May the Fourth today, and of course "May the Fourth be with you!" I had to laugh when the radio presenter on the classical channel said this this morning. I was talking to a friend today about one of my favourite descriptions in 'The Lord of the Rings'. Of course, as it is one of my utmost favourite books, I have many many bits that I adore, but this one part has always stuck in my mind, almost obstinately, because of how deep, green and nobly beautiful it is. It is about Treebeard's eyes (Treebeard being an old tree-man for non-Tolkiensians, and Fangorn the Ent otherwise):
Often afterwards Pippin tried to describe his first impression of them,
'One felt as if there was an enormous well behind them, filled up with ages of memory and long, slow, steady thinking; but their surface was sparkling with the present; like sun shimmering on the outer leaves of a vast tree, or on the ripples of a very deep lake. I don't know, but it felt as if something that grew in the ground - asleep, you might say, or just feeling itself as something between root-tip and leaf-tip, between deep earth and sky had suddenly waked up, and was considering you with the same slow care that it had given its own inside affairs for endless years.'
'The Lord of the Rings', Volume 2: '.The Two Towers', 'Treebeard', by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Isn't it beautiful? Did you read it aloud? I think that it sounds really wonderful when you read it aloud with all the pauses and such, to bring out the rhythm and flow of the words. That is often the case, hey? I love the last sentence. 'Dormant' is one word that floats to the top of my mind. Do you read it and feel that it is coloured green? I do. Like green with thick green curtains on a cold wind, or green of soft, newborn moss under a log. Tolkien says so many things that I love.
I also love in 'The Fellowship of the Ring' when the hobbits are in the house of Bombadil (a character I grieved the absence of dearly in the movies), and the rain turned the chalk path into a milky river. Just the perfect words to make me see it. I love it so much.
What are your favourite things from him?
Thankyou for another beautiful & inspiring reflection. Truly your blog is too good to only be enjoyed by 11 Followers. The world is missing out on so much. What can you do to get yourself out there & be seen!
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful paige. definitely going on my list of books to read (been on their for a while now). I love the blog! you have inspired me to have my own.
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