Favourite song or poem from lord of the rings or the hobbit

[Serevian The Ranger]

What is your favourite song or poem from lord of the rings or the hobbit ?

[ December 16, 2001: Message edited by: Serevian The Ranger ]

[Tarlondeion Of Gondolin]

Definatley a tie between the song that Frodo sings in the Prancing Pony and the song about Gil Galad sung by Aragorn

[Elanor]

I've always loved In Western Lands Beneath the Sun. Beautiful, moving and hopeful as well as sad.

[Gorthaur the Cruel]

The poem Gimli recites about Durin has been a favorite of mine.

[Durin'sBane]

Gotta be Bilbo's Aragorn theme: "Not all those who wander are lost..."

[Elfkor]

My favorite would have to be "A Elbereth Gilthonial".

[Serevian The Ranger]

Mine Is the one sam(i think it was sam)sings about the troll and the guy

[Elrian]

That's a toss up between "The road goes ever on and on", and "All that is gold does not glitter" smilies/redface.gif

[ December 08, 2001: Message edited by: Elrian ]

[Orald]

Definately anything by Bombadil. smilies/biggrin.gif smilies/biggrin.gif smilies/biggrin.gif

[red]

Tra-la-la-lally! That's from The Hobbit actually. Does it still count? smilies/wink.gif

-réd

[Ereinion]

The one in my signature. Gotta love Gil-galad (AKA EREINION)

[Witch King of Angmar]

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

[Fenrir]

Bilbo's last song is my favourite. It doesn't appear in Lord of the Rings but it was used in the BBC radio adaptation.
Here's the last verse:

"Guided by the Lonely Star,
beyond the utmost harbour-bar,
I'll find the heavens fair and free,
and beaches of the Starlit Sea.
Ship, my ship! I seek the West,
and fields and mountains ever blest.
Farewell to Middle-earth at last.
I see the Star above my mast!"

[ December 12, 2001: Message edited by: Fenrir ]

[Elanor]

Hi Fenrir, I love that song too. It's done so beautifully in the Radio version, don't you think?

[shieldmaiden]

I don't know where this is from actually, it's sung by Frodo:

"The Sea-Bell"

Then I saw a boat silently float
on the night-tide, empty and grey
"It is later than late! Why do we wait?"
I leapt in and cried: Bear me away!"

At last here came light in my lonely night,
And I saw my hair hanging grey
"Bent though I be, I must find the sea.
I have lost myself, and I know not the way
but let me be gone!" Then I stumbled on.

[ December 12, 2001: Message edited by: shieldmaiden ]

[mordor136]

It would have to be the one sung by frodo when going to the grey havens.


Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or secrect gate;
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the moon, East of the Sun.

[Inziladun]

The songs and poems are all good, but a favorite is the one of Bilbo's that starts 'The Road goes ever on and on'.

[Jellinek]

The (earlier mentioned) poem about Durin is one of my favourites. Too bad not very much is known about the Dwarves.

Jellinek

[Pirotess]

Really tough to pick..
I'll have to go with Sam's song in the Orc-Tower, followed very closely by The Road goes ever on.. smilies/smile.gif

[Ionia Luffs Reindeer]

Okay... as to the books, I am definitely siding with Frodo's Gandalf tribute. It would be best not to ask me why, as it would be a many-layered and much-meaningful response :P

But you remember the animated Hobbit movie? That song the Orcs sung was the greatest. "Where there's a whip... there's a way!" XD it was the way they sang it.

[Pirotess]

Originally posted by Ionia Luffs Reindeer:
<STRONG>But you remember the animated Hobbit movie?</STRONG>

Hmmm..all that comes to mind from the film are the Orcs singing: «Funny little birds, they had no wings...» For reasons beyond my comprehension, that song is tattooed in my brain..
Bilbo's theme song from that animation was also kool.

And Fenrir:
i had totally forgotten about Bilbo's last song. It truly is a stellar one! *snif*

[Ionia Luffs Reindeer]

Ah! yes! What funny little birds, they had no wings, oh what should we do, with the funny little things? Or something like that. I do award my personal kudos to the movie for making the Orc-songs comedic relief. I adore that song. And now it will be firmly implanted into the depths of my thoughts for a week. I don't know whether to thank you or hit you -_-

[Pirotess]

LOL yes, yes, you know it too!! (is that a good thing? hmmm..)
Oh what should we dooooooo *ducks from Ionia's punch* with the funny little thiiiiiings!! Oh what should we doooo....

[Marileangorifurnimaluim]

The elvish song Gildor sung in the Shire...

A Elbereth, Githoniel!
We still remember, we who dwell..

