Painful beauty
The more I read Tolkien, the more certain things strike me with a pain because of their beauty. There are of all his books that are both painful and beautiful, and the two feelings are combined into what I call exquisite pain. Sometimes it is something that is full of pain and beauty at the same time, and sometimes it is something that is so beautiful it hurts.
For example, a good many of the bits about Rohan, the glorious calls that Theoden and Eomer give, are so beautiful they make my heart swell with something that is almost pain: "Arise, arise, Riders of Theoden! Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter! spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered, a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!" and: "Out of doubt, out of dark to the day's rising I came singing inthe sun, sword unsheathing. To hope's end I rode and to heart's breaking: Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall!" I will post more as I think of them, but do any of you have any parts of the books (any, not just LotR) that strike you in the same way? (I have a similar topic in the Movies forum, so if there are parts of the movies that evoke similar emotions, you can go there.) |
Interesting topic. I think that one of the most outstanding examples of "painful beauty" is Galadriel when Frodo offers her the Ring. Here is the quote:
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<font size=1 color=339966>[ 1:51 AM January 10, 2004: Message edited by: Alatariel ] |
Great topic, Corwyn! This is indeed a very well defined notion in Tolkien's works. The quote that most eloquently expresses the concept to me is found in ROTK Bk. VI, Chapter 4: The Field of Cormallen
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Cheers! Lyta |
Hi, Corwyn! Nice idea! Do you mind if I use a variant of it for my thesis? I've always liked that quote by Galadriel about being a beautiful, terrible queen, and I want to use it somewhere in my paper.
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Lyta, thank you for your post! I love that quote from RotK, and I had completely forgotten about it when I started the thread. Tolkien does indeed express much better than I can exactly what I mean.
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Two quotes from "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields" I find so very beautifull and very painfull:
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Beautiful passages, Earendilyon. I many of the Rohirrim passages are so beautiful and painful they move me to tears:
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Hmm... most of these are about the Rohirrim, especially at war, especially the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. I wonder why?
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I can think of two passages right now that I feel really applies to this topic.
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Oh, I forgot one!
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I think that my realization of the emotional nature of the beauty in LotR, book and film, has opened not necessarily my eyes but my emotions to beauty and painful beauty. I've found myself tearing up at so many things recently whose beauty has suddenly struck me. It's a kind of aching longing for that beauty which will never be fulfilled in this world but will be some day.
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From the Silmarillion (the quote is describing part of the music that formed the world)-
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Excellent thread, Corwyn.
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Our own modern society is much more like Gondor than Rohan, and in my opinion painful beauty has much less clout than it used to, at least in western society. I have heard Lush hint on another thread that this may not be completely so in Eastern European or Slavic cultures, and that death is treated quite differently to how it is in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia and I presume other western states such as the USA, Britain and Canada (sorry if I left anyone out, that's not an exhaustive list!). Whether we're enlightened or just plain boring, the fact remains that a death in battle, or battle in general is not what it once was. I was reading an article yesterday in Time magazine about soldiers maimed in the recent Gulf War; about the terrible cost in terms of injury. The point was made that the dead are reported more frequently than the wounded. It is more acceptable (from a political point of view) for a death to be reported. Then we may hope to keep alive some of this painful beauty for those who supposedly fell valiantly defending our ideals. It is infinitely harder to look at the pain-drawn face of a recent amputee and find beauty in it. Which is why The Lord of the Rings, for better or for worse, makes no mention of the grisly casualties involved in a medieval style war. Tolkien has tried to convey to us the glorified vision of righteous warfare, and gives us less of the other side of the coin, the human suffering (a notable exception is Théoden's proud and stirring rebuke to Saruman). |
I suppose that the reason that deaths are reported more than wounds is that you can't really console someone about a wound. It would be an extremely awkward situation, and perhaps the person would take affront at being given "charity." The reaction to a death is much more "standardized." You send flowers, condolence cards, etc, whereas with a wound, that would just be really awkward.
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