unexpected treat for all those of us who love Viking era tales and history.

What an odd book. It starts out with Tolkien's famous essay "On Fairy Stories" which I found quite fascinating (but also very long and complicated and a bit pretentious, as is a lot of Tolkien's non-fiction writing, a fact which only makes me like it more). I'll include a couple of interested quotes from that at the end.

Then it went into the poem "Mythopeia" which Tolkien apparently wrote out of spite when he disagreed with a colleague who called fairy tales "lies", and while I love the fact that he was the kind of person to write convoluted epic poetry for the sake of argument, I found the poem somewhat difficult to follow and doubt that the person it was meant for would have been swayed by it in the least.

Then there's the curious short story "Leaf by Niggle" which is very odd indeed. Kind of a dystopian feel but also hobbit-y like a lot of Tolkien's stories, and possibly about the afterlife in some way? At any rate it was not the fairy story I was expecting based on the theme of the book so far, and while it was interesting to puzzle out it was certainly not my favourite of Tolkien's stories.

And lastly the short epic "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth" which felt quite Shakespearean in tone and was bookended by some more pretentious explanations of the context and history of the poem as well as the reasons for Tolkien writing it the way he did.

All around not my favourite book but I always think it's worth it to read more Tolkien and learn more about what went on in that brilliant mind of his, but I think the only thing I really enjoyed out of this book were certain passages and points in the essay "On Fairy Stories". I'll share some of his thoughts that I liked now:

Children are now too often spared in mollified versions of Grimm (they should not be spared it--unless they are spared the whole story until their digestions are stronger). -pg. 32

(showcasing Tolkien's dislike for the practice of dumbing-down and censoring stories for children, within reason--which I agree with)

[The taste for fairy stories] would not appear, I think, very early in childhood without artificial stimulus; it is certainly one that does not decrease but increases with age, if it is innate. -pg. 35

This is something I found very interesting and had never thought of before--the idea that there are many children who like fairy tales (/fantasy in general) and many who prefer non-fiction or fiction, and the same is true with adults--but Tolkien says that those children who like fairy stories only grow to like them more and more as they grow up (the appetite for magic increases as the reader grows more experienced and is able to understand the stories better).

Fantasy is, I think, not a lower but a higher form of Art, indeed the most nearly pure form, and so (when achieved), the most potent. -pg. 48

And that's just a satisfying argument against those folks who look down on fantasy in favour of what they consider "literature" and "classics". It makes perfect sense to me that fantasy should be considered a higher form of art, as there is a lot more imagination that goes into creating it.

Fantasy is a natural human activity. -pg. 55

And lastly, a fun and somewhat snarky stanza from "Mythopoeaia" which is just kind of Tolkien driving home his point and thumbing his nose at those who refuse to acknowledge fantasy writing as a valid form of art/literature--and also a pretty big hint about his struggle against industrialization:

I will not walk with your progressive apes,
erect and sapient. Before them gapes
the dark abyss to which their progress tends--
if by God's mercy progress ever ends,
and does not ceaselessly revolve the same
unfruitful course with changing of a name.
I will not tread your dusty path and flat,
denoting this and that by this and that,
your world immutable wherein no part
the little maker has with maker's art.
I bow not yet before the Iron Crown,
nor cast my own small golden sceptre down. -pg. 89

The essay, "On Fairy-Stories" was longer than I anticipated, and I'm not sure I understood all of it, but it was good. The two poems were okay The real star of this book, though, is the allegorical short story, "Leaf by Niggle." It alone is worth the other of this book.

I wanted to try challenging my mind a little so I picked up Tree and Leaf, a collection by Tolkien! It made me miss my literature days because I felt like I missed a lot. This collection consists of;

- On Fairy-Stories: I’ve actually read this essay before but I found it so hard to read the first time round! Shows you how much my mind has rusted. It was much better the second time round and I managed to appreciate it.

This essay explores the definitions and origin of fairy tales in a fairly academic but lyrical style (as odd as that description is). Personally, I prefer Chesterton’s chapter (The Ethics of Elfland) in Orthodoxy even though it looks at fairy tales in a very different (and less academic) way.

