# What's your favourite poem?



## Licky Linguist (Nov 15, 2020)

LotR, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, etc, have many amazing poems! What's your favourite poem?

My favourite LotR poem is this one:



There is an inn, a merry old inn
Beneath an old grey hill
And there they brew a beer so brown that the Man in the Moon himself came down
One night to drink his fill.

The ostler has a tipsy cat 
That plays a five-stringed fiddle
And up and down he runs his bow
Now squeaking high, now purring low
Now sawing in the middle.

The landlord keeps a little dog
That's mighty fond of jokes
When there's good cheer amng the guests
He cocks an ear at all the jests
And laughs until he chokes.


(I memorized it 😉)

And my favorite Hobbit poem is:

The wind was on the withered heath
but in the forest stirred no leaf: 
there shadows lay by night and day, 
and dark things silent crept beneath. 


The wind came down from mountains cold, 
and like a tide it roared and rolled; 
the branches groaned, 
the forest moaned, 
and leaves were laid upon the mould. 


The wind went on from West to East; 
all movement in the forest ceased, 
but shrill and harsh across the marsh
its whistling voices were released. 


The grasses hissed, 
their tassels bent, 
the reeds were rattling—on it went


o’er shaken pool under heavens cool 
where racing clouds were torn and rent. 
It passed the lonely Mountain bare 
and swept above the dragon’s lair: 


there black and dark lay boulders stark 
and flying smoke was in the air. 
It left the world and took its flight
over the wide seas of the night. 


The moon set sail upon the gale, 
and stars were fanned to leaping light.


Which are your favorites? Share 'em here!


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## Erestor Arcamen (Nov 15, 2020)

That one's actually mine too 😌


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## Ealdwyn (Nov 15, 2020)

I'm not sure if it's my favourite, but I always enjoy this one from The Hobbit:

_Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away ere break of day
To seek the pale enchanted gold.

The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hollow halls beneath the fells.

For ancient king and elvish lord
There many a gleaming golden hoard
They shaped and wrought, and light they caught
To hide in gems on hilt of sword.

On silver necklaces they strung
The flowering stars, on crowns they hung
The dragon-fire, in twisted wire
They meshed the light of moon and sun.

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

Goblets they carved there for themselves
And harps of gold; where no man delves
There lay they long, and many a song
Was sung unheard by men or elves.

The pines were roaring on the height,
The winds were moaning in the night.
The fire was red, it flaming spread;
The trees like torches blazed with light.

The bells were ringing in the dale
And men looked up with faces pale;
The dragon’s ire, more fierce than fire
Laid low their towers and houses frail.

The mountains smoked beneath the moon;
The dwarves, they heard the tramp of doom.
They fled their hall, to dying fall
Beneath his feet, beneath the moon.

Far over the misty mountains grim
To dungeons deep and caverns dim
We must away, ere break of day,
To win our harps and gold from him! _


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## Starbrow (Nov 15, 2020)

I have memorized several of the poems in LOTR. My favorite is this one.

All that is gold does not glitter.
Not all who wander are lost.
The old that is strong does not wither.
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken.
A light from the shadows shall spring.
Renewed shall be blade that was broken.
The crownless again shall be king.

I also really like the Lay of Leithian, but it's a little too long to print here.


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## Culaeron (Nov 16, 2020)

_O slender as a willow-wand! O clearer than clear water!
O reed by the living pool! Fair River-daughter!
O spring-time and summer-time, and spring again after!
O wind on the waterfall, and the leaves' laughter!_


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## Aldarion (Nov 17, 2020)

Starbrow said:


> I have memorized several of the poems in LOTR. My favorite is this one.
> 
> All that is gold does not glitter.
> Not all who wander are lost.
> ...



That is my favourite as well. Not only is it well-written, but also talks of preservation, tradition and most importantly, *hope*.


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## Bellerophon (Nov 19, 2020)

That’s an interesting observation. This is diverting the thread somewhat but I think you may have identified Tolkien’s principle moral messages in LOTR. 

The first is that we have a duty to hope. I think he would have put it something like that.

The second is the importance of tradition or, more specifically, the renewal of tradition in a world which has lost sight of it.


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## Alcuin (Nov 19, 2020)

_Gil-galad was an Elven-king.
Of him the harpers sadly sing:
the last whose realm was fair and free
between the Mountains and the Sea.

His sword was long, his lance was keen,
his shining helm afar was seen;
the countless stars of heaven’s field
were mirrored in his silver shield.

