I’ve always found it ironic that The Gray Havens themed their name off of Tolkien’s work, yet they almost exclusively reference Lewis in their songs. The closest thing they have to a Tolkien reference is their song, “Silver”, which is about Lewis and Tolkien’s conversation about mythology.
Another irony is that Andrew Peterson did write a song about the Grey Havens, called “The Havens Grey”.
It’s funny how Tolkien converted Lewis to Christianity, and was forever after overshadowed by him. Nobody teaches a class on Tolkien without pulling in Lewis at every spare moment. Tolkien himself would often write in his letters of hoping he could catch C.S.L. that day. Lewis wrote an autobiography that mentioned Tolkien’s existence in passing.
Where there is Tolkien, there is Lewis, but where there is Lewis, there is not necessarily Tolkien. That’s what I mean by overshadowing.
Andrew Peterson is ironic simply because he is (I think) in the same genre of music as the Gray Havens, but without the explicit reference to Tolkien and his work, and yet he has more Tolkien-adjacent songs than the Gray Havens.
So you mean where Tolkien is studied? (Also, because Lewis was the one pushing him to finish his books… I don’t believe The Silmarillion was ever completed)
Their friendship does provide a backstory for many of both of their works, but I think as Lewis was much more prolific, people regard him as the much more prominent author, though I don’t think either was more skilled than the either—they simply had much different writing styles and methods … perhaps if Tolkien had the lifespan of the elves he would have published more books… but then again maybe not.
I find it amusing too, especially since they have an entire album about C.S. Lewis, and several more songs that are very reminiscent of him, and no albums that are about Tolkien—actually, Gray Flowers reminds me of Tolkien, but because of the color. Some of their recent songs such as Give Me Rest and Where The Living Is Deep also remind me of the tiredness and woundedness of Frodo and Bilbo in The Lord of the Rings, before sailing to the Grey Havens.
I might get back to you on this later after looking through their songs… might write a post about it, you never know. :)
Why do you think it’s ironic that Andrew Peterson did a song about the Grey Havens?
I wouldn’t term it “overshadowing,” but I do think that Lewis was far more prominent in the theological field than Tolkien, if that’s what you mean.
I’ve always found it ironic that The Gray Havens themed their name off of Tolkien’s work, yet they almost exclusively reference Lewis in their songs. The closest thing they have to a Tolkien reference is their song, “Silver”, which is about Lewis and Tolkien’s conversation about mythology.
Another irony is that Andrew Peterson did write a song about the Grey Havens, called “The Havens Grey”.
It’s funny how Tolkien converted Lewis to Christianity, and was forever after overshadowed by him. Nobody teaches a class on Tolkien without pulling in Lewis at every spare moment. Tolkien himself would often write in his letters of hoping he could catch C.S.L. that day. Lewis wrote an autobiography that mentioned Tolkien’s existence in passing.
This was the nature of their friendship.
Where there is Tolkien, there is Lewis, but where there is Lewis, there is not necessarily Tolkien. That’s what I mean by overshadowing.
Andrew Peterson is ironic simply because he is (I think) in the same genre of music as the Gray Havens, but without the explicit reference to Tolkien and his work, and yet he has more Tolkien-adjacent songs than the Gray Havens.
So you mean where Tolkien is studied? (Also, because Lewis was the one pushing him to finish his books… I don’t believe The Silmarillion was ever completed)
Their friendship does provide a backstory for many of both of their works, but I think as Lewis was much more prolific, people regard him as the much more prominent author, though I don’t think either was more skilled than the either—they simply had much different writing styles and methods … perhaps if Tolkien had the lifespan of the elves he would have published more books… but then again maybe not.
I find it amusing too, especially since they have an entire album about C.S. Lewis, and several more songs that are very reminiscent of him, and no albums that are about Tolkien—actually, Gray Flowers reminds me of Tolkien, but because of the color. Some of their recent songs such as Give Me Rest and Where The Living Is Deep also remind me of the tiredness and woundedness of Frodo and Bilbo in The Lord of the Rings, before sailing to the Grey Havens.
I might get back to you on this later after looking through their songs… might write a post about it, you never know. :)
Why do you think it’s ironic that Andrew Peterson did a song about the Grey Havens?
I wouldn’t term it “overshadowing,” but I do think that Lewis was far more prominent in the theological field than Tolkien, if that’s what you mean.
Woah this is so cool. I love this. I never would’ve made the connection.
Glad you enjoyed it! I just read your SotR post, it seems we were reading each others posts at the same time lol.
Yes! 🤣