Your thesis statement is awkward — do you really use words like “begot” in normal conversation? — and your sentences are extremely convoluted. Please reword your first paragraph into a clear, concise thesis statement. You do not really develop a thesis in this paper, you just describe some of the poetry in Lord of the Rings. You do not give your reader a sense of where and why poetry and song appear in the story.
In the paragraph on saga literature you appear to be paraphrasing the work of another scholarly in a rather random manner. You need to develop a clear idea of your argument and then use the work of other scholars to support your ideas rather than just drag it in for no discernible reason. (There is no reason to insert a direct quotation giving the number of poems in Lord of the Rings.) What on earth do you mean by this sentence?
What do you mean by “suitable in a morbid way?” What relevance has the Old Testament to this discussion? You have left out at least one word, employed incorrect capitalization, and misused “who’s.” (“Who’s” is a contraction of “who is” — you need to use “whose.”) This sentence sounds to me like a bad paraphrase of a quotation which you didn’t understand very well. I need to evaluate YOUR ideas and YOUR writing in this paper!
You need to do a LOT of work on capitalization, spelling (including the characters’ names) and punctuation, especially the use of commas. You also need to work on making the transition from one paragraph to another and discussing only one subject in a paragraph.
I would strongly suggest that you show the next draft of this paper to a tutor at the Writing Help Desk in Butler Library 214. Lydia Fish November 30, 2008, at 04:19 PM
I am not a huge fan of poetry but this must have been so easy for you cause Tolkien is and there is so much song and poetry in the book. I think you dicuss each poem very well and I think that you will have a great paper. Donald Turner November 13, 2008, at 05:20 PM
Your paper was nice and informative. You may want to reconsider writing your paper in the first person. Other than that, great job. Steven Wilser? November 13, 2008, at 04:36 PM
I agree with Brian, this topic is fantastic and you do great job with the structure of it, both aiding in having a fun flow to it. Poetry is always something I have been interested in, and it is great to see your analyses of Tolkien’s poetry. I also like how you gave background information into Tolkien’s poetry, so we don’t just understand it through the Lord of the Rings. Eligh Hanning
You have a very important thing going for you - Your paper is fun to read. I liked the poems you selected and how they were analyzed, and your paper has a “don’t just tell them, show them” dynamic within it. You just need to tidy up a few spelling mistakes and cite your poems and you’ll be golden. Brian Nacov November 13, 2008, at 02:43 PM
This is an interesting topic. I like it how you give a poem and then discuss it (and have explained it well enough where I could easily understand it - I’m not really into poetry and usually don’t understand poetry). Word choice is very important in these poems and their effects, as I have found out through my research on linguistics. Your paper flows nicely. Great topic.Sarah Chudyk? November 13, 2008, at 09:46 AM
I appreciated the explanations of some of the poetry-terminology. People like me (those who aren’t poetically-inclined) just don’t have a grasp of what a Romantic poem or the Victorian era is for example. So those explanations really contribute to your paper, because now readers can understand the points you’re trying to make. Joseph Bella? November 13, 2008, at 12:58 AM
I liked how you incorporated and explained the different examples of poetry throughout your paper. It made you explanations easier to understand when I could see the poems you were talking about and the aspects of the poems you were analyzing. Just make sure you do a little more proofreading but other than that you have chosen a very interesting topic and developed it quite well. I’m pretty sure it was already mentioned but make sure you incorporate why poetry was important in the Lord of the Rings. Carly Lopez? November 12, 2008, at 11:22 PM
I’ve been looking forward to seeing your ideas on this subject, and I wasn’t disappointed! I really like how in the last poem you bold certain letters to provide visual emphasis. That really helps the reader save time. The transition from that discussion to the conclusion needs a bit of work, as it’s sort of a shock that the paper ended so quickly afterwards. Devon Cozad? November 12, 2008, at 08:35 PM
