The Gest of Beren and Lúthien

[Lindale]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

I love the Gest. I know a lot of people feel that Tolkien was not at his best with rhyming couplets, or that the form is too repetitive and not suitable for a long narrative, but personally I don't agree with either of these complaints. Certainly some passages are better than others, but even in its weakest moments the Lay seems to me to retain a wonderful lyricism and vivacity.

Most Filipinos say that the Tagalog ear is more accustomed than others of our nationality to verse bordering on the musical, and that perhaps is why I love the Gest. I first read it around five years ago, when I was learning about the Tagalog Awit and Korido, poetic forms which resemble the form of the Gest very much.

I am unable to find any websites in English about the Awit or the Korido. They've nearly died out, but those that survive deal with love and adventure of epic proportions, and are often fantastic or hearkening to some distant past. The meter of the Awit is twelve syllables; Korido has eight.