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Originally Posted by morwen edhelwen
Is she (Firiel) really a woman technically, though? Somehow I had this idea that she was a young girl, maybe she would (best-case scenario) get married to a farmer/fisherman/blacksmith in a few years, aged about 15 at the time of the poem.
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I've always thought that she was somewhere between 15 and 20 - like just before the age that they used to marry at. I guess it depends on what you consider to be a "young girl", but sure - young, unmarried... Though I can't say she's too young.
I don't believe it says anything that could give hints to her age, though I think I assumed her to be young because the story "feels" like she's growing up, letting go of her dreams and innocent ignorance, replacing toys and fancy dresses with work and practical clothing... It might be that when we first see her (when she "looked out") she is a girl, but when she came home and changed beautiful to practical she is a woman.
It's an interesting point that you made about the gender. Maybe Tolkien just wanted the character to be more gentle... so that
does come down to poignant. And I think that "Earth's daughter" resonates better than "Earth's son".
And what is it with daughters? Earth's Daughter, River Daughter... The femininity gives a nice ring to it, as well as making the stories more elegant...
Don't kill me for the following few sentences, please...
In some native stories of creation the man appears in different ways, but he is always put there by the god(s)/spirits/etc. The man, then, finds the woman within nature (eg, in one story, she came to him from a cedar tree). Could the mythologies that have influenced Tolkien have similar ideas? The "Nature Daughter" thing is really interesting...
Edit: correction: she is called "Earth-maiden", so she's definitely in her youth.
Edit 2: I think that another reason for this poem to be so poignant (aside from the "growing up" thing) is the words "never more" in the last stanza. Just these two words by themselves are powerful enough, and with the context of the story - absolutely overwhelming.