You have a very interesting paper. I agree with Annika. You should try to reconstruct the sentences that have “I” in them to not be the first person point of view. Make sure to have your paper proof read before you hand it in to catch the spelling mistakes that Keilah brings up. Elizabeth Delano? November 12, 2008, at 06:25 PM
Your paper is really good so far. It is interesting to think about how much poetry influenced LOTR. In your third paragraph, I think it should be “…for reciting poems as do the Elves,”. You spelled Tom Bombadil two or three ways throughout-fix that up! I would cite where each of the poems came from in the book. Great job so far! Keilah Bradley November 12, 2008, at 04:20 PM
You have a great start bu you still did not answer the question of the significance of poetry in Tolkien’s works. You have done a great job with explaining some of the poems and the poetic styles so now focus on a explain how significant poetry is in the novel. Trudy Antwi November 11, 2008, at 11:54 PM
is great so far! It flows well and you have alot of examples to expand off of and in a variety of ways. The only things I really noticed were a couple spelling errors or wrong words. I also think you need to site your poems, and I am pretty sure that when using in-text citations, the period is supposed to come after the parentheses of the author/page, not before it at the end of the quote. Overall I think this is a really strong paper so far. Lauren Brych? November 11, 2008, at 03:12 PM
I enjoyed how you explain that poetry is presented in the book in different ways (drinking songs, etc.). I also liked your incorporation of motifs of Romanticism, how poetry assists in characterization, and how you introduce some terms and define them so as to inform and not confuse the reader (“euphony,” “inclusion,” “light verse,” “lay,” etc.). You do have some run-on sentences and some grammatical and typographical errors which need fixing. I also think that your conclusion should definitely be expanded. Good job! Kelsey Till November 09, 2008, at 03:50 PM
I really enjoyed reading the poetry of different species in Middle Earth contained in your paper. You need to italicize titles of the books. Also, you are missing several citations and have used the punctuation around them inaccurately. The citations after a quote should look like this:
“ (citation).
The period always goes after the citation. You are missing some commas. Some sentences seem awkward, for example, I would never start a sentence with “being.” You may want to re-work that sentence. Overall, I like how you show what elements characterize specific characters’ poems. Good job. Emily Marvin? November 09, 2008, at 03:41 PM
I really enjoyed reading your paper! YOu have a lot of great ideas. I would consider not using the first person point of view in your final paper. Try to restructure the sentences that have “I” in them using the third person point of view. There were a couple spelling errors as well. Nice work! Annika Laughlin? November 11, 2008, at 08:41 PM
Tolkien Poetry Word Count 2,010
Many specific characteristics distinguish J.R.R. Tolkien’s work from any other literature that was begot of the 20th century. The nature of the tales and Tolkien’s gifts as a writer contribute greatly to the overall success of his fictional pieces, specifically the Lord of the Rings. In this paper I will discuss the significance of poetry, which is very prominent in all of his books concerning Middle Earth, exploring Tolkien’s poetic style, influences, literary devices, and analyzing specific poems themselves. Poetry is often the result of the exploration and mastery of a language, Tolkien far surpasses any other fictional writer in not only his creation of two entirely new languages, but his fluency in forming them into verse.(Hostetter 1)
To better understand Tolkien’s poetry it is necessary to have a small understanding of where Tolkein gathered his resources and inspiration. Being a scholar in Angelo-Saxon literature Tolkien chooses the format of a saga from influences such as Beowulf and Old Norse-Icelandic literature. A saga is an account of heroic deeds that have occurred in days long past. Originally this type of work was created from a single ancient poem where a story teller would create a setting and context for the often ambiguous events. As a result the saga would present itself in script intermittently disrupted by the lines of a poem called “Prosimetrum”(Plelpstead 1). We see Tolkien, in a similar fashion, use this format for his own epic fiction. Less than 10 pages into the first chapter of the Lord of the rings we are met with the first verse “The road goes ever on” and from thence forth observe prose frequently interrupted by poetry. The “text includes more than eighty poems or verse fragments and only nineteen of the work’s sixty-two chapters contain no verse at all”(Phelpstead 24). In addition Tolkien