Remembrance Day

[tree_and_leaf]

A less well known war poem by a WWI veteran, adapted from Anglo Saxon, because some things about war do not change.

"Where now the horse and rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow.
Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning,
Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?"

JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers, ch 6.

Comments

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this; it speaks eloquently of Tolkien's experience of warfare, and I'm tempted to make more of it having looked up the passage.

[tree_and_leaf]

I think it's the best poem in LotR, although I also very much like 'All that is gold'.

I love that so much.

[carlanime.livejournal.com]

This is destined to be one of those very cathartic days where I sit around sobbing, I see.

Re: I love that so much.

[tree_and_leaf]

It's an incredibly moving poem. It's surprisingly hard to find on the net, actually, though the shortened version they used (very effectively) in the film is all over the place.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

O. Thank you for posting that.

[tree_and_leaf]

It seemed very appropriate.

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Oh... ::shivers::

I did love how they used bits of that in the film, even if they couldn't fit the whole thing.

[tree_and_leaf]

I have my issues with the films, but that bit was absolutely brilliant and gave me shivers.

[themolesmother.livejournal.com]

As I have grown older I see so clearly how Tolkein's experiences in WWI informed the whole of the LOTR saga. The poem is one of my favourites and suits the mood of the day extremely well.

MM

[grondfic.livejournal.com]

I totally agree. My tolerance of the Uruk is mainly down to the authenticity of those "voices from the tranches", Shagrat and Gorbag.

[tree_and_leaf]

Despite the fact that they'd clearly sell their grannies for glue, there's something weirdly sympathetic about Shagrat† and Gorbag.

† I really don't want to think about how he got his name, though.

[tree_and_leaf]

It really did, and not in always obvious ways. Glad you appreciated the poem, anyhow.

[prelud.livejournal.com]

So lovely.
I loved all the Rohirrim culture parts of LOTR...

[tree_and_leaf]

*fangirls the Rohirrim*

[cuiaalfheim.livejournal.com]

Oh, how I love this poem.

Side note: we had a word in Irish the other day that sounded suspiciously like 'Rohan'. Coincidence, or just the workings of a fanciful mind?

[tree_and_leaf]

Intriguing! But you know a lot more about Celtic than I do....

[cuiaalfheim.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I'm going to give this to the fanciful mind, since the aforementioned word is actually a compound meaning 'too old'. But oh well. It still made me happy, and regardless of whether or not the Professor would have approved the connection, I'm making one. :)

[owl]

He disliked Irish (borrowed nasg=ring for the Black Speech, boo), so probably not, unless it's some root that's shared with Welsh.