How does J. R. R. Tolkien use imagery in The Lord of the Rings?

Tolkien's imagery is rooted in the traditional. There has been some critical disquiet at his use of black and white, but careful reading demonstrates that it is complex and heavily nuanced. The corrupt wizard Saruman's color is white, Aragorn's banner is white on a black field and he wears black armor. Grey is a privileged color, elven cloaks are grey, Gandalf's color is grey. Similarly some critics have equated Tolkien's use of the 'industrial' landscape with class hatred or dislike for the urban industrial proletariat, an idea which is as far from his opinions as it was from Blake's when he wrote of 'dark satanic mills.' Two images are worth particular attention. One is of a great wave rearing up over fields, houses and trees, drowning the land of Númenor, the reflex of a dream Tolkien had from childhood. The second is Tolkien's complicated use of trees and forests running the full gamut of positive and negative meaning, from the trees of the Valar to Old Man Willow.