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As several members have said I too have tended to skip the poems/songs desiring to get on with the story. In the Hobbit I used to find the songs of the elves and goblins too frivolous and Tom Bombadil in LotR similarly out of kilter. However, since listening to the BBC radio versions of the books I've found myself drawn to them, especially Sam's songs.
The fact Tom does not appear in any radio or film version has made him seem more important when reading and I realise now that his style is rather comparable to the elven songs in the Hobbit and the humming of Treebeard: fah la la lally.../hey dol dey dol.../hoom hom...
These poems sort of provide reference points; they point to one another across the two books in so much as they show the oldest races retaining the most childlike traits: ba ba, la la, ma ma, da da...
Maybe I'm just appreciating the childlike more because I'm getting older?
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We see everything from behind, and it looks brutal. That is not a tree, but the back of a tree ...everything is stooping and hiding a face. ~ G.K. Chesterton
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