The assorted finds of Artefact Publishing
This week I was treated to two excellent lectures on the subject of song in The Lord of the Rings, and it reminded me of Michael’s criticism of the rhyme schemes and stress patterns. I think this is one of those occasions where analysis and comparison are helpful in bringing out the true quality of a work. I likewise had never cared much for the verse as poetry (though that is in fact true of poetry as a whole, not just Tolkien’s); now, however, I can see more of what is going on.
There are, for example, many end-of-line rhyming schemes in use. A quick perusal reveals ABAB (The Fall of Gil-galad), ABACBABC (Song of Beren and Lúthien), ABCCB (Man in the Moon), AABB (Galadriel’s verses to Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli), and AABCCB (one of Gollum’s songs). Many verses do not use rhyme in any deliberate way, particularly the songs of Rohan which, in keeping with the Anglo-Saxon parallel, use alliteration to join half lines (“Forth rode the king, fear behind him”). He never uses the heroic couplet. Bilbo’s song on Eärendil has a complicated metrical scheme which is apparently in imitation or competition with the Middle English Pearl. Here’s a sample verse, with some hopefully useful colour coding:
And over Middle-earth he passed
and heard at last the weeping sore
of women and of elven-maids
In Elder Days, in years of yore.
But on him mighty doom was laid,
till Moon should fade, an orbéd star
to pass, and tarry never more
on Hither Shores where mortals are;
for ever still a herald on
an errand that should never rest
to bear his shining lamp afar
the Flammifer of Westernesse.
There may be more going on than I have indicated.
Posted by jamie on September 19, 2003 17:50+12:00