*****
Alas, I can't properly repeat, I loaned my copy of the FotR. I can hear the music of that song and their ringing bell-like, sylvan voices.. the same tune since I first read it. It's never changed.

[Serevian The Ranger]

Yes The Hobbit Counts

[Ionia Luffs Reindeer]

*Curses as her well-aimed punch meets thin air*

I also like all the elven poetry... even though I can't understand it, it is rather beautiful.

[Marileangorifurnimaluim]

*stands at a safe distance, bemused* I saw it the animated Hobbit when I was 12, before I read the Lord of the Rings, long enough ago that I don't remember any of it! The BBC version, is that the audio series that's circulating now, a set of a dozen tapes?

[Colubra]

Legolas' lament of the sea, followed closely by Tra La La Lally, and I have always been sort of partial to 'Water Hot!' smilies/biggrin.gif

[Theodred21]

Gimli's song of Durin was always one of my favorites. It is strange and mysterious, and beautiful all the same. And the poems and songs by the Rohirrim are also high on my list. But I think the poem that lingers best is the Beren and Luthien poem, it fills me with a sadness whenever I read it. smilies/smile.gif

[Ionia Luffs Reindeer]

I forgot about Water Hot. XD! If they chop THAT one out of the movie I might have to axe some heads.

[Elrian]

Crickhollow isn't in the film either, they go straight to Bree.

[Serevian The Ranger]

what nobody else likes the troll song

[Colubra]

WHAT?? WHAT??? ARGHH! Itsssss not fair. . .preciousssss. Nt a bitssy fair it isn't preciousss. WATER HOT!! NO MORE!

[Woody_Jim]

Dunno what it is called,but the one that the dwarfes sing and play for Bilbo at Bag end, at the start of the hobbit.

It goes something like... (This is just out of memory, so it is probably wrong)

'Far over the misty mountains old,
To dugeons deep and caverns old,
We must away our brake of day.....

[Ionia Luffs Reindeer]

*jaw drops, a gape, a pause, and Ionia bursts into bitter wails and histrionic tears, sniffling and looking for her trusty axe*

[Lotrelf]

Frodo's lament about Gandalf.

[Formendacil]

If I may begin with an aside, it intrigues me how so many of these recently necromanced threads (that's not a complaint, by the by--seriously, it's good to see activity on the forum and activity that gets the old Huorns active again. Besides, necromancy seems a fitting activity for Barrow-wights) here in the Books forum are the sort that, nowadays, would seem more suited to Novices & Newcomers. It's like looking at a layer of an archaeological dig...

Anyway, to the topic at hand--since I do have something to say about it--my personal favourite poem in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is "Eärendil was a Mariner." Part of this is sheer technical dazzlement, since it takes me the better part of a day to compose a line of iambic pentameter, let alone anything more rhythmically complicated than that--to say nothing of rhyme scheme (my own best efforts would probably have a "limerick" effect).

But it's also a matter of topic. This poem is the latest treatment of the Eärendil legend in Tolkien's writings that can be said to be in a finished state, and possibly because of this, I find it to be especially effective as a glimpse into the remoteness of ancient legend. This is in contrast to Aragorn's poem on Beren meeting Lúthien, since we have numerous treatments of that story.

[Belegorn]

I would not say it's a favorite but it's one I do know of by memory, "Far over the Misty Mountains cold to dungeons deep and caverns old, we must away ere break of day to seek the pal enchanted gold."

[Morthoron]

I would say no poem from Tolkien has both a more profound or chilling effect than...

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

I will never forget it, nor the translation of the last few lines into Black Speech...

Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,
Ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.

[Galadriel55]

I love a good many of the poems and used to know a good chunk of them by heart in two languages (mark the "used to":(). If I had to choose an absolute winner, though, I'd go for Felagund's song: He chanted a song of wizardry, / Of piercing, opening, of treachery...

[IxnaY AintsaY]

I don't know if it's my favorite, but "Earendil was a Mariner" / "Errantry" is simply astounding.

Proabably the most stirring for me is the pairing of Eomer's "Out of doubt, out of dark to the day's rising..." and the mourning song closing the same chapter.

Long now they sleepunder grass in Gondor by the Great River.

Grey now as tears, gleaming silver,

red then it rolled, roaring water:

foam dyed with blood flamed at sunset;

as beacons' mountains burned at evening;

red fell the dew in Rammas Echor.

[MCRmyGirl4eva]

The Lament for Boromir. It's so powerful, and I've hand written it over and over just to make sure that the copy I pinned on my wall didn't have any white-out on it.

[Mithalwen]

I don't know if it's my favorite, but "Earendil was a Mariner" / "Errantry" is simply astounding.

