: : I think the statement about the mythology for England really
: : refers to his very earliest writings - BoLT.

: : However, you cannot logically exclude the possibility
: : of him having two intents behind writing LotR on the basis of
: : that single statement.

: : Yes, he did want to write a long story etc, but that
: : statement alone doesn't preclude/exclude the possibility of
: : him wanting it to be a mythology as well.

: Too, we can not conclude that because of that statement,
: Tolkien didn't have another reason, that at the time of writing
: the foreward he didn't feel compelled to share with people. I
: agree that his primary goal was entertainment, as he seemed to
: always attest to just being a storyteller, but it does seem
: likely that he was also influenced to create a mythos as well,
: since the Sim is a very creation and origin oriented book to
: explain the world of LOTR.

The "mythology for England" is an oft-cited concept that I feel is not well understood. THE BOOK OF LOST TALES represents the "mythology for England". It is distinguished from later writings which rework the themes and characters in a number of ways, most significant of which is that England figures in the mythology.

On at least one occasion, Tolkien referred to THE LORD OF THE RINGS as part of that mythology, but technically it belongs to a later mythology in which England itself is no longer present (though indisputably many English elements are, for completely unrelated reasons).

It's always difficult to summarize the progression of the mythology, but I like to break it down into several phases:

1) The Mythology for England, composed in The Book of Lost Tales, and published in THE BOOK OF LOST TALES Part One and Part Two.

Tolkien worked on this phase of the mythology from approximately late 1916 through mid-1925.

2) The "new mythology" which emerged as a consequence of abandoning the old mythological concept of using England as the basis for the stories. This mythology was launched in 1925 with "The Sketch of the Mythology", a brief outline of what was to become 'The Silmarillion' (a narrative work which should not be confused with THE SILMARILLION, a book published by Christopher Tolkien as his father's posthumous editor).

Tolkien worked on this phase of the mythology from about 1926 to about 1931. It was during this time that Tolkien worked on the original lays for Beren and Luthien and for the Children of Hurin.

3) The first revision of the Silmarillion mythology. This covers the period from about 1931 through 1937, and it was during this time that Tolkien first devised the legend of Numenor and brought "Quenta Silmarillion' to its most complete and finished form before abandoning it. Tolkien also composed the original 'Hobbit' in these years, and all these works were essentially unrelated.

4) The HOBBIT/LOTR mythology. THE HOBBIT established a new world which Tolkien felt to be complete. It made literary borrowings from the unpublished Silmarillion mythology but owed no obligations of faithfulness to that mythology. Tolkien's readers and publishers, however, felt that more should be said about hobbits, though Tolkien at first couldn't think of anything. He eventually produced THE LORD OF THE RINGS.

These were the years 1936 - 1954, the years in which Tolkien revised THE HOBBIT twice (once for publication and once to be consistent with THE LORD OF THE RINGS) and wrote THE LORD OF THE RINGS. With the writing of LOTR, which began merely as a sequel to the very popular HOBBIT, Tolkien made the momentous decision to bring together the stories of Beleriand, Numenor, and the hobbits to create what we now call "Middle-earth".

During these years Tolkien also began revising substantially texts related to the Silmarillion mythology, and altering the cosmology of the entire world. These texts included "Ainulindale" and the "Annals of Beleriand" and "Annals of Aman".

5) The post-LOTR era, or phase II of the HOBBIT/LOTR mythology.

Tolkien reworked much of the Silmarillion mythology into a more detailed mythology which was compatible (or nearly so) with the world he had created for LOTR. He also wrote secondary texts to supplemennt LOTR (such as "The Battles of the Fords of Isen", "The Palantiri", et. al.).

These were the years from approximately 1954 through 1966 or thereabouts. Although he introduced some changes to "established" elements and continually worked at revisions of new material and previously unpublished Silmarillion-related material, these years represent the work where Tolkien was trying to stay close to the LOTR "canon". He published THE ROAD GOES EVER ON and THE ADVENTURES OF TOM BOMBADIL in these years.

6) The final period, or the New Cosmology. Tolkien came to believe, late in life, that the Silmarillion mythology could never have been recorded the way it was written, because the Elves should have understand the nature of the true universe better than the stories imply.

These are the years from 1968 through 1972, the last year in which Tolkien worked on anything related to Middle-earth. He intended to reconstruct the entire cosmology for Arda and therefore was abandoning old ideas right and left. Very little if anything of the old BOOK OF LOST TALES would have survived, in my opinion.
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