Oxford. 'Outside of the physical world'
Pilgrimage to the resting place of JRR Tolkien
Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford, Oxfordshire
June 12, 2023
An overgrown grave in the far corner of Wolvercote cemetery in Oxford.
Quite inconspicuous, among many other tombstones.
It is overgrown with weeds so tall that the bottom name of the two people buried here is hardly readable.
No one is around—neither at the cemetery, nor at the grave. How strange.
I wonder: how many people are reading the words written by the man buried here at this exact moment? Or listening to them? And how many more are watching a film adaptation of this story? Must be thousands, at the very least.
This is it. The ultimate destination and the pinnacle of this year’s UK trip for me: the grave of JRR Tolkien and his wife.
The tombstone engraving under his name reads 'Beren', and under hers—'Luthien'.
Beren was a mortal man, but Luthien was the daughter of Thingol, a King of Elves upon Middle-earth when the world was young; and she was the fairest maiden that has ever been among all the children of this world. As the stars above the mists of the Northern lands was her loveliness, and in her face was a shining light.
...
But she chose mortality, and to die from the world, so that she might follow him; and it is sung that they met again beyond the Sundering Seas, and after a brief time walking alive once more in the green woods, together they passed, long ago, beyond the confines of this world.
Phil is sitting down and looking at the grave ponderously. I give him to listen his own reading of the 'Lord of The Rings', my favorite moments: Chapter 11 from Book One, 'A Knife in The Dark' (the part where Aragorn is telling the tale of Luthien Tenuviel), and chapter 8 from Book Two, 'Farewell to Lorien' (where Galadriel sang in the elvish tongue as the company was leaving from Lorien).
He is listening to both while sitting directly on the grass, looking at the Tolkiens’ grave. A couple (I think they were French) comes up from behind us, as we are both sitting quietly and watching the grave: Phil, listening to the beautiful reading and soundscape of the ‘Lord of The Rings’, which he made almost ten years ago, as a very elaborate passion project, and me, looking at the grave, trying to comprehend and take in the whole meaning and impact of what it is I am looking at.
How strange it is that I am here in the first place. If you told about this moment to the 9-10 year old me, reading ‘The Lord of the Rings’, all three books compiled into one thick volume with red hardcover, while laying in bed in my cozy (and that time perfectly safe) room in Kharkiv—how unbelievable would that sound to me back then?
Well, it is still unbelievable, and I am overcome with the feelings of awe for humanity, its creativity, and simple gratitude for being alive (which is not a trivial or lyrical statement in the world of late 2023).
The French couple who came up earlier is being quiet and respectful. They stand there hugging each other and look at the grave. They take some photos and eventually leave, while we continue to sit more or less unmoving in our spots.
After Phil finishes listening to the parts of the audiobook, he takes out the headphones, smiles bashfully (characteristic of him) and says: "I did a pretty good Elvish, I guess".
He then continues:
"It's very appropriate, I think, because you can hear someone's writing, how someone was thinking, creating (or even ‘sub-creating’, I would say) something, and I was just thinking about all the impact that one person could have in influencing the world.
It's very humbling to see, when you're at the resting place, how it's just one little corner, somewhere among so many other people. That's just something I've been thinking about…
And, especially when you're listening to some of the words, and how it seems… outside of the physical world, I think that it's something very... important, and, I guess, you could say beautiful".
…
The above was a short account of visiting JRR Tolkien and his wife’s resting place in Oxford, on June 12th, 2023. Tolkien’s work, life story and personality have been a subject of deep curiosity and appreciation for me. Being able to visit here, on my first ever trip to the UK, has been a huge internal driver, and a source of hope and inspiration, especially when the hope for better times becomes small.
As in Tolkien’s quote:
How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?
But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow.
Even darkness must pass. A new day will come.