Members' Art, Prose and Poetry

Merry · Post by **Merry** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 3:50 am

Oh!

I misunderstood: I thought the same drawings would be used for the calendar, obviously. Well, good! That means more good stuff for months to come!

Riv Res · Post by **Riv Res** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 3:55 am

Merry wrote:Oh! I misunderstood: I thought the same drawings would be used for the calendar...

They will be Merry...as soon as I get the other stuff done first.

Airwin · Post by **Airwin** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 9:33 pm

Ah, there's my front door (and a lovely door it is!)! Now I can hop in that hobbit bed we saw earlier!

And the second version of the tree works better for me too.

I'm sad there's no more installments to look forward to. You did an awesome job on them Riv!

marbretherese · Post by **marbretherese** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 12:01 pm

Not sure about either of these, but I've done them now, so here you are:

Fair Arwen sits at the feast alone;
Tonight her betrothed elsewhere has flown.
She gazes long in the candlelight
And its glow grows dim in her Elven-sight.
She gazes beyond to the Western sea
Which she lost when she chose her mortality.

For Arwen Undómiel, Evenstar,
Has long pledged her love to King Elessar.
Her radiance will become cold and pale
If his Throne stays unclaimed; if Elfstone should fail.
Her radiance now lights the gathering gloom
But the fate of the Ring will decide her doom.

Riv Res · Post by **Riv Res** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 12:11 pm

Oh marbretherese! The combination of poetry and image is exquisite. One would be lost without the other. They compliment/complete each other so well. Now I have to ask...which comes first? Image or words?

Iolanthe · Post by **Iolanthe** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 2:29 pm

Lovely! Riv's right - the poem and the painting compliment each other perfectly

. I see you've opted for a border after the border discussion!

I love the way you've done her hair with the delicate cap on top and her far away expression, and the way you've handled the candle light. It's great to have another poem too. I'm put to shame, both my Elessar poem and my next painting are languishing

. I love the line:

Her radiance will become cold and pale
If his Throne stays unclaimed; if Elfstone should fail.

What would have become of her? It's something I've never thought about. She would have lost everything, unable to escape over the sea but trapped alone in a world ruled by Sauron with Aragorn dead at the Black Gate...or even worse, captured! Sometimes you need the thoughts that we have when creating poetry to see these things. I know I've never seen Gandalf the same since Merry's poem!

Merry · Post by **Merry** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 2:53 pm

Well done, indeed! You've captured something subtle in Arwen's face that is explained in the poem.

I love that you've dressed Arwen as she is described in the text of the feast at Rivendell when Frodo first sees her--soft gray dress, braided hair, silver lace cap, a 'girdle' of silver leaves. I loved that description since I first read it many years ago. And the leaves repeated in the border are elegant.

Well done, indeed!

Lindariel · Post by **Lindariel** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 3:37 pm

I like this very much marbretherese!

I wish so badly that Tolkien had taken more time to flesh out Arwen a bit better for us. So many people are left with the impression that she is a completely passive character who does nothing more than sit in Rivendell and weave a banner. She is the daughter of Elrond and granddaughter of Galadriel and Celeborn and a descendant of Luthien the Fair, for heaven's sake! She is a powerful being! Tolkien gives us this tiny insight into her contributions to Aragorn's quest:

Arwen remained in Rivendell, and when Aragorn was abroad, from afar she watched over him in thought; and in hope she made for him a great and kingly standard, such as only one might display who claimed the lordship of the Numenoreans and the inheritance of Elendil.

Who knows what kind of power and protection Arwen gave to Aragorn when she "watched over him from afar" and what this effort cost her? Was she watching over him when he vied with Sauron through the palantir of Orthanc? Did she perhaps assist him in wrestling control of the palantir away from Sauron? Did she experience the horrors of the Paths of the Dead with him? Did she perhaps absorb some of its horrors so that he could do what no other man before him could withstand?

Who knows what kind of magical spells were woven into that "kingly standard" and what contribution it made in assisting Aragorn with his claim to the throne? How much of her vitality and power did Arwen pour into the making of that standard?

