Jackie Lentz: Outside Reading-2

Journal #2

April 30, 2012

All That is Gold Does Not Glitter

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

            This poem is most important to our class for the second line, but other parts, I think, still relate. “Not all those who wander are lost” reminds me of the Space Trilogy, oddly enough. The first thing I thought of when I read that line was that Ransom had been on a walk. He had been walking, not to somewhere, but walking. First of all, that baffles me because I don’t even like walking to the places I have to get to let alone doing it recreationally, and secondly, his wandering doesn’t mean he is lost. In fact, the way that this class has discussed being and Being, reality and truth; I think I could argue his wandering could make him less lost than I feel. I know where I’m going in life, but whether or not I want to go there is still a mystery to me. Ransom, though, was walking in the country and he found a purpose that sent him not on one adventure but three. I wish that I could be so lucky.