Post by Deexan on Jan 23, 2016 1:21:03 GMT -5
This thread is about the author, John Ronald Reuel, as opposed to the poster Tolkien (RIP).
I know he has a few fans on here so I thought I'd create a zone of appreciation for a man who I consider to have been the most talented and inspirational human being to ever exist.
Here's my favourite poem by the great man. Context:
I Sit Beside the Fire and Think is a song by Bilbo Baggins, which he sang softly in Rivendell on 24 December T.A. 3018, the evening before the Fellowship of the Ring set out upon their quest. Bilbo sang the song in the presence of Frodo, after giving Frodo the mithril-coat and Sting.
I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.
I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.
For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.
I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.
But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.
Of all Tolkien's poetry from within his legendarium, for whatever reason, this moves me the most.
His 40,000+ years of creation, from the beginning of time and the inception of the universe itself, was meant to be a mythology for England to rival the Greek, Roman and Norse myths that he so adored. I think he did a pretty good job.
This is my favourite translation of his from an Old English poem:
The desire of my spirit urges me to journey
forth over the flowing sea, that far hence
across the hills of water and the whale’s country
I may seek the land of strangers.
No mind have I for harp, nor gift of ring,
nor delight in women, nor joy in the world,
nor concern with aught else save the rolling of the waves.
I, regrettably, have no hope of there ever being another man or woman of his ilk again on this Earth.
I know he has a few fans on here so I thought I'd create a zone of appreciation for a man who I consider to have been the most talented and inspirational human being to ever exist.
Here's my favourite poem by the great man. Context:
I Sit Beside the Fire and Think is a song by Bilbo Baggins, which he sang softly in Rivendell on 24 December T.A. 3018, the evening before the Fellowship of the Ring set out upon their quest. Bilbo sang the song in the presence of Frodo, after giving Frodo the mithril-coat and Sting.
I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.
I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.
For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.
I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.
But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.
Of all Tolkien's poetry from within his legendarium, for whatever reason, this moves me the most.
His 40,000+ years of creation, from the beginning of time and the inception of the universe itself, was meant to be a mythology for England to rival the Greek, Roman and Norse myths that he so adored. I think he did a pretty good job.
This is my favourite translation of his from an Old English poem:
The desire of my spirit urges me to journey
forth over the flowing sea, that far hence
across the hills of water and the whale’s country
I may seek the land of strangers.
No mind have I for harp, nor gift of ring,
nor delight in women, nor joy in the world,
nor concern with aught else save the rolling of the waves.
I, regrettably, have no hope of there ever being another man or woman of his ilk again on this Earth.