Arwen was no passive lady whose only claims to fame were beauty and a certain proficiency with the embroidery hoop. She was a powerful Elven princess blessed with the foresight of her father and the far-seeing of her grandmother, and she certainly inherited more than just her good looks from her ancestress Luthien the Fair. She also inherited Luthien's ability to create items of power through weaving. Remember Luthien's cloak of invisibility. woven from her own hair? Remember the "Girdle of Melian," the power of Melian the Maia (Luthien's mother and Arwen's greatest ancestress) woven about Doriath to protect its borders?

Your thoughts?

Chrissiejane · Post by **Chrissiejane** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 5:21 pm

I have often wondered about Arwen's role in the journey that Aragorn is making. I tend to think that she is waiting and watching back in Rivendell in the knowledge that, if he is going to achieve the crown that she needs him to wear, he has to accomplish his goal on his own, employing and engaging his own powers and will, without her help. Thus despite her undoubted powers, she must play a largely passive and non-interventionist part, willing him on from afar, but no more - which would be as severe a test for her as all the trials and tribulations that Aragorn faces on his road to the throne in Gondor.

Riv Res · Post by **Riv Res** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 5:44 pm

Chrissiejane wrote:...I tend to think that she is waiting and watching back in Rivendell in the knowledge that, if he is going to achieve the crown that she needs him to wear, he has to accomplish his goal on his own, employing and engaging his own powers and will, without her help. Thus despite her undoubted powers, she must play a largely passive and non-interventionist part, willing him on from afar, but no more...

CJ, I have always felt that she was VERY powerful in Aragorn's background however. The scene where Halbarad and her brothers bring him the flag that she has made for him cemented that notion for me. It is as if her part was to align the stars (Evenstar

) to make things possible for him...and...that she was with him spiritually at all times. Not only her love, but her power kept him going.

IMHO

Chrissiejane · Post by **Chrissiejane** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 7:27 pm

Absolutely, Riv. I like to think that Arwen's spiritual support provides Aragorn with the will to overcome the many trials he has to endure, and at crucial times he unleashes her power, like the unfurling of the standard when all seems lost. But it still feels to me that her power is used very sparingly during the journey he makes, and for me there's something in that about them both understanding what Aragorn must do with his own powers, in order to honour and respect the sacrifice that Elrond is going to make in losing Arwen, and the sacrifice she too will make, in accepting Aragorn's love.

Airwin · Post by **Airwin** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 12:33 am

marbretherese, such wonderful works of art!

The painting truly reflects the words and tone of the poem. I wish I had a gift like that.

marbretherese · Post by **marbretherese** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 11:11 am

Well! firstly - thank you all for your kind comments - I really wasn't sure how successful I'd been with this latest offering, including the frame - but what a great discussion it has sparked off!

To answer Riv's question - in this case the idea for the painting came first. I do try to follow the text as closely as I can when drafting a picture (I find potential pictures every time I open it). Then came the problem: what to do with her? Tolkien gives us this one description and tells us very little else; I've never thought of her as passive, either, I too have always felt her presence throughout the book in the sense that she is 'there' with Aragorn all the time. So I tried to get inside her head a bit, and that led to the poem.

Iolanthe · Post by **Iolanthe** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 7:42 pm

I love the description of Arwen arriving in Minas Tirith and Frodo's great insight about what it really meant:

And Frodo when he saw her come glimmering in the evening, with stars on her brow and a sweet fragrance about her, was moved with great wonder, and he said to Gandalf: 'At last I understand why we have waited! This is the ending. Now not day only shall be beloved, but night too shall be beautiful and blessed and all its fear pass away!'

Elessar, on the throne, is like a blazing light after long shadow but he and his reign is incomplete without the gentle 'glimmering' of Arwen with her subtler gifts and quieter power. It's almost mystical - like day and night, sun and moon. It's midsummer - the longest day of the year when the sun is at its zenith and when it starts to give way to longer nights - and 'all the stars flowered in the sky'.

Merry · Post by **Merry** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:52 am

Yes, I love that passage, too. I think Tolkien meant for us to see Arwen as the culmination of cosmic forces: sun and moon, day and night, gold and silver, the Two Trees.

Maybe Aragorn is the sun. Maybe Galadriel is the sun: I don't have my books with me, but in that banter between Gimli and Eomer about whether Galadriel is the most beautiful, when Eomer chooses Arwen, Gimli says something like, you have chosen the evening, but my heart is given to the morning.