appears to be drawing his poetic resources from the same area, something old and part of the base make up of Middle Earth. It is this type of framing that makes the tales of middle earth so believable. Also poems of a saga nature were often said to be “sung”, scholars distinguish this word to mean “recited” or “spoken” not literally “sung” as we think of the expression today(Phelpstead 26). Unlike the sagas Tolkien uses a variety of ways to deliver poems in the Lord of the Rings. Through drinking songs, old wise stories carried down by oral traditions, funerals, warnings written in letters, lyrical speech( in Tom Bombadill’s case), something remembered that is pertinent to current events, and foreshadowing spoken by a narrator, Tolkien provides the reader with a more diverse pallet of poetry
In his earliest tries at poetry J.R.R. Tolkien is said to have a romantic style which to no surprise was very popular in the Victorian era in which he grew up.(Fleiger 144) Romanticism in literature emphasizes emotion, powerful feelings, and deep thought, unlike the previous period the enlightenment that only recognized something to be true if it could be supported by factual evidence. Subjects such as love, life after death, and realm of nature are all very frequently favored topics in Romantic literature. We see Tolkien create many poems of similar content such as “Beren and Luthien” which contains all three motifs. J.R.R. Tolkien makes use of different forms of verse and fits them to specific classifications of characters. The Hobbits for example have their own exclusive style for reciting poems as do the Elves, Tom Bombadill, and the Ents, . Tolkien makes special effort to create a full character in every aspect; it is only reasonable that much can be revealed about a character in the type of poetry chosen for them. Tolkien had such skill in doing this that many have called him an author-poet, pointing out his dedication to making the poetry just as important as every other script.
Hobbits are a very peculiar race, they have peculiar home, peculiar names, peculiar feet, and most of all peculiar poetry. “Reciting or singing verse is for them the most natural way to express their emotions.” (Issacs 172) Hobbits will use poems for all occasions and moods and never seem to be lacking a poem to describe any moment. Most interestingly Hobbits will also use each others poems and change a word or to better suit the event or their own perspective of the same happening. For example the poem “The Road goes ever on” as mentioned earlier is originally spoken by Bilbo from “The Hobbit” as he prepares to leave his home for the first time to thwart the dragon. Frodo changes Bilbo’s line “Pursuing it with eager feet” to ”weary feet” in order to better express his uneasiness and reluctance to leave the shire when Gandalf summons him(Issacs 172).
The figure of Tom Bombadil, an entity in a class of his own that appears in The Fellowship of the Ring, is one of the most overtly lyrical speakers. A fine example of his verse chosen from the Lord of the Rings displays many of Tom Bombadill’s trademarks.(Le Guin 96)
“’‘Hey! now!Come hoy now! Whither do you wander?
Up, down, near or far, here, there or yonder?
Sharp-ears, wise nose, swish-tail and bumpkin,
White-socks my little lad, and old Fatty Lumpkin!’‘”
Content aside the physical form of the lines alone indicate that this is to be read as if Tom is singing it. Firstly Tolkien italicizes the lines and then places them in the middle of the page as I have here to make that connection. “Sound rather then sense”(Issacs 180) sums up the style of Tom’s poetry. There are very distinctive rhythms to his words and the way they pass over the tongue is more important that what it means. Tom Bombadill also has the ability to rapidly change the tone of a setting, after he revives the Hobbits from certain death it is only a moment before her switch back to his jovial manner. Even when the lines spoken by Tom Bombadil are less playful with rhyme and energy and textually less remarkable the reader may still perceive a rhythm to Tom words. “I’ve got thing to do, my making, my singing, my talking, and my walking, and my watching of the country. Tom can’t always be near open doors and willow-cracks. Tom has his house to mind, and Goldberry is waiting” Another race The Elves make known to the other creature of their boundless love of music and Song(Issacs 183). Their brand of poetry is especially interesting because of the sound effects that are created by the use of certain words and repeating consonants. Euphony is a term used to describe a pleasing harmony of sounds.
“Her hair was long, her limbs were white,
And fair she was and free;
And in the wind she went as light
As leaf of linden-tree.”
