Best Poetry in LOTR

[Adrian Baggins]

I like:

Stilll 'Round the Corner There May Wait

Upon the heart the fire is red,
Beneath the roof there is a bed;
But not yet weary are our feet,
Still round the corner we may meet
A sudden tree or standing stone
That none have seen but we alone.
Tree and flower and leaf and grass,
Let them pass! Let them pass!
Hill and water under sky,
Pass them by! Pass them by!

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun.
Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe,
Let them go! Let them go!
Sond and ston and pool and dell,
Fare you well! Fare you well!

Home is behind, the worl ahead
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
We'll wonder back to home and bed.
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
Away shall fade! Away shall fade!
Fire and lamp, and meat and bread,
And then to bed! And then to bed!

I also like the elves song in the chapter called 3 is Company in Fotr called Snow-white! Snow-white! O lady Clear!, Farewell we call to harth and hall from a Conspiracy Unmasked.

The one poem I like is said by Bilbo. It is called When winter begins to bite.

[wahine]

I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood and every spring
there is adifferent green.

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.

[Millane]

The fall of Gil-galad... it doesnt actually say what the words are but when the rohirrim start singing as they kill i would like whatever they sang.

[The Lady of Ithilien]

Earendil Was A Mariner and the excerpt of the song of Rohan that closes "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields." I know, that's two, so I'll divided them into two categories. In terms of a poem that works well with the text, it's the latter: "Red fell the dew in Rammas Echor." Sends chills up your spine. Araethirion, however, has a good case for Aragorn's verses.

Earendil Was A Mariner is my choice for a poem that stands alone. There's a good Suite 101 article by Michael Martinez about that and its "twin" Errantry, a poem that eventually took on a life of its own, which delighted JRRT.

Oddly enough, both poems are so long that I skipped them for the first several times I read and reread the books.

[diannah]

Sam's song about Gil-Galad is my personal favorite.

[jerseydevil]

Since I love to travel it's "The Road Goes Ever On and On"

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

That's the version Bilbo sings as he leaves the shire. Frodo however, when he leaves the shire changes "eager" to "weary".

I also imagined all the places I could go just by stepping out my door. It's a simple song - but it's just a really profound thought I think in such a simple song.

In Salem, West Virginia my college was right off of US 50 and my house in Seymour, Indiana was right off of US 50. It was cool to think that basically - even though I was 500 miles apart - I was still on the same road as my family.

[azalea]

Aw, JD, that's so sweet! My family lives off of I-75, as does my husband's(in a different town), and now we've moved to a town right off of I75, too, so I know what you mean! It feels comforting in a way to know they might be traveling the same road as you at the same time!

I love that poem, too, although it feels melancholy to me. It makes me long for a time when you could step outside and walk in any direction to find an adventure. Now you'd run into fences, people's back yards, or a Wal Mart . It feels like no room is made for the country dirt road where you can wander for hours, or a place where you could step over the crest of a hill and not see any civilization for miles around, just grass, trees, rocks, and streams.

[Orion]

Lament for Boromir is my favorite, it is so sad and beautiful at the same time.
"Through Rohan over fen and field where the long grass grows, the West Wind comes walking, and about the walls it goes. ... 'O Boromir! From the high walls westward I looked afar, but you came not from the empty lands where no men are.'" etc.

It is just beautiful. The other that I like a lot is Amroth and Nimrodel´s song.

[Ninquelote]

I think all of them are great in a unique way, but I prefer the shorter rhymes.

"Legolas Greenleaf long under tree
In joy thou hast lived- beware of the sea!
If thou hearest the call of the gull on the shore
Thy heart shall rest in the forest no more."

Concise and to the point, I think...

[Nimphredil]

My fav is defenetly Bilbo's song in Rivendell about Earendil.
I know it by heart. (The first pages are easy, I get troubles sometimes when reading the part when Earendil leaves the Undieing (sp?) Lands).
I know also some other poems from LOTR by heart (The Road Goes Ever On and On, Bilbo's other song in Rivendell, I sang of leaves.., the poem about Aragorn that Bilbo made up, Three rings for the elven kings.., some of the Tom Bombadil's songs). So I guess I'm a Tolkien's poetry fan plus I have a good memory and nothing bether to do.
I'm learning the song about Nimrodel right now.
I also like Sam's song in Cirith Ungol (that I don't know by heart).

[Bombadillo]

I think the song of the Ents' March to Isengard is the best by far.
"To Isengard! Though Isengard be ringed and barred
> with doors of stone;
Though Isengard be strong and hard, as cold as stone
> and as bare as bone..."
and as it goes on it gets cooler. Too lazy to write it. It's so metal.

That and the Rohirrim call to arms:
"Arise now, arise, Riders of Theoden!
Dire deeds awake, dark it is eastward.
Let horse be bridled, horn be sounded!
> Forth Eorlingas!"
In the clearest voice and loudest call heard in the history of ME.

[Wayfarer]

Earendil and Durin's Day are two favorites of mine, but I would have to say that Sam's Song is the one I enjoyed the most. Gil Galad gets an honorable mention.

In western lands
beneath the sun
the flowers may rise in spring
the trees may bud
the waters run
the merry finches sing
or maybe 'tis a cloudless night
and swaying beeches bear
the elven stars
as jewels white
among their branching hair

Though here at journys end I lie
In darkness buried deep
beyond all towers strong and high
beyond all mountains steep
above all shadows rides the sun
and stars forever dwell
I will not say 'the day is done'
nor bid the stars farewell

[Gwaimir Windgem]

I recently read Earendil, and loved it. But I think my favourite is:

The Dwarves of yore made mighty spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells,
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hollow halls beneath the fells.

Sorry if I got it wrong, My Hobbit's been missing forever...

Of couse, I also love "Snow-white! Snow-white!"

Which is that? Sam's Song?

[Gwaimir Windgem]

As azalea mentioned bringing this up, I thought I'd do so.

[Lady of Rohan]

You beat me to it Gwai. (And sorry Azalea)

My favourite is the tale of Tinuvel.

[Bombadillo]

Originally posted by Gwaimir Windgem
I recently read Earendil, and loved it. But I think my favourite is:

The Dwarves of yore made mighty spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells,
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hollow halls beneath the fells.

Sorry if I got it wrong, My Hobbit's been missing forever...

Of couse, I also love "Snow-white! Snow-white!"

Which is that? Sam's Song?

I don't know if that's right or not, but that's pretty good for no Hobbit. You really must like it.

[azalea]

No need to apologize.

I found a pad of large-sized paper in my old closet at my parents' house. On it, from many years ago, was "The Road Goes Ever On and On," which I had written out with a felt pen in a stylized script. I think I had planned on tearing it out and framing it to put on my wall or something. It was fun to find that after so many years.

[Silpion]

I like the song Galadriel sang in the chapter Farewell to Lorien, I don't think it has a title but the first line is
I sang of leaves, of leaves of gold, and leaves of gold there grew:
it's just so sad, especially the last lines.
But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me,
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?
I also enjoy The Lay of Leithian, Sam's recitation of The Fall of Gil-galad, the song Aragorn sang of Boromir, and this song the elves sang in the chapter The Grey Havens
A! Elbereth Gilthoniel!
silivren penna miriel
o menel aglar elenath,
Gilthoniel, A! Elbereth!
We still remember, we who dwell
In this far land beneath the trees
The starlight on the Western Seas.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

You refer to her Lament? I actually have a sound file of Tolkien himself singing that.

[Silpion]

Lucky you
I wonder if it is as poignant as when the "Galadriel Voice" in my head sings it. (Okay, now I sound insane.)