But long ago he rode away,
and where he dwelleth none can say;
for into darkness fell his star
in Mordor where the shadows are.
_​I only wish there were more of it.


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## Ealdwyn (Nov 19, 2020)

Bellerophon said:


> That’s an interesting observation. This is diverting the thread somewhat but I think you may have identified Tolkien’s principle moral messages in LOTR.
> 
> The first is that we have a duty to hope. I think he would have put it something like that.
> 
> The second is the importance of tradition or, more specifically, the renewal of tradition in a world which has lost sight of it.


That's an interesting viewpoint, because tradition is necessarily backward looking, and would seem to be the complete opposite of hope.

I'm not sure Tolkien's vision of tradition in that poem is a particualrly good thing, because what he endorses in LotR - and rather romantically - is an autocratic hierarchy. Outside a work of fiction, I'm not convinced that a tradition of giving absolute power to one person on the sole basis of their birth is something that I'd consider morally supportable.


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## Bellerophon (Nov 19, 2020)

As a general principle I don’t think tradition is necessarily opposed to hope.

I do agree though that there is a difference between an ideal of kingship portrayed in a work of fiction and a preference for monarchy over democracy in the real world. In a work of fiction you can specify a wise and benevolent king, if you are framing a constitution you can only specify a king. 

I’m not sure Tolkien himself fully appreciated that difference.


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## Ealdwyn (Nov 19, 2020)

Bellerophon said:


> As a general principle I don’t think tradition is necessarily opposed to hope.


I meant that in the sense that tradition looks backwards to what has been done in the past, while hope is forward looking, an anticipation that something will happen in the future.


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## Goldilocks Gamgee (Dec 3, 2020)

I have two favorite poems. One is The Song of Beren and Luthien, which is a little too long to type in here. The second is:

Frodo:
When evening in the Shire was grey,
His footsteps on the Hill were heard,
Before dawn he went away,
On journey long without a word.

From Wilderland to Western Shore,
From northern waste to southern hill,
Through dragon-lair and hidden door,
And darkling woods he walked at will.

With dwarf and Hobbit, Elves and Men,
With mortal and immortal folk,
With bird on bough and beast in den,
In their own secret tongue he spoke.

A deadly sword, a healing hand,
A back that bent beneath its load,
A trumpet-voice, a burning brand,
A weary pilgrim on the road.

A lord of wisdom throned he sat,
Swift in anger, quick to laugh,
An old man in a battered hat,
Who leaned upon a thorny staff.

He stood upon the bridge alone,
And Fire and Shadow both defied,
His staff was broken on the stone,
In Khazad-dǔm his wisdom died.

Sam:
The finest rockets ever seen,
They burst in stars of blue and green,
Or after thunder golden showers,
Cam falling like a rain of flowers.


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## Katya (Dec 17, 2020)

Galadriel's Song of Eldamar​_I sang of leaves, of leaves of gold, and leaves of gold there grew:
Of wind I sang, a wind there came, and in the branches blew.
Beyond the Sun, beyond the Moon, the foam was on the Sea,
And by the strand of Ilmarin there grew a golden Tree.
Beneath the stars of Ever-eve in Eldamar it shone,
In Eldamar beside the walls of Elven Tirion.
There long the golden leaves have grown upon the branching years,
And here beyond the Sundering Seas now fall the Elven-tears.
O Lórien! The Winter comes, the bare and leafless Day;
The leaves are falling in the stream, the river flows away.
O Lórien! Too long I have dwelt upon this Hither Shore
And in a fading crown have twined the golden elanor.
But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me,
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?

and_

Sam's Song at the Doorstep of Cirith Ungol​
_In western lands beneath the Sun
the flowers may rise in Spring,
the trees may bud, the waters run,
the merry finches sing.
Or there maybe 'tis cloudless night
and swaying beeches bear
the Elven-stars as jewels white
amid their branching hair.
Though here at journey's end I lie
in darkness buried deep,
beyond all towers strong and high,
beyond all mountains steep,
above all shadows rides the Sun
and Stars for ever dwell:
I will not say the Day is done,
nor bid the Stars farewell._


And also the 
The Ent and the Entwife​but it's a bit long to include in this post here


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## Sir Eowyn (Jan 8, 2021)

I don't have it in front of me, but the one where the refrain goes "In Moria, in Khazad-dum." I think it's recited by Gimli.

I used to roll my eyes at Bilbo's song of Earendil, but something now is telling me to revisit it. May contain hidden wonders.


