Ancillary Concerns

We learned this semester that Tolkien's works were all supported by a great many ingredients. I am referring, of course, to the stew metaphor that came up quite often in class. I wonder what sources all of you drew from to understand the works of Tolkien? What lenses you viewed his work through? In personal terms, I definitely looked at Tolkien's works from a small background in philosophy and a definite background in creative literature. I also understood Tolkien's works visually, through the lens of theatre (a realm of cause and effect, stakes, power, and hyper-acute representations of life). For example, the split in Gollum's nature is defined by which side is defying the other. Whichever is doing the defying has less at stake, and more power in the situation. That is a classic setup for theatric tension. What do you think? How did you understand the works of Tolkien?