[BittenBuggy]

My poor 15 year old niece called me on the phone last night in a total panic. Her class has to do a project on the poetic works of Tolkien. Of course, all she knows about Lord of the Rings is that Legolas is played by Orlando Bloom So she called me up because everyone in my family knows that I'm the Tolkien freak. But unfortunately, poetry has never been my forte.

They each need to pick one of Tolkien's poems to pick apart and interpret. The poem needs to be approximately a page long and easily related back to the books. Can anyone suggest a good poem for her to use? (She is partial to elves, again as a result of the infamous blond elf-boy, so I don't think one of Bombadil's songs would be our best bet)

Would appreciate suggestions!

[Andreth]

My favorite poetry of Tolkien's is in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, which was my very first Tolkien book, given to me at the age of eight. My favorite was always The Mewlips because it was creepy and scary, but since your niece prefers Elves, maybe she'd like Princess Mee better. It's the familiar narcissistic concept, but I still have always thought it to be a quaint little poem.


PRINCESS MEE

Little Princess Mee
Lovely was she
As in elven-song is told:
She had pearls in hair
All threaded fair;
Of gossamer shot with gold
Was her kerchief made,
And a silver braid
Of stars above her throat.
Of moth-web light
All moonlit-white
She wore a woven coat,
And round her kirtle
Was bound a girdle
Sewn with diamond dew.

She walked by day
Under mantle grey
And hood of clouded blue;
But she went by night
All glittering bright
Under the starlit sky,
And her slippers frail
Of fishes' mail
Flashed as she went by
To her dancing-pool,
And on mirror cool
Of windless water played.
As a mist of light
In whirling flight
A glint like glass she made
Wherever her feet
Of silver fleet
Flicked the dancing-floor.

Shee was as light
As Mee, and as bright;
But Shee was, strange to tell,
Hanging down
With starry crown
Into a bottomless well!
Her gleaming eyes
In great surprise
Looked upon to the eyes of Mee:
A marvellous thing,
Head-down to swing
Above a starry sea!

Only their feet
Could ever meet;
For where the ways might lie
To find a land
Where they do not stand
But hang down in the sky
No one could tell
Nor learn in spell
In all the elven-lore.

So still on her own
An elf alone
Dancing as before
With pearls in hair
And kirtle fair
And slippers frail
Of fishes' mail went Mee:
Of fishes' mail
And slippers frail
And kirtle fair
With pearls in hair went Shee!

[Andreth]

I'll throw this one in, too, just for the heck of it, just to share.

THE MEWLIPS

The shadows where the Mewlips dwell
Are dark and wet as ink
And slow and soft rings their bell
As in the slime you sink,
And you sink into the slime who dare
To knock upon their door
While down the grinning gargoyles stare
And noisome waters pour.

Beside the rotting river strand
The drooping willows weep,
And gloomily the gorcrows stand
Croaking in their sleep.

Over the Merlock Mountains
A long and weary way
In a mouldy valley where trees are grey
By a dark pool's border withour wind or tide
Moonless and sunless
The Mewlips hide
The Mewlips hide...

The cellars where the Mewlips sit
Are deep and dank and cold
With one sickly candle lit;
And there they count their gold
Their walls are wet, their ceilings drip,
Their feet upon the floor,
Go softly with a squish-flap-flip
As they sidle to the door.

They peep our slyly; through the crack
Their feeling fingers creep
And when they finish in a sack
Your bones they take to keep.

Beyond the Merlock Mountains, a long and lonely road
Through the spider-shadow and marsh of Tode,
And through the wood of hanging trees and gallows-weed
You go find the Mewlips, and Mewlips feed
And Mewlips feed
And Mewlips feed...

[Andreth]

Okay, let me try this one more time. I just noticed the 'easily related back to the books' proviso. Here's one about Amroth and Nimrodel, the Elven maiden Legolas sang about when they reached Lothlorien.


OF AMROTH AND NIMRODEL

An Elven-maid there was of old,
A shining star by day:
Her mantle white was hemmed with gold,
Her shoes of silver-grey.

A star was bound upon her brow,
A light was on her hair,
As sun upon the golden bough
In Lorien the fair.

Her hair was long, her limbs were white
And fair she was and free
And in the wind she went as light,
As leaf of linden-tree.

Beside the falls of Nimrodel,
By water clear and cool
Her voice as falling silver fell
Into the shining pool.

Where now she wanders none can tell,
In sunlight or in shade;
For lost of yore was Nimrodel
And in the mountains strayed.

The Elven-ship in haven grey
Beneath the mountain-lee
Awaited her for many days
Beside the roaring sea.

Amroth beheld the fading shore
Now low beyond the swell
And cursed the faithless ship that bore
Him far from Nimrodel.

From helm to sea they saw him leap
As arrow from the string
And dive into the water deep,
As mew upon the wing.

The wind was in his flowing hair,
The foam about him shone
Afar they saw him strong and fair
Go riding like a swan.

But from the west has come no word,
And on the hither shore
No tidings Elven-folk have ever heard
Of Amroth evermore.

[BittenBuggy]

Oh, Andreth, you're wonderful! I sent her the poems, I'll call her tonight to see what she thinks Thanks!

[NancyBrooke]

If it's not to late ... there are a couple of poems that have nice simple form and rhyme scheme that would be good for a 15-year old to talk about.

e.g. the song of the Ents and Entwives has its seasonal structure, and the Lament for Boromir with its wind theme. They're relatively simple in content, but poignant and rife with imagery. I'd nominate them as good candidates.

[BittenBuggy]

Thanks Nancy, I found those and sent them to her as well. Geez this place is wonderful