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## Aukwrist (Oct 5, 2021)

One of Gandalf's Rhymes of Lore, as told to Pippin during the ride to Minas Tirith:

Tall ships and tall kings
Three times three;
What brought they from the Foundered Land
Over the flowing Sea ?
Seven stars, and seven stones,
And one White Tree.

I memorise it as recited by Michael Hordern, who was Gandalf in the 1981 BBC Radio dramatisation.

I also like the Lay of Earendil, recited by Bilbo; and this, in Book 5 of LOTR:

Faithful servant yet master’s bane,
Lightfoot’s foal, swift Snowmane.

Very short, but extremely effective and powerful.

I think the reason for the effectiveness of the poetry is, that it so extremely visual: one sees, in full colour, exactly what the verse is talking about. It's like a dream, but one is fully awake & conscious. The effect is almost photographic, but far clearer.

And of course there are the Lament for Boromir, and the Lament for the Rohirrim. And Legolas' Song of the Sea.


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## m4r35n357 (Oct 6, 2021)

Bellerophon said:


> I’m not sure Tolkien himself fully appreciated that difference.


I don't think Tolkien was that naive, he knew he was writing a story 

The history of the Kings of Numenor is a pretty disturbing one IMO, not to mention that the Easterlings most likely had their kings too . . . even if they are called chieftains at times.


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## Aukwrist (Oct 6, 2021)

m4r35n357 said:


> I don't think Tolkien was that naive, he knew he was writing a story
> 
> The history of the Kings of Numenor is a pretty disturbing one IMO, not to mention that the Easterlings most likely had their kings too . . . even if they are called chieftains at times.


One of the things I find most interesting about the Rulers of Numenor, is the changes that took place in who ruled and how.

I spend far too much time devising head-canons trying to understand the moral & legal justifications for those changes. Maybe the usurpation by Ar-Pharazon did not seem, from his POV, to be a usurpation, but a just, lawful, & necessary action ?

The Akallabeth, however innocently, gives us only one side of the matter. Obviously none of this applies to the leeway given to Sauron after 3262.


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## Goldilocks Gamgee (Oct 6, 2021)

I finished reading the Silmarillion a couple of days ago, and I love this song so much:

He chanted a song of wizardry,
Of piercing, opening, of treachery,
Revealing, uncovering, betraying.
Then sudden Felagund there swaying
Sang in answer a song of staying,
Resisting, battling against power,
Of secrets kept, strength like a tower,
And trust unbroken, freedom, escape;
Of changing and of shifting shape
Of snares eluded, broken traps,
The prison opening, the chain that snaps.
Backwards and forwards swayed their song.
Reeling and foundering, as ever more strong
The chanting swelled, Felagund fought,
And all the magic and might he brought
Of Elvenesse into his words.
Softly in the gloom they heard the birds
Singing afar in Nargothrond,
The sighing of the Sea beyond,
Beyond the western world, on sand,
On sand of pearls in Elvenland.
Then the gloom gathered; darkness growing
In Valinor, the red blood flowing
Beside the Sea, where the Noldor slew
The Foamriders, and stealing drew
Their white ships with their white sails
From lamplit havens. The wind wails,
The wolf howls. The ravens flee.
The ice mutters in the mouths of the Sea.
The captives sad in Angband mourn.
Thunder rumbles, the fires burn —-
And Finrod fell before the throne.


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## Goku da Silva (Dec 12, 2021)

The Song of Dúrin, hands down!


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## HALETH✒🗡 (Dec 13, 2021)

