The River Mother??? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Bêthberry · 11-11-2003, 08:48 PM

In addition to the appearances in LOTR, Goldberry is mentioned in the verse sequence called The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, found in Tales of the Perilous Realm. These are mainly nonsense verse, but there is a Preface in which Tolkien parodies the academic style of research and sources. There, he says the verses were written by hobbits and are "on the surface, lighthearted and frivolous", representative of hobbit fondness for "rhyming and metrical tricks".

In the poem of the same name, we are told how Tom first saw Goldberry, "the River-woman's daughter" in the Withywindle. Coyly, she would swim away from him, but one day he caught her sitting in the rushes and brought her back to marry her "under the Hill." Tom told Goldberry, "Never mind your mother/ in her deep weedy pool: there you'll find no lover."

Tolkien refers to Goldberry's association with seasonal change in letter #210: "Goldberry represents the actual seasonal changes in such lands." Thus, her 'washing day' which brings the rain to keep the hobbits a day longer with Bombadil.

I personally think she represents Tolkien's effort to write a Persephone myth without the recourse to her abduction by Pluto and journey in the Underworld.

Oh, and by the way, for my RPG character, she's "Mum." [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

11-11-2003, 08:48 PM	#7
Bêthberry Cryptic Aura Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 6,003	In addition to the appearances in LOTR, Goldberry is mentioned in the verse sequence called The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, found in Tales of the Perilous Realm. These are mainly nonsense verse, but there is a Preface in which Tolkien parodies the academic style of research and sources. There, he says the verses were written by hobbits and are "on the surface, lighthearted and frivolous", representative of hobbit fondness for "rhyming and metrical tricks". In the poem of the same name, we are told how Tom first saw Goldberry, "the River-woman's daughter" in the Withywindle. Coyly, she would swim away from him, but one day he caught her sitting in the rushes and brought her back to marry her "under the Hill." Tom told Goldberry, "Never mind your mother/ in her deep weedy pool: there you'll find no lover." Tolkien refers to Goldberry's association with seasonal change in letter #210: "Goldberry represents the actual seasonal changes in such lands." Thus, her 'washing day' which brings the rain to keep the hobbits a day longer with Bombadil. I personally think she represents Tolkien's effort to write a Persephone myth without the recourse to her abduction by Pluto and journey in the Underworld. Oh, and by the way, for my RPG character, she's "Mum." [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] __________________ I’ll sing his roots off. I’ll sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away.