- Mythopoeia: This was a lovely poem although I didn’t completely understand it.

- Leaf by Niggle: I really enjoyed this short story about a man named Niggle, who neglects preparing for his eventual journey to paint a leaf. But his painting is always interrupted by his neighbour and though Niggle doesn’t like it, he more often than not helps him out. Apparently Niggle might have been a stand-in for Tolkien himself, which is something interesting to consider!

- The Homecoming of Beorthnoth Beorthelm’s Son: this is apparently a play inspired by a myth and I would normally be into this sort of stuff but I:

a. Tend to be very inept at understanding plays
b. Didn’t really get the three part structure of this

So it was kinda wasted on me.

Like I said at the start, this book made me wish I was still actively studying literature because I think I would have understood it a lot better if I was still using those muscles. Still, it was a good change from what I’ve been reading.

This review was first posted at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile

On Fairy-Stories is an extremely elegant statement about the true nature and value of fairy stories.

Nature is no doubt a life-study [...] but there is a part of man which is not 'Nature', and which therefore is not obliged to study it, and is, in fact, wholly unsatisfied by it.

Mythopoeia is fairly expendable; Leaf by Niggle is a strange parable with a Catholic twist, not without a great dose of self-pity; The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth is a fun excercise bookended by short expositions – a nice lecture to have attended.

I've actually read everything except 'Mythopoeia' from this volume before: I needed it to do references to 'The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth'. 'Homecoming' is an interesting commentary on 'The Battle of Maldon'. I daren't comment more without plagiarising my essay, but it's definitely worth reading, and it's interesting to see so clearly how strongly his academic and creative work were bound together. 'Homecoming' is part-essay, part-drama, part-poetry.

'Mythopoeia' is lovely, too. 'Leaf by Niggle' is nice, but more allegorical than you might expect from the man who professed to hate allegory. And 'On Fairy-Stories' is important in understanding all his work, I'd say.

این روزها دست هیچ‌کدام از ما به نوشتن نمی‌رود. حتی خواندن کتابی هم مستلزم تحمل بار روانی سنگینی‌ ست. هرکس از خودش می‌پرسد چه سودی دارد چه جایگاهی دارد کتاب و ادبیات. نجات‌بخش چی هست اصلا. در این وضعیت بی رحم و بدون شوخی فعلی، این بازی‌ها چیست. ‌این‌ها را نگفتم که مقدمه بشود برای اعلام رستگاری نهایی بعد از خواندن این کتاب. انقدرها دور نشدیم از اتفاق و انقدرها هم من خوشبین نیستم. ولی گفتم بنویسم از این کتاب. شاید برای صرف تکرار کردن حرفی مثل یک ورد یا دعا یا نیت‌هایی شبیه این

مراد فرهاد پور این کتاب را درآورده تا از اهمیت آثار تالکین بگوید. این‌که چطور ارباب حلقه‌ها در فضای آرمانی و انقلابی دهه شصت غرب گل کرد بین جوانان عاصی‌ای که به جنگ هرچه سیستم بود و هر ساختار سرکوب‌گر رفتند و همان جنس ایمانی به خلق دنیایی نو داشتند که ایمان تالکین به امکان خلق در سرزمین پریان. از نظر تالکین در مقاله‌ی آخر کتاب، رمز قدرت رهایی‌بخش داستان‌های پریان، برخلاف انواع داستان‌های صرفا تمثیلی یا تخیلی این است که در داستان‌های سرزمین پریان تنها و تنها با یک چیز نمی‌شود شوخی کرد و آن حقیقی بودن جادو است و باور داشتن به آن. در سرزمین پریان، جادو یعنی امکان انجام هرکاری برای فرد باورمند. انسان‌ها با ساختن قصه‌های پریان دیگر تنها به تفسیر یا تقلید جهان بیرون نمی‌پردازند. ذهن انسان این فرصت را می یابد که به ممد جادو جهانی نو خلق کند و به مرتبه‌ای خدایی برسد. این یعنی قدرت کلمه. دمیدن روح خدا به زبان و ذهن انسان. پس خواندن داستان پریان، گریز از واقعیت نیست. تحویل دادن انسانی نو ست به واقعیت با تخیلی خدای‌گونه. انسانی آفریننده.

