Out of the Shire: Romanticism in a Post-Tolkien Era

Romanticism is also, properly understood, deeply sacramental. Like all good things in this world, it can be perverted in and to varying degrees. It's love of the past and one's ancestry can be unthinkingly reactionary, its love of place can become pantheistic, and its love of the folk can become nationalistic and even, at times, downright fascistic.