Proabably the most stirring for me is the pairing of Eomer's "Out of doubt, out of dark to the day's rising..." and the mourning song closing the same chapter.

Long now they sleepunder grass in Gondor by the Great River.

Grey now as tears, gleaming silver,

red then it rolled, roaring water:

foam dyed with blood flamed at sunset;

as beacons' mountains burned at evening;

red fell the dew in Rammas Echor.

This is used extremely effectively in the BBC Radio version ...now have an earworm!

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Tough call. All 3 of the alliterative Mark poems are wonderful, although I think I prefer "Where are the horse and the Rider." But the echoes of lost history in Gimli's song in Moria are shiver-inducing, and then there is Namarie...

Oh, and I love the bath-song at Crickhollow!

[Faramir Jones]

My favourite is The Troll Song by Sam Gamgee:


Troll sat alone on his seat of stone,
And munched and mumbled a bare old bone;
For many a year he had gnawed it near,
For meat was hard to come by.
Done by! Gum by!
In a cave in the hills he dwelt alone,
And meat was hard to come by.


It's an original composition, showing that there is more to Sam than has previously met the eye. ;) I love listening to Tolkien's singing of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGMFHvxAn4g

That recording is the nearest we're going to get to what Tolkien imagined an 'ordinary' hobbit sounded like when singing. :)

[Belegorn]

Well I'm reading LotR again after some months and forgot about that drinking song! This one is cool:

Ho! Ho! Ho! to the bottle I go
To heal my heart and drown my woe.
Rain may fall and wind may blow,
And many miles be still to go,
But under a tall tree I will lie,
And let the clouds go sailing by.

[Orphalesion]

Well, for me it has to be a toss up between two song concerning the Elves:

"Light as leaves on lindentree", the song about Tenuviel Aragorn sings to the Hobbits and "I sang of leaves", the haunting beautiful lament Galadriel sings before her farewell to the Fellowship.

Both of these songs simply employ very beautiful, "elfish" imagery and, in a way can be seen as a contrast to one another: In the song about Luthien, it is spring and all is green and jubilant:

The leaves were long, the grass was green
the hemlock-umbels tall and fair
And in the glade a light was seen
Tenuviel was dancing there
To music of a pipe unseen,
And light of stars was in her hair
And in her raiment glimmering

It perfectly embodies that "joy" and "wonder" the Elves radiate.

And then, in Galadriel's song, all that is dying with "falling leaves" and "withering flowers" in preparation for "empty, dead days" The magic of the Elves is draining away and disappearing forever, yet not less beautiful in its waning stage than it was in its zenith in the First Age.

[Legolas]

Has to be one of the most memorable, doesn't it? Especially with the lady who's sure otherwise.

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not whither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken:
The crownless again shall be king.

I also like the Song of Beren and Lúthien for all its glimmering and shimmering.

Formendacil, as I read the title of this thread, I thought about moving it, but upon seeing the original date, decided that I shan't dare to disturb such artifacts!

[Orphalesion]

Has to be one of the most memorable, doesn't it? Especially with the lady who's sure otherwise.


I see what you did there :D. Did you know that there is a theory that the "Lady" in "Stairway to Heaven" is a reference to Galadriel?

And on that topic there is of course:

In Dwimordene, in Lorien
Seldom have walked the feet of Men
Few Mortals have seen the light
That lies there ever, long and bright
Galadriel! Galadriel!
Clear is the water in your well
White is the star in your white hand
Unmarred, unstained is leaf and land
In Dwimordene, in Lorien
More fair than thoughts of Mortal Men

*wistful sigh* Not to mention that there lies a potentially untold story here, if we assume that this is a rhyme of the Rohirrim (because of the Dwimordene) then how have they obtained the knowledge about Galadriel's well and "star"(Ring)? Rumors and hearsay? Or has someone of Theoden's folk (perhaps from the time when they still dwelt in the vales of Anduin?) actually been to Lorien and seen Galadriel and her mirror and served her in some unknown quest?

[Mithalwen]

Given how you fell about Rohan generally, you may not have read the section in Unfinished Tales about Cirion and Eorl. When Eorl rode from the North a mist came out of Lorien that sheltered them from Dol Guldur. While useful it rather collectively freaked them out. Also in one of the draft timelin. The Sons of Elrond fought with the Northmen (this was shortly after Celebrían's abduction and no doubt part of their vengeance), maybe they interracted enough with their temporary comrades to pass on some information on Grannie...though the star rereference is a bit indiscreet. Or they might have had dealings with Thranduil's folk who have a similar culture and in earlier times more contact with their southern kin.

I suspect, as with real world nursery rhymes and the like things are only part remembered and context is lost ..maybe the first few lines were familiar and Gandalf supplied the rest?