Best poem in Middle-earth?

arvedui_last_king · 02-22-2006, 10:50 AM

What's your favourite poem in Middle-earth (not including the Lays of Beleriand). Mine is King Sheave, in The Lost Road, because it is beautiful, and it links Tolkien's mythology with the mythology of the real world.

BeardofPants · 02-22-2006, 11:27 AM

From BoLT:
O ancient city on a leaguered hill!
Old Shadows linger in your broken gate,
Your stones are grey, your halls now are still,
Your towers silent in the mists await
Their crumbling end, while through the storeyed elms
The River Gliding leaves these inland realms
And slips between long meadows to the Sea,
Still bearing down by weir and murmuring fall
One day and then another to the Sea;
And slowly thither many days have gone
Since first the Edain built Kortirion.

Count Comfect · 02-22-2006, 02:54 PM

From the Hobbit:

Far over the misty mountains cold
Through dungeons deep, and caverns old
We must away ere break of day
To claim our long-forgotten gold etc.

That song/poem always gives me chills for some reason.

Lady Marion Magdalena · 02-22-2006, 09:07 PM

The reprise to the Tra-la-la-lally song is pretty good (suprisingly). Unfortunately I haven't got a copy of the Hobbit with me...

***Rían*** · 02-22-2006, 09:33 PM

I've always loved the Gil-Galad poem in LOTR, altho I'm not particularly fond of Gil-Galad ... that poem is what got me interested in the Sil and the First Age stuff. There's just something in that poem that calls to something in me ...

littleadanel · 02-23-2006, 03:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Count Comfect

From the Hobbit:

Far over the misty mountains cold
Through dungeons deep, and caverns old
We must away ere break of day
To claim our long-forgotten gold etc.

That song/poem always gives me chills for some reason.

I love that one! Dwarvish (sp?) singing is something to give you the chills. Gimli's song in Moria, for the same reason. (And both have awesome Hungarian translations as well.)

Forfirith · 02-23-2006, 06:20 AM

I haven't got a favorite poem, because I think all are really fantastic..

But, well, I like the in khazad-dûm by Gimli too, and the one of Bilbo "The Road goes ever on and on...". I'm reading the Lost Tales now, and I've also liked the one on the Cottage of Lost Play (You and Me).

arvedui_last_king · 02-23-2006, 01:37 PM

Reciting off the top of my head Gimli's song:

Mighty kings in Nargothrond

and Gondolin, who now beyond

the western seas have passed away.

littleadanel · 02-23-2006, 03:44 PM

*goes on with reciting*

...
The world is grey, the mountains old,
the forge's fire is ashen-cold;
no harp is wrung, no hammer falls,
the darkness dwells in Durin's halls.
A shadow lies upon his tomb
in Moria, in Khazad-dum.
But still the sunken stars appear
in dark and windless Mirrormere:
there lies his crown in water deep
till Durin wakes again from sleep.

Ahh, good ol' days when I got my English copy of LOTR and was so utterly fascinated... (I used to know Bilbo's Eärendil-poem by heart. From beginning to end.

Now I tend to mix its parts up...)

Currently I'm reading The Book of Lost Tales; my favourite poem so far is the Song of Aryador.

Sam · 04-27-2006, 10:02 PM

it's more of a song, but i still thought that it shoud go here

ho, tom bombadil tom bombadillo
by the water wood and hill, by the reed and willow
by fire, sun and moon harken now and here us
come tom bombadil for our need is near us

i like it because it's one that i actualy memorized

Beren3000 · 04-29-2006, 07:18 AM

My all-time middle-earth favorite poem has to be Beren's farewell song:

"Farewell sweet earth and northern sky..."

durinsbane2244 · 05-02-2006, 08:27 PM

there was this one, little sumthin like:
there once was a man from nantucket-
er, i mean...uh...the poem bilbo does in rivendell "I sit beside the fire and think..." i love it!

EllethValatari · 01-21-2009, 10:24 PM

I LOVE Tolkien's Kortirion Amoung the Trees. It's so beautiful and just captures the beauty of the places where Elves dwell. I have it memorized!

The Dread Pirate Roberts · 02-06-2009, 11:39 AM

I like Sam's "old troll" poem.

02-22-2006, 10:50 AM	#1
arvedui_last_king Hobbit Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: The United Kingdom of Ireland Posts: 30	Best poem in Middle-earth? What's your favourite poem in Middle-earth (not including the Lays of Beleriand). Mine is King Sheave, in The Lost Road, because it is beautiful, and it links Tolkien's mythology with the mythology of the real world.

