LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 11 - A Knife in the Dark

[davem]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

We have also in this chapter Aragorn's song of Beren and Luthien - in my opinion, one of Tolkien's finest bits of verse. The rhyme scheme is not too complex, but quite effective: ABACBABC. The first C line of each stanza always feels just slightly unexpected, as if we assume it will rhyme with B - then not only does it fail to rhyme, it also ends with two unstressed syllables instead of a single stressed one. The result is a sort of unresolved, trailing off feeling that pulls us along to the end of the stanza, where finally sense is made of the C line.

Just to note that anyone interested in this poem should get hold of the volume Tolkien's Legendarium, & read the essay 'Three Elvish Verse Modes', especially the section on ann-thennath.

One thing that did strike me this time was what the Nazgul did to the hobbits beds in the inn - the sheer frenzy of the attack is appalling. Its as if they lost control of themselves - yet in other parts of the book we get the sense of them as cold & calculating. Its as if they can only function on two 'levels', one where everything is organised, ritualised, structured - even their cruelty, & the other where they kind of explode in an animal frenzy.

Finally, & this probably belongs in the HoME companion thread, so I'll keep it short: its interesting that in the original draft its Trotter who is eating the apple & throws it at Bill Ferny, not Sam. Its as if when Trotter becomes Strider, that 'apple-throwing' part of him is transferred to Sam - maybe this helps explain the sudden development of Sam's character which Mithalwen mentions.