I'm not sure that this one ⬇️ is my favorite, but it's good for declamation. That's why I chose it for a school competition last year during a so-called "English language week". 
*Troll sat alone on his seat of stone,*
*And munched and mumbled a bare old bone;*
*For many a year he had gnawed it near,*
*For meat was hard to come by.*
*Done by! Gum by!*
*In a cave in the hills he dwelt alone,*
*And meat was hard to come by.*
*Up came Tom with his big boots on.*
*Said he to Troll: ‘Pray, what is yon?*
*For it looks like a shin o’ my nuncle Tim,*
*As should be a-lyin’ in graveyard.*
*Caveyard! Paveyard!*
*This many a year has Tim been gone,*
*And I thought he were lyin’ in graveyard.’*
*‘My lad’, said Troll, ‘this bone I stole.*
*But what be bones that lie in a hole?*
*Thy nuncle was dead as a lump o’ lead,*
*Afore I found his shinbone.*
*Tinbone! Thinbone!*
*He can spare a share for a poor old troll.*
*For he don’t need his shinbone.’*
*Said Tom: ‘I don’t see why the likes o’ thee*
*Without axin’ leave should go makin’ free*
*With the shank or the shin o’ my father’s kin;*
*So hand the old bone over!*
*Rover! Trover!*
*Though dead he be, it belongs to he;*
*So hand the old bone over!*
*‘For a couple o’ pins,’ says Troll, and grins,*
*‘I’ll eat thee too, and gnaw thy shins.*
*A bit o’ fresh meat will go down sweet!*
*I’ll try my teeth on thee now.*
*Hee now! See now!*
*I’m tired o’ gnawing old bones and skins;*
*I’ve a mind to dine on thee now.’*
*But just as he thought his dinner was caught,*
*He found his hands had hold of naught.*
*Before he could mind, Tom slipped behind*
*And gave him the boot to larn him.*
*Warn him! Darn him!*
*A bump o’ the boot on the seat, Tom thought,*
*Would be the way to larn him.*
*But harder than stone is the flesh and bone*
*Of a troll that sits in the hills alone.*
*As well set your boot to the mountain’s root:*
*For the seat of a troll don’t feel it.*
*Peel it! Heal it!*
*Old Troll laughed, when he heard Tom groan.*
*And he knew his toes could feel it.*
*Tom’s leg is game, since home he came,*
*And his bootless foot is lasting lame;*
*But Troll don’t care, and he’s still there*
*With the bone he boned from its owner.*
*Doner! Boner!*
*Troll’s old seat is still the same,*
*And the bone he boned from its owner!*


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## m4r35n357 (Dec 13, 2021)

Bellerophon said:


> That’s an interesting observation. This is diverting the thread somewhat but I think you may have identified Tolkien’s principle moral messages in LOTR.



Hmmm,


> As for any inner meaning or 'message', it has in the intention of the author _none_. It is neither allegorical nor topical.



Foreword to the second edition of _The Lord of the Rings_.



HALETH✒🗡 said:


> I'm not sure that this one ⬇️ is my favorite, but it's good for declamation. That's why I chose it for a school competition last year during a so-called "English language week".
> *Troll sat alone on his seat of stone,*


I imagine the tune going something like this forgotten Channel 4 classic.  Clearer version.

Narrator: "Meanwhile, back at the Abbey, the only bells that chime are _decibels_" (missing bit from the start of part 2).


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## HALETH✒🗡 (Dec 18, 2021)

m4r35n357 said:


> I imagine the tune going something like this forgotten Channel 4 classic.  Clearer version.
> 
> Narrator: "Meanwhile, back at the Abbey, the only bells that chime are _decibels_" (missing bit from the start of part 2).


Actually, this is how Tolkien sang the song about the troll.


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## m4r35n357 (Dec 18, 2021)

HALETH✒🗡 said:


> Actually, this is how Tolkien sang the song about the troll.


Bang on, then 

BTW I left autoplay on by accident and got to an interesting Tolkien interview, where he is "playing up" with the interviewer like a musician whose latest album is only barely understood! Quite funny.
Good interview IMO!


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## ArnorianRanger (Dec 18, 2021)

The Road Goes Ever On hands-down is my favorite.

_The Road goes ever on and on,
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say._

Excellent to recite when casting a long gaze down an even longer trail.

Thanks,

ArnorianRanger


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## Culaeron (Jan 6, 2022)

ArnorianRanger said:


> The Road Goes Ever On hands-down is my favorite.
> 
> _The Road goes ever on and on,
> Down from the door where it began.
> ...


I’ve always loved this one, as well. I tease my wife, telling her I want it read at my funeral.


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## Rōmānus (Mar 30, 2022)

My favorite song would probably be the one I can recall from memory, “Far over the Misty Mountains cold, to dungeons deep and caverns old, we must away ere break of day to seek our long forgotten gold.”


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## m4r35n357 (Mar 30, 2022)

_Be he friend or foe, or seed defiled
of Morgoth Bauglir, or mortal child
that in after days on earth shall dwell,
no law, nor love, nor league of hell,
not might of Gods, not moveless fate
shall him defend from wrath and hate
of Feanor's sons, who takes or steals
or finding keeps the Silmarils,
the thrice-enchanted globes of light
that shine until the final night._

Feanor's Oath; Lay of Leithian, Release from bondage


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## Elbereth Vala Varda (Jun 7, 2022)

This would be too long to send, but my favorite from The Lord of the Rings is the Song of Nimrodel. Ah! How sad I was when this was not included in the films!


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