Poetry in Season 6

[kanji_d]

As most of you will probably be aware, the second major telling of the Beren and Luthien story is the Lay of Leithian, an epic poem in rhyming couplets of iambic tetrameter. It wasn't completed, but remained in the legendarium, with a similar portion named "Light as Leaf on Lindentree" surviving into The Lord of the Rings.

My question is: how do we want to handle this? Do we want someone in the frame to sing "Light as Leaf on Lindentree"? More portions of the Lay? Do we want to write what the final three Cantos may have sounded like, and include something of those? How do we read poetry without making it boring? Music is a major part of this season, should we set the poetry to music? Lots of room for thoughts here.

 

[ouzaru]

I think putting snippets of the poem into the frame might be a good idea, and I think it might be fun to consider bringing in some more familiar characters at this point, at stages of their lives that don’t get much “screen time” in the narrative proper, as it were. I’m thinking of Bilbo’s work on Translations from the Elvish, or possibly some of the others who were responsible for the book after Bilbo departed to the West.

 

[MithLuin]

We haven't discussed the Frame for Season 6 yet, but the plan has been to make it focus on the meeting of Aragorn and Arwen in Rivendell. With some 'cautionary tale' from Gilraen and a young Estel learning his heritage. So, yes, there would be opportunities to incorporate the Lay: in the Hall of Fire, in the mouth of a young Aragorn, or even for Arwen to sing part of it, perhaps.