ABSTRACT
From the Old English Beowulf to J. R. R. Tolkien's work, whether as the writer of The Lord of the Rings or as critic and scholar of Old and Middle English literature, wetlands and marsh monsters get bad press. Beowulf interpolates several verses into the biblical book of Genesis that explain the propagation of monsters and that justify regarding wetlands as evil, pagan places. Tolkien's take on wetlands achieves its ultimate expression and pejorative representation in the 'Dead Marshes' in The Two Towers, the second volume of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in a chapter called 'The Passage of the Marshes'. The Dead Marshes are not only a liminal place between land and water but also a twilit crepuscular place between night and day, dark and light. The initial sensory encounter entering the Dead Marshes is via the distancing sense of sight, whereas this more immediate experience is via the up-close sense of smell.
