Editing Valinor (section)

=== Celtic influence ===

{{further|Tolkien and the Celtic}}

The scholar of English literature [[Paul H. Kocher]] writes that the Undying Lands of the Uttermost West including Eldamar and Valinor, is "so far outside our experience that Tolkien can only ask us to take it completely on faith."{{sfn|Kocher|1974}} Kocher comments that these lands have an integral place both geographically and spiritually in Middle-earth, and that their closest literary equivalents are the ''[[Immram|imrama]]'' Celtic tales from the early Middle Ages. The ''imrama'' tales describe how Irish adventurers such as [[Saint Brendan]] sailed the seas looking for the "Land of Promise". He notes that it is certain that Tolkien knew these stories, since in 1955 he wrote a poem, entitled ''Imram'', about Brendan's voyage.{{sfn|Kocher|1974}}{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=324–328}}