02-22-2006, 11:27 AM	#2
BeardofPants the Shrike Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: San Francisco, CA <3 Posts: 10,647	From BoLT: O ancient city on a leaguered hill! Old Shadows linger in your broken gate, Your stones are grey, your halls now are still, Your towers silent in the mists await Their crumbling end, while through the storeyed elms The River Gliding leaves these inland realms And slips between long meadows to the Sea, Still bearing down by weir and murmuring fall One day and then another to the Sea; And slowly thither many days have gone Since first the Edain built Kortirion. __________________ "Binary solo! 0000001! 00000011! 0000001! 00000011!" ~ The Humans are Dead, Flight of the Conchords

02-22-2006, 02:54 PM	#3
Count Comfect Word Santa Claus Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 2,922	From the Hobbit: Far over the misty mountains cold Through dungeons deep, and caverns old We must away ere break of day To claim our long-forgotten gold etc. That song/poem always gives me chills for some reason. __________________ Sufficient to have stood, yet free to fall.

02-22-2006, 09:07 PM	#4
Lady Marion Magdalena Elf Lord Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: In a Field of Giant Daisies. Posts: 821	The reprise to the Tra-la-la-lally song is pretty good (suprisingly). Unfortunately I haven't got a copy of the Hobbit with me... __________________ "Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; Leave me my name!" - The Crucible "nolite hippopotamum vexare!"

02-22-2006, 09:33 PM	#5
*Rían* Half-Elven Princess of Rabbit Trails and Harp-Wielding Administrator (beware the Rubber Chicken of Doom!) Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Not where I want to be ... Posts: 15,254	I've always loved the Gil-Galad poem in LOTR, altho I'm not particularly fond of Gil-Galad ... that poem is what got me interested in the Sil and the First Age stuff. There's just something in that poem that calls to something in me ... __________________ . I should be doing the laundry, but this is MUCH more fun! Ñá ë?* óú éä ïöü Öñ É Þ ð ß ® ç å ™ æ ♪ ?* "How lovely are Thy dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! ... For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand outside." (from Psalm 84) * * * God rocks! Entmoot : Veni, vidi, velcro - I came, I saw, I got hooked! Ego numquam pronunciare mendacium, sed ego sum homo indomitus! Run the earth and watch the sky ... Auta i lómë! Aurë entuluva!

02-23-2006, 06:20 AM	#7
Forfirith Hobbit Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Brussels Posts: 17	I haven't got a favorite poem, because I think all are really fantastic.. But, well, I like the in khazad-dûm by Gimli too, and the one of Bilbo "The Road goes ever on and on...". I'm reading the Lost Tales now, and I've also liked the one on the Cottage of Lost Play (You and Me).

02-23-2006, 01:37 PM	#8
arvedui_last_king Hobbit Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: The United Kingdom of Ireland Posts: 30	Reciting off the top of my head Gimli's song: Mighty kings in Nargothrond and Gondolin, who now beyond the western seas have passed away.

02-23-2006, 03:44 PM	#9
littleadanel of the House of Bëor Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Eastwards. Posts: 979	goes on with reciting ... The world is grey, the mountains old, the forge's fire is ashen-cold; no harp is wrung, no hammer falls, the darkness dwells in Durin's halls. A shadow lies upon his tomb in Moria, in Khazad-dum. But still the sunken stars appear in dark and windless Mirrormere: there lies his crown in water deep till Durin wakes again from sleep. Ahh, good ol' days when I got my English copy of LOTR and was so utterly fascinated... (I used to know Bilbo's Eärendil-poem by heart. From beginning to end. Now I tend to mix its parts up...) Currently I'm reading The Book of Lost Tales; my favourite poem so far is the Song of Aryador. __________________ I'm good in bed - I can sleep for days

04-27-2006, 10:02 PM	#10
Sam Elven Warrior Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 251	it's more of a song, but i still thought that it shoud go here ho, tom bombadil tom bombadillo by the water wood and hill, by the reed and willow by fire, sun and moon harken now and here us come tom bombadil for our need is near us i like it because it's one that i actualy memorized __________________ Sam, son of Mark

04-29-2006, 07:18 AM	#11
Beren3000 Fëanorophobic Join Date: May 2004 Location: Between the pages of a book Posts: 1,417	My all-time middle-earth favorite poem has to be Beren's farewell song: "Farewell sweet earth and northern sky..."

05-02-2006, 08:27 PM	#12
durinsbane2244 Dreamweaver Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: The Misty Mountains, where the spirits go... Posts: 3,560	there was this one, little sumthin like: there once was a man from nantucket- er, i mean...uh...the poem bilbo does in rivendell "I sit beside the fire and think..." i love it! __________________ Lord, what fools these mortals be! ---------------- We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams; World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world for ever, it seems. ---------------- Shanti, shanti, shantih...

01-21-2009, 10:24 PM	#13
EllethValatari Elven Warrior Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: United States Posts: 401	I LOVE Tolkien's Kortirion Amoung the Trees. It's so beautiful and just captures the beauty of the places where Elves dwell. I have it memorized! __________________ Elleth Valatari "We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Our myths may be misguided, but they steer however shakily towards the true harbour, while materialistic 'progress' leads only to a yawning abyss and the Iron Crown of the power of evil." — J.R.R. Tolkien

02-06-2009, 11:39 AM	#14
The Dread Pirate Roberts Elf Lord Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 987	I like Sam's "old troll" poem. __________________ ~The DPR "Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning."

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