Benefits of digging deep

[Milthaliel]

Posted this over on Narnion's page, but thought I would put it here, too, in case people want to join me in nerding out. I am SO excited about last night's class! I have been a fan of Tolkien since I was a kid - going on 30 years of loving him now. I've never skipped the poems. I've always enjoyed them, sometimes memorized them, used them as calligraphy practice. But I've never analyzed them.

Last night, reading closely and really digging into the poems opened up a whole new level of appreciation for Tolkien's craft. Walking slowly through each poem was wonderful on its own. But learning about "hobbit meter", and seeing the Elf song take shape in the hobbits' minds in a way that matched their own cultural rhythms? I found myself sitting there with my eyes wide thinking, WOW. Look what he did! Now, I want to go back through all the poems in The Hobbit, and I'm already thinking ahead to "Gil-Galad" - it's in iambic tetrameter, and it was Bilbo's translation!

I didn't think it was possible for me to appreciate Tolkien's work more than I already did. His attention to detail, the immersive experience, and his respect for the people and places he "discovered" have always been a huge draw for me. But last night's discussion was like a door opening wide on layers of Tolkien that I never realized existed. A sudden tree or standing stone, indeed! If I learn nothing new and see nothing else in a different light for the rest of class, my time will still have been well spent.

 

[amysrevenge]

Even dumb stuff. Without thinking, I always just sort of assumed that the "Let them pass" bits of the walking song were about begging the dangers hiding in the bushes to let the walking hobbits pass by safely, not urging the walking hobbits to pass by without stopping to explore. It's obvious when you explain it, but I never really stopped to look. Haha.

 

[Milthaliel]

Right! I can see why you might have thought it, too, it's possible! Especially since the "let them pass" happens in the chorus part, so it can be why the song changes from talking about "us" to saying "them". But it's so easy to get stuck assuming it's one way and never even try to look at other possibilities.