Middle-earth Journeys

Yay Riv! A poem about Aragorn at last. I figured if you submitted a poem, it would have to be about our beloved Ranger and King. Very nice!

Well done Riv! Sums him up completely. And I'm glad that our beloved Ranger has finally joined the group as I was starting to feel guilty for plumping for... you've guessed it... Turin :


Glaurung, the Great Worm,
Morgoth’s fierce fury,
With fire overthrew
Felagund’s doors.
Turin too late came -
The halls all in ruin -
Pride and his fell mood,
Nargothrond’s doom.

Through dark doorway,
Dread before him,
Cruel and taunting,
Crawled the worm.
“Hail son of Hurin!
Thankless fosterling,
Captain foolhardy!
Deserter of family!”

Turin strode forward,
Gurthang shining.
Glaurung slow opened
His dragon eyes.
Hurin’s son dread-felled
Motionless gazed he,
Silent as stone held
By spell of the serpent.

Finduilas called him,
His fate not to follow -
The worm’s lies a mirror
With malice misshapen.
Filled with self-loathing
And dragon laughter,
Sped he to Dor-lómin.
And doom finally ruled him.


I never could resist a dragon . Actually - the fact that Tolkien seems to have applied alliteration liberally to his Turin story (a fact interesting in iteself) helped a little !

Another wonderful entry, Iolanthe!!

Yes...gotta LOVE those dragons.

I was thinking about that, too, Iolanthe, that Tolkien's names and places lend themselves to this format. You use the words wonderfully!

Very nice, Iolanthe! That's quite a moment in Turin's story -- the hero, dragon-bespelled, unable to move, while poor Finduilas is led away and Nargothrond sacked. As Merry said before, this poetic form really lends itself well to the dark, fearsome portions of these tales.

It's great to see Turin, Aragorn and Halbarad represented in the latest crop of poems - they are fabulous! Dark portions of the mythology definitely lend themselves to this style of writing; but dark though the tale is, I found it quite tricky to pare down my second offering to the bare essentials. And there is so much alliteration in Tolkien's prose writing of this episode that believe it or not I had to cut some out!

As with my first entry, my intention is that the poem seems to be part of a much longer work; and that the reader (or listener) would hopefully want to know how the characters arrived where they are at the start of each piece, and what happened next!

Clinging cobwebs,
creeping dangers!
Gollum grabbed
and grappled Sam.
Fierce the fight which
freed the hobbit;
Shelob-spider
struck at Frodo!

Seizing Sting
and star-glass, Samwise
stabbed as Shelob
stung her victim;
bared steel, brave
and boldly cried:
“A Elbereth
Gilthoniel!”

Thwarted, wounded,
withdrew spider;
shrouded, silent,
still lay Frodo.
Distraught, desperate,
doubtful Samwise!
stay at Master’s
side or leave him?

Quest recalling,
courage found, he
resolute retrieved
the Ring of Power.
Orcs heard he then
approach hard by him;
swift the Ring slipped
onto Sam’s finger.

Oh, well done, marbretherese! Another Sam poem, this time featuring his battle with Shelob. What a fabulous contest this is proving to be! How will we ever be able to vote on just one?!?!?!?!?!?????!!!!!

Another good poem marbretherese! I think Sam v Shelob is a great theme for this kind of style. It's an epic fight and really deserves its place alongside Tuor meeting Ulmo. Interesting that strong alliteration is found in Tolkien's writing here as well. I was amazed at the amount in Turin's face off with Glaurung. I think he must have had all those old Norse works running around so much in his head that its style forced it's way into his prose. Interesting .

Lindariel wrote:What a fabulous contest this is proving to be! How will we ever be able to vote on just one?!?!?!?!?!?????!!!!!

Good question - they've all been so good everyone is a winner whatever the outcome. I think everyone should be very proud of their efforts! What's surprised me (I don't know about everyone else) is how much I enjoyed writing this way. And how much I've enjoyed reading them too.

Just a reminder - if any of you have another poem bursting to get out you need to post it before... OK, let's say BY .... New Year's Day .

I love it, marbretherese!
Iolanthe and Riv made really great poems too!
But who to vote for...
And...oh yeah! Happy New Year!

I like the very short lines. The structure really makes the writer choose her words carefully. I also like the way you stretch a phrase through several lines and don't necessarily end a line at the end of a thought: ". . . courage found, he . . .". I've seen you do that in other poems, too. I wish I were better at that!

Nice way to catch a moment!

Merry wrote: The structure really makes the writer choose her words carefully. I also like the way you stretch a phrase through several lines and don't necessarily end a line at the end of a thought!

This verse-form is so specific that I was forced to carry one or two phrases across more than one line to get the correct alliteration without losing the sense. Like Iolanthe, I've really enjoyed writing in this restricted style. It concentrates the mind wonderfully; I tend to write on the train into work, and on Tuesday I nearly missed my stop because I was so deep into resolving the fourth verse!

I haven't got a clue who to vote for either . . . all the entries are so good!!

The Heart of Elwing
by Serinde

Gone is her Lord
on his twin quests,
to find those lost,
to reach Valinor.
Elwing remains
in Middle-Earth,
waiting for a sign,
by great Sirion.

Love for her sons,
young and untrained,
changing day by day,
needing guidance.
How could she leave
her children behind,
abandoned near
the mouths of Sirion.

Yet her heart sails
across the Sea
to ride the waves
with her beloved,
who proudly stands
on Vingilot
that set sail from
River Sirion.

In sorrow Elwing sits,
her face to the Sea,
neglecting all,
her sons, her people;
Westward watching,
waiting the return
of Earendil
to her by Sirion.

Wonderful serinde!!

Now that I have found the time to peruse all of the entries, I must say that I am completely impressed! we have an incredible pool of talent here at MeJ!!!!!! I applaud everyone!

Happy New Year, All! Serinde