سه داستان کوتاه هم از تالکین آورده شده. بد نیستند قشنگ‌اند ولی مسلما بهترین نمونه‌ی کارهای تالکین، همان کتاب ارباب حلقه‌ها و هابیت‌ها هستند که نخوانده‌ام.

I will quote the benevolent Second Voice since its words reflect a mirthful way of perceiving this work: “As a holiday, and a refreshment (…) for many it is the best introduction to the Mountains.”

This was a great read! Tolkien defends the fairy tales stories in the essay "On Fairy-Tales stories" but also argues that those stories aren't exactly for children. He also talks about what is a true fairy tale story and what it's not. It's a very theorical text which can be a little complex for a more casual reader but Tolkien writes so well that even though I needed to re-read some passages to understand the argument I thought it was a delight for me.

I loved also the little tale "Leaf by Niggle" that is a beautiful prose complementary to the main essay in this book. Clearly is an Tolkien's alter-ego we can see in the main character.

It's an amazing book if you are a Tolkien fan!

This is not what I was expecting.

This review is for all the Morlocks that want to be Eloi, and the Eloi who look a little like Morlocks.

I was really tempted to rate this as the 4 distinct pieces within, to give a fair and unique evaluation of each piece. However, I decided against it because a) I didn’t want to mess up my yearly read count, and b) I wanted to address the unified piece.

On Fairy Stories (5 stars)
I really liked On Fairy Stories. It is not common for me to take notes while reading, but I filled the margins with notes. I loved how Tolkien challenged the reader to view fairy-story as a unique genre or medium of narrative telling. Fairy-story like any art form can be created in a way that appeals to children, but fairy-story isn’t in and of itself a childish medium.

I was particularly challenged by Tolkien’s views of creation and sub-creation. I absolute loved the epilogue where the reader is invited to consider the Gospel as the ultimate form of fairy-story, and how our sub-creation is only a byproduct of God’s creation.

Mythopoeia (4 stars)
This work is a little bit more abstract than most of Tolkien’s work. It was also a little on the nose, considering Tolkien’s views of allegory.

I enjoyed that this was written in a poetic medium that invites us to consider myth as an organic object and not a rigid artificial thing.

Leaf by Niggle (5 stars)
Splendid and cheerful work. I was incredibly glad to have read it in its entirety. To me, Leaf by Niggle may be a religious allegory for life and death in Catholic soteriology. Niggle’s purgatorial punishment is one that uniquely fits his sins on earth.

I almost want to see Tolkien’s work on Middle Earth in Niggle and his painting of a leaf. However, I don’t want to read something into the text that isn’t there.

Homecoming of Beorhtnoth (3 stars)
I liked Tolkien’s voice in literary analysis. However, I didn’t think the piece was incredibly helpful or enlightening. It felt a little forced.

As a completed work Tree and Leaf was an interesting collection. Leaf by Niggle and Mythopoeia are both examples of Tolkien’s own fairy-stories. The issue I took was that both Leaf and Mythopoeia are examples of fairy-story that are driven by allegory and a little bit of satire. I wish the editors of this work would have included an example of a less critical work like the Smith of Wootton Major. I get what the editors were thinking when the decided to include Homecoming. It’s a work of critical scholarship, examining story, creation, and sub-creation. Thematically, it makes sense. However, I would have chosen to include another example of fairy-story over the inclusion of this work.

I also hated the paperweight of the book. The binding was also poorly done. My copy cracked several times along the spine as I was reading. I would be more sympathetic if this was a 500 page tome, or if I had read it several times, but this was a brand new copy of a book that was 140 odd pages long. I was also frustrated that 12 pages of this work were dedicated to advertisements of Tolkien’s other works.

I had to read this for a course at uni, so I won't be rating this. I will say, though, that as coursebooks go, this one was surprisingly entertaining.