Analyzing Tolkien

During the Multi-media project, we all had to find real-life references that Tolkien drew on for his work. Something I wondered about during the research was how many Tolkien intentionally incorporated his writing. I'm sure that all of them influenced his creative decisions but I'm curious if he had the goal in mind of interweaving these historical stories and events with his writing. I'm curious if he was reviewing medieval texts and thinking "this would make a good story for the Silmarillion" or if it was mostly unconscious. I have this feeling that for a lot of them he wasn't intentionally inserting real-life into his writings. I think the best example of this is the connections to world war 1. Tolkien always denied any of his works being allegorical to real-life events. I doubt he had any fondness for literature glorifying war. What I think happened was those events influenced his world view so fundamentally that they inevitably slipped into his writing. He experienced the desperation of war but was lucky enough to escape. It's obvious he felt that there was some sort of higher plan that allowed him to escape from death. This is the sentiment that slips into all his writing. I like to think about his influences this way. He was a man who just wrote from his own honest perspective. He created a world that made sense to him and it touched millions of people. I think that's really amazing.