J.R.R. Tolkien's life has been spent in the British university system where he has studied the ancient languages of Europe, especially those from which modern English is derived. (Preface)

In describing the present condition of Western European culture, Robert Langbaum bluntly asserts that there is now no "publicly accepted moral and emotional Truth, there are only perspectives toward it—those partial meanings which individuals may get a glimpse of at particular moments."