Creativity is the forge in which inspiration becomes art. It’s how an idea becomes art, a sentence becomes a story and how a feeling becomes a song. It’s the ability we have to take something and rather than leaving it as it was, change and mold it into something else. It is creativity that turned the spark of electricity into the lightbulb. It was creativity that turned a kite into the airplane and creativity is how fireworks got us to the moon. It is responsible for so much of what makes us people. Our culture and language are all the product of our creative use of sound, color, and movement. The forge of creativity must be built up, though. Creative people take steps to prepare. Writers takenotes. Artists build studios. Scientists have their labs. Musicians their space. These are just the places, though. Like a farmer tilling their land as they wait for the rain, the creatives prepare their minds to receive inspiration. Through training and practice, the forge of creativity can be tuned to efficiently take inspiration and turn it into art.
A good example of this is Ronald.
Ronald lost his father when he was three years old to disease in a faraway land, so it is unlikely that he remembered much of him. His devout Catholic mother raised him and his brother on her own for his entire childhood, homeschooling him. From her, he learnt how to draw as well as basic Latin igniting a passion for languages that never left him. When she passed during his preteen years, Father Francis, a dear friend of his mother was entrusted to raise him into a good catholic. Worldlier than Ronald’s mother, Father Francis nonetheless took the nurture and education of Ronald seriously and succeeded in teaching the boy good morals and the importance of moral integrity. Ronald’s memories of his mother and Father Francis shaped much of who he became and the work that he produced, the lessons they taught never leaving him.
As a teenager, Ronald fell in love. Edith, a girl three years his senior, was both beautiful and delightful to him, her playful nature in contrast to his more reserved demeanor. She was a Protestant though which proved to be a huddle in their romantic pursuit as it was (among others) the reason why Father Francis was opposed to their friendship.In a rather dramatic circumstance, Ronald was forbidden from interacting with her until he was twenty-one years of age, an adult. Faced with the choice of obeying his adopted father or eloping with Edith, stoic Ronald chose to obey his Father and saying farewell to Edith, pursued his studies with determination. His patience and discipline paid off though as on his twenty-first birthday, he wrote a letter to Edith declaring his love for her and his intent to marry her. She responded positively and after meeting with him after such a long time, she broke off her betrothal to another, converted to Catholicism and they were soon happily married.
When the Great War began, like other young men of his time, Ronald was drafted into the military and after a short delay in which he finished his degree in literature and the English language, he was off to the war. He trained, fought and survived though many of his friends did not. He contracted trench fever during this period and his constitution never fully recovered. For the rest of the war’s duration, he served a more supervisory role, enabling him from time to time to share quiet moments with himself and his wife. These beautiful moments separated by long periods apart became a permanent part of his thoughts. It is during this time that he begun to write.
Themes of fantasy and escapism found in the story were clear inspirations from the epic fantasies of history like The Epic of Gilgamesh and the poem, Beowulf. Similarities can be found between his work and those of fantastic myths. Such similarities include Dragons, mythic blades, prophecy, and destiny. The famous wizard in his story has been on multiple occasions related to Merlin, a major character in the Arthurian mythos. The classic theme of good versus evil is also evident in his work, but this is more closely inspired by religion than anything else. He described his work as deeply Catholic, drawing on the influence of his mother and his understanding of his Faith. The history he created also beginning with the creation of the world by a deity which is followed soon after by the appearance of evil and the corruption of what was once perfect. Even more of this religious influence can be seen in themes of sacrifice, mercy and the bearing of one’s burdens to the end, an important theme in the catholic faith. Further religious symbols can be found in his descriptions of familiar concepts like heaven and the faithful’s longing to be there; the nature of evil and how it is overcome by the actions and sacrifice of a few chosen.
It was also a deeply personal work with many of his themes and characters taken directly from his own life. Moments in the story are sometimes exact recollections of moments in his own life as Ronald transcribed quiet moments he had had during the war and beautiful moments he’d had with Edith. The personal nature of the work can also be seen in how it tackles very relatable subjects such as the pursuit of peace, the importance of chivalry and honor and overcoming deep sorrow to rise and help others. Nostalgia and longing are big themes in the story and are most likely tied to Ronald’s own experience as he grew older and longed for the times of his youth. At the same time themes of inheritance and the passing of the torch can also be found in the work, a reflection of Ronald’s understanding that people fade so that others may take their place, in this way history and humanity move forward.
The work that came from all these things coming together had a great influence on how stories were told from that point on in history. Ronald lifted his entire art form to new heights when he took those moments of inspiration through the forge of his creativity to produce a work of art still talked about and praised to this day, The Lord of the Rings. Ronald, more commonly known as J. R. R. Tolkien is just one example of how closely Inspiration, experience, and creativity are tied together. His stories and his life story show how it’s not only from within us that inspiration comes, but also from without; from people and places; from conversation and retrospection; and even from sheer boredom. From him we can see that creativity is not a talent one is born with, but a skill that is honed over time through education, training, and practice to achieve mastery and an understanding of how to turn ideas into work; to turn dreams into art.