The first age is freaking weird

[Tinman]

I don't know if its just me... and I haven't entirely read through the simirilian yet, so bear with me, but the first age seems really weird to me. In a sense, it seems kind of like the Christian old testament compared to the new testament. Things seem much more grand, and in a sense, unbelievable, in the first age. Giant trees, a spider that poisons them, the lamps, sending the ship into the sky with the simiril, the epic scale of the destruction of Morgoth...

Then compare it to the story of the lord of the rings. While, epic, and fantastic, it is in no way near the same level of the first age stories. In fact, its SUCH a contrast, that the first age seems... well, "unbelievable".

Is it possible that the first age is to be taken metaphorically? Have the stories been exadurated by passing them through word of mouth over the generations, much like our own stories?