they're peeping among the cloud rack above a dart or high up in the mountains
Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while the beauty of it smote his heart as he
looked up out of the Forsaken land and hope returned to him like a shaft clear
and cold the thought pierced him that in the end
the shadow was only a small and passing thing there was light and high beauty
forever beyond its reach when Peter read that passage from one of
his favorite books he paused for a moment and processed the words on the
page on the surface it was merely describing what Samwise Gamgee saw and
how it made him feel through the cloudy gloom up upon the mountains he saw a
white star and that star gave him hope because it's sean through all the
darkness yet there was something more something underneath the literal to
which it made him say aloud Wow that's deep but what did he mean why did
that passage out of the thousands of passages in the trilogy stop him or
better yet how did it stop him the phrase that's deep when we hear it in a
literal sense sounds like someone's talking about the
ocean floor while that might sometimes be the case what Peter meant when he
said that's deep was that the writing was profound so in order for us to
understand what makes something deep we must understand what makes something
profound the word profound has many definitions but the one we will be
relying on is this one going far beneath what a superficial external or obvious
yes Sam Gamgee saw the star but it was what the star represented that made the
passage profound it was so beautiful that its motifs heart and even looking
at all the destruction he had hope perhaps we have all been where Sam
Gamgee was not literally not Mount Doom but we have all been in a situation
where we felt as though we were ready to surrender there
were moments where we felt hopeless Peter certainly did
he was neck deep in steam dead and looking for employment in the
entertainment industry of course the world was not looking for
another filmmaker and any project he wanted to get off the ground was
consistently met with rejections he was in the clouds on the dark tour ready to
quit but the star a lights of high Beauty can never be dimmed by the shadow
the shadow in Peters world was the debt no matter how deep he falls into debt
his love for filmmaking and storytelling will never die the star was his passion
and when looking up upon it he remembered the feeling he got when he
premiered his first student film in high school the audience laughed and cheered
it was what he loved doing it made him happy it fulfilled him it kept him warm
and made him feel as though life his little life was worth living and that
life that will to live hang so high above the debt that he knew poverty
would never make him hate his passion for he was living for his passion not
for his debt he closed the book and placed it to the side Peter filled with
hope and inspiration his white star visible through the darkness those and
picks up his camera and starts filming he didn't ask for permission he didn't
ask for a budget he didn't go get approval or a permit
like Sam he focused on the twinkling star and not the forsaken land beneath
for like a shaft clear and cold the thought pierced him that in the end
the shadow was only a small and passing thing we all have a shadow a capital
problem that follows us but Tolkien doesn't make it obvious he layers it
with imagery and symbolism imagery is a vivid and descriptive language
it creates visuals in the readers mind by appealing to the senses in this case
sight they're peeping among the cloud rack
above a dark poor high up in the mountains Sam saw a white star twinkle
for a while symbolism is the use of characters
setting or objects to present an abstract idea
it holds hidden meanings and requires some deeper thinking to identify in this
example it was the star and the shadow for like a shaft clear and cold
the thought pierced him that in the end the shadow was only a small and passing
thing there was a light and high beauty forever beyond its reach of course
token didn't have Peter in mind when he wrote the story but by using imagery and
symbolism he was able to emotionally impact a wider audience and his writing
has lasted generations that is what profound writing can do profound writing
transcends time and space it captures what it's like to be human without ever
stating the obvious it lies not on the surface and requires the individual with
their own values and personal experiences to dig underneath and it's
the process of digging that makes a piece of writing deep is there a
profound passage of writing that really resonated with you I'd love to read it
so please share it in the comments below and if you've enjoyed this video check
out these two other videos in the series I'll see you there