[Gorwingel]

Oh, of course the songs and poems serve a purpose. Just as many have said, they are very much "Tokien" and additionally they are used to pass down the history, traditions and legends of the peoples of Middle Earth. The use of verbal stories and songs to tell history used to be much more previlent, but because of the creation of other ways to communicate it has mostly dissapeared. Now songs and poems are used less to tell history, and more to entertain (but even the songs and poems of today can still tell a lot about our culture and and traditions). Additionally I think the songs and poems just fit. I would most certainly miss them if they were not there.