[Evisse the Blue]

I was surprised that very few people seemed to notice it.

I noticed it alright - it's beautiful! Don't forget its 'pair", the one about the muster of Rohan, same style:

"(...) Forth rode the king, fear behind him,
fate before him. Fealty kept he;
oaths he had taken, all fulfilled them.
(.....) Doom drove them on. Darkness took them,
horse and horseman; hoofbeats afar
sank into silence; so the songs tell us."

Oh, and some of the other bits that I enjoy:
- about the Pukel men;
- Tom Bombadil calling and naming the ponys
Oh and before I forget: One of my favourite quotes from the book:

It is time to get up. It is half past four and very foggy.

(Merry waking up Frodo, chapter Old Forest . Imagine being Frodo, knowing there's the mother of all dangerous and compulsory quests lying ahead of you, you've just been brutally awakened from a beautiful dream about the Sea and on top of it all, it's half past four and very foggy. Woah. Exceptional cruelty...

Speaking of sleep, there are many bits about sleep that I love, and when I read them I feel like putting the book down and sleeping sound as a baby! Take for instance, the scenes with the hobbits sleeping in the house of Bombadil, or with Merry and Pippin at Wellinghall:

Merry and Pippin climbed on to the bed and curled up in the soft grass and fern. It was fresh and sweet scented and warm. the lights died down, and the glow of the trees faded; but outside under the arch they could see old Treebeard standing, motionsless, with his arms raised above his head. The bright stars peered out of the sky, and lit the falling water as it spilled on to his fingers and head, and dripped, dropped, in hundreds of silver drops on to his feet. Listening to the tinkling of the drops the hobbits fell asleep.