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Errantry
"Errantry" is a three-page poem by J.R.R. Tolkien, first published in ''The Oxford Magazine'' in 1933. It was included in revised and extended form in Tolkien's 1962 collection of short poems, ''The Adventures of Tom Bombadil''. Donald Swann set the poem to music in his 1967 song cycle, ''The Road Goes Ever On''. The poem has a complex metre, invented by Tolkien. It fits the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's patter song, " I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General". It shares metre and rhyming patterns with the "Song of Eärendil", a poem entirely different in tone. The scholar Paul H. Kocher calls the pair "obviously designed for contrast". The Tolkien scholar Randel Helms calls it "a stunningly skillful piece of versification... with smooth and lovely rhythms". Tolkien described it as "the most attractive" of his poems. Poem Subject The '' J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia'' describes "Errantry" as "the nonsensical adventures of a tiny messenger knight who falls in love w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Song Of Eärendil
The Song of Eärendil is the longest poem in ''The Lord of the Rings''. In the fiction, it is sung and composed by the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins in the Elvish sanctuary of Rivendell. It tells how the mariner Eärendil tries to sail to a place of paradise, and acquires a Silmaril, a prized sun-jewel. Eventually he and his ship are set in the heavens to sail forever as the light of the Morning Star. The work is described by the philologist and Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey as exemplifying "an elvish streak ... signalled ... by barely-precedented intricacies" of poetry. This corresponds to the tradition of complex poetic mechanisms seen in the Middle English poem ''Pearl''. The "Song of Eärendil" was written to contrast with another of Tolkien's poems, "Errantry", which uses the same mechanisms to quite different effect. In the narrative, the Hobbit Frodo Baggins, recently healed from a dangerous wound, listens to the poem in Keatsian style. History of composition The longest poem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Adventures Of Tom Bombadil
''The Adventures of Tom Bombadil'' is a 1962 collection of poetry by J. R. R. Tolkien. The book contains 16 poems, two of which feature Tom Bombadil, a character encountered by Frodo Baggins in ''The Lord of the Rings''. The rest of the poems are an assortment of bestiary verse and fairy tale rhyme. Three of the poems appear in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as well. The book is part of Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. The volume includes ''The Sea-Bell'', subtitled ''Frodos Dreme'', which W. H. Auden considered Tolkien's best poem. It is a piece of metrical and rhythmical complexity that recounts a journey to a strange land beyond the sea. Drawing on medieval 'dream vision' poetry and Irish ''immram'' poems, the piece is markedly melancholic and the final note is one of alienation and disillusion. The book was originally illustrated by Pauline Baynes and later by Roger Garland. The book, like the first edition of ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', is presented as if it is an actual ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Road Goes Ever On
''The Road Goes Ever On'' is a 1967 song cycle that has been published as a book of sheet music and as an audio recording. The music was written by Donald Swann, and the words are taken from poems in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings, especially ''The Lord of the Rings''. The title of the song cycle is taken from " The Road Goes Ever On", the first song in the collection. The songs form a song cycle, designed to fit together when played in sequence. The ninth song "Lúthien Tinúviel" was added in an appendix rather than in the main sequence. Swann performed the cycle for Tolkien, who approved of the music except for the Quenya song "Namárië"; he suggested it should be in the style of a Gregorian chant, which he hummed; Swann used that melody for the song. Music With Tolkien's approval, Donald Swann wrote the music for this song cycle; much of it resembles English traditional music or folk music. The sole exception is the Quenya song "Namárië", which was bas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
