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Old 11-11-2004, 10:26 PM   #47
mark12_30
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silver glass

The departure from Lorien echoes Frodo's dream and also forsees his sailing.

Dreaminess; grey, silver, light, glass, rain; water; distant green country; sweet singing over the water; and shining-- shining song, shining veil of rain, shining phial, shining lady.

And for those from whom the song is receeding-- grey silent grief, sinking into the darkness of night, with only the noise of the water against the shore.

(I've always wondered what a 'hythe' was and I finally looked it up: a small 'havens'.)

From Bombadil's house, second night:

Quote:
But either in his dreams or out of them, he could not tell which, Frodo heard a sweet singing running in his mind: a song that seemed to come like a pale light behind a grey rain-curtain, and growing stronger to turn the veil all to glass and silver, until at last it was rolled back, and a far green country opened before him under a swift sunrise.
*****

From Farewell to Lorien:

Quote:
Frodo took the phial, and for a moment as it shone between them, he saw her again standing like a queen, great and beautiful, but no longer terrible. He bowed, but found no words to say.

Now the Lady arose, and Celeborn led them back to the Hythe. A yellow noon lay on the green land of the Tongue, and the water glittered with silver. All at last was made ready. The company took their places in the boats as before. Crying farewell, the Elves of Lorien with long grey poles thrust them out into the flowing stream, and the rippling waters bore them slowly away. The travellers sat still without moving or speaking. On the green bank near to the very point of the tongue the Lady Galadriel stood alone and silent. As they passed her they turned and their eyes watched her slowly floating away from them. For so it seemed to them: Lorien was slipping backward, like a bright ship masted with enchanted trees, sailing on to forgotten shores, while they sat helpless upon the margin of the grey and leafless world.

... Soon the white form of the Lady was small and distant. She shone like a window of glass upon a far hill in the westering sun, or as a remote lake seen from a mountain: a crystal fallen in the lap of the land. Then it seemed to Frodo that she lifted her arms in a final farewell, and far but piercing-clear on the following wind came the sound of her voice singing. But now she sang in the ancient tongue of the elves beyond the sea... "...Farewell! Maybe thou shalt find Valimar. Maybe even thou shalt find it. Farewell!"

...all their eyes were filled with tears. ...The breeze died away and the river flowed without a sound. No voice of bird broke the silence... ...a grey and starless night. Far into the dark quiet hours they floated on... Frodo sat and listened to the faint lap and gurgle of the River ... until his head nodded and he fell into an uneasy sleep.
The long poles emphasize that once he chooses to enter the boat, Frodo is a passenger, dependant on the elves and the water.

*****
From The Grey Havens:

Quote:
Galadriel sat upon a white palfrey and was robed all in glimmering white, like clouds about the moon; for she herself seemed to shine with a soft light. On her finger was Nenya, the ring wrought of Mithril, that bore a single white stone flickering like a frosty star.

.....

The sails were drawn up, and the wind blew, and slowly the ship slipped away down the long grey firth; and the light of the glass of Galadriel that Frodo bore glimmered and was lost. And the ship went out into the High Sea and passed on into the west, until at last on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtaiin turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.

But to Sam the evening deepened to darkness as he stood at the Haven; and as he looked at the grey sea he saw only a shadow on the waters that was soon lost in the West. There still he stood far into the night, hearing only the sigh and murmur of the waves on the shores of Middle-earth, and the sound of them sank deep into his heart. Beside him stood Merry and Pippin, and they were silent.

Last edited by mark12_30; 11-11-2004 at 10:34 PM.
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