Episode 12 Summary

[Tony Meade]

SESSION 12

On the hobbit walking song:

• There seem to be whole genres of songs in Hobbit culture, such as bed songs, and supper songs.
• Supper and bed songs seem to be more related to the Baggins side of Bilbo, while the walking song would be more related to the adventurous Took side.
• The rhyme scheme and rhythmic pattern are similar to the Road poem.
• This poem is in iambic tetrameter, which is very common in Hobbit poetry.
• The rhyme scheme is simple, rhyming couplets of one syllable rhymes, using simple, monosyllabic words.
• The rhythm is very appropriate for walking, steady and easy to sing to one’s steps.
• The central idea of the first stanza is a lack of weariness and eagerness for discovery.
• The adventures are really tame, hobbit-level adventures, such as an interesting tree or standing stone, but with the idea that they are the first ones to see them.
• Note: “Sudden trees and standing stones” are things that they’ll indeed meet during their coming adventures, but not in a way that they expect, so this is foreshadowing.
• There is a shift in the last four lines of the stanza, to more complex, multisyllabic words, and start with stressed syllables, which is different from the iambs.
• This gives the feel as if the first six lines are the verse, and the last four are the chorus.
• These last four lines could be done as a call-and-response.
• The hobbits are actively ignoring normal things on their journey.
• The second chorus highlights man-made objects rather than natural objects.
• There is also a possibility left open for more adventures in the future.
• There is also a mythic quality to the roads leading to the moon and sun.
• Note: This may be a reference to Roverandom, which talks about secret paths to the moon. Tolkien may be linking this to his general ideas about the secret paths to Faerie.
• The third stanza shifts again to something can be taken multiple ways, depending on the perspective.
• The stanza could be applied to Frodo’s dangerous journey across the Shire, but that is clearly not how Bilbo meant it when he wrote it.
• In Bilbo’s composition, this is simply a reference to a really long walk that goes until dark.
• This is similar in theme to Bilbo’s quote about all paths leading into one.
• Like all Hobbit poems, it has a “there-and-back-again” shape. Hobbit roads lead home.
• All the sights of night are fading, because they are heading home.
• Frodo singing these lines in the context of the pursuit of the Black Riders, it is more about his exile and journey with an unknown end.
• Heading towards the stars would be a message of hope, in light of the night with the Elves.
• The ending of the song is hopeful, as the shadows and dark things chasing him will fade.
• Holding on to hope is an important attribute of hobbits.
• Note: In the context of the Return of the King film, the lines take on a completely new applicability, as a song of despair rather than hope.

What about the Elves?

• The way that the Elves appear is not the hobbits invading their story, but rather the Elves coming into theirs.
• When one voice rises above the other voices among the Elves, it seems to be more of a soloist singing a melody over the harmonies of the group at-large.
• This is probably Gildor’s voice. As the leader, it is likely.
• This is the first time the hobbits are exposed to elvish enchantment. Only Frodo can speak the language, but all three hobbits are able to understand what is being communicated.
• This is clearly “elf-magic”, as Sam would call it.
• Do they know that the hobbits are there and communicating to them?
• Probably not. This is more likely just what it is like to be around elf-song.
• This is an example of elvish transfer of thought.

The Song of Elbereth:

• The song uses an alternating rhyme scheme, which also alternates between quatrains.
• Elvish poetry is often in a seven-beat meter, but that is not used here.
• It’s possible that this is translated into hobbit-meter as it is shaped as their thoughts.
• The song starts out with descriptions of Elbereth, such as “snow-white” and “lady clear”.
• The song is also addressed and directed to her, not just about her.
• There is no action in the first verse, only an invocation of Elbereth.
• The description emphasizes her queenliness and association with light.
• The woven trees emphasize the obscuring of the light, but that light can still reach them.
• The description of “snow-white” sounds like a physical description, but the use of “clear” shows that this is a metaphysical description. The lady is their light in the darkenss.
• Note: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released the same year as The Hobbit. Tolkien was not a fan of Disney or that film, as it confused his interpretation of dwarves.
• It’s notable that the names of Elbereth and Gilthoniel are untranslated. This implies that there is no direct translation that the hobbits listening would understand.
• The eyes and breath of Elbereth also receive unusual adjectives (“clear” and “bright”, respectively). This shows that these descriptions are metaphysical.
• The first action taken is the elves’ seeing of the stars.
• The starlight is being compared to flowers on blossoming trees, with blowing petals.
• There is a memory of the mythic historical event of the “seeding” of the stars by Elbereth, which now have spread and borne fruit.
• The second stanza relates to the first stanza by highlighting their continued connection to her.
• The starlight reflected on the seas is related to the starlight twinkling on the fields.
• Note: Starlight is always important to Elves, as that was their first sight.
• There are only three subjects and verbs, and the subject in each turn is “we”.
• This is a song to Elbereth, but it is about them and their remembrance of her.
• Note: The wind imagery may be a reference to Manwë.
• “We” must refer to the Noldor, as the dark and grey elves have never seen the western seas.
• It is these references to Elbereth and the West that show Frodo that these are High Elves.
• Elves are makers, especially the Noldor, and this includes their song and words.
• Themes of remembrance and exile are also very elvish qualities in this song.

END OF SESSION