The choice of word was very important to create this effect of breezy flow the only hard sounds in thw verse are the “t” in “light”, “white”, and “tree” the rest are very soft and have non disrupted air flow. Most verses by this race circulates around the ancient history of the elves and important events/ persons of the olden days all set in nature(Shippey,Road 354). There is a noticeable distinction concerning how the entity of the elves is separated from the rest of the world and we see theme of light and brightness much in contrast with the darkness of Middle Earth at the time of Frodo’s life.
The Ents repetition of phrases in one statement, archaic style, and long winded sentences perfectly suited to their longevity (Fleiger 191)
“O rowan fair, upon your hair how white the blossom lay!
O rowan mine, I saw you shine upon a summer’s day.” 103
This passage from the Two Towers displays the repetitive cycle used by the Ent Bregalaf who mourns the loss of the special Rowan tree given to the Entwives. He lements “O rowan” many times much like you would find in a pastoral verse which is discussed below. Gollum the most pitiful of creatures passes through Tolkien’s works with almost childlike one mindedness, the scene at the pool of Henneth Annun presents him singing in his own exclusive way.
“Fissh, nice fish. Makes us strong.
Makes eyes bright, fingers tight yes.
Throttle them, precious. Throttle them all,
yes, if we gets chances.
Nice fissh. Nice fissh!”
Suitable in a morbid way, the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning and end of a passage is something often found in the Old testament, sometimes labeled as inclusion who’s usual purpose is to mark where to start and stop. Tolkien was a highly devote Catholic and it is likely that his highly religious background may have influenced his use of such inclusion. I may only speculate why he chose this way of speech for Gollum who often applies this repetition while speaking. 374 TTT It is plausible that because of Gollum’s dual nature, Smegol vs.Gollum, the repetition of the line twice incorporates how he functions as a a double entity. In a similar fashion we’ve seen him use words such as “us” and “we” when talking about himself.
Tolkien uses many literary devices to execute his poems and chooses from a great variety of formats and verse. Light verse is distinguished by its humor, brief wordplay, and good use of rhythm and alliteration. Light verse seems to be most successful when used to describe a dark situation because of the contrast of humor and seriousness of subject (Fleiger 143). We see examples of this in the Hobbits song in the “Fellowship of the Ring”
“We must away: We must away!
We ride before the break of day!”
After such enthusiastic singing, Pippin asks, after just volunteering to accompany Frodo to Rivendale, “Do you really mean to start before the break of day?” (Issacs 175) .“Beren and Luthien” is in the form of an epic poem signifying that it is a long stylized narrative about a hero figure, the excerpt found in the Fellowship of the Ring, follows a rather complicated rhyme scheme ABACBABC. Also a popular study is “The Lays of Beleriand” A Lay is characterized by a long narrative, usually sung, having rhyming couplets. To have “rhyming couplets” is where the lines of the poem are paired together and each pair has the same meter and repeat a similar sound. (To be expanded with Jorgensen 1 and Shippey Author of the Century 234) The lays are particularly significant a elvish literature and embody the stories of “Beren and Luthien” and “The Tale of the Children of Hurin”
“Not Morgoth’s might nor meed nor torment
them vowed, availed to reveal that lore;
yet lights and lamps of living radiance,
many and magical, they made for him.
No dark could dim them the deeps wandering;
whose lode they lit was lost seldom
in groundless grot, or gulfs far under. “
In each line there are three sounds that are repeated creating a Triple Alliterative verse, such devices regulate the rhythm and speed in which the passage is read.(Rosebury 97)
All of what we read of Tolkien shows a well educated background of ancient literature and through study of poetics. It is believed his popularity is well deserved for his creation of such an expansive world and mastery of characters in Middle Earth. I was pleased to learn the even after his book became a huge success, ever thorough J.R.R. Tolkien, was still known to go back to revise poems written in his humble beginnings. Remarkably even the parts of the text that are not poetry are distinctly Tolkiens own graceful style of prose .“Even when the sentences are long, their flow is perfectly clear, and follows the breath; punctuation comes just where you need to pause; the cadences are graceful and inevitable…Tolkien must have heard what he wrote” What make the poetry of Tolkien so strong is also applied to all of his writings.
