Favourite song or poem from lord of the rings or the hobbit

[Morthoron]

I would say no poem from Tolkien has both a more profound or chilling effect than...

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

I will never forget it, nor the translation of the last few lines into Black Speech...

Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,
Ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.

[Galadriel55]

I love a good many of the poems and used to know a good chunk of them by heart in two languages (mark the "used to"). If I had to choose an absolute winner, though, I'd go for Felagund's song: He chanted a song of wizardry, / Of piercing, opening, of treachery...

[IxnaY AintsaY]

I don't know if it's my favorite, but "Earendil was a Mariner" / "Errantry" is simply astounding.

Proabably the most stirring for me is the pairing of Eomer's "Out of doubt, out of dark to the day's rising..." and the mourning song closing the same chapter.

Long now they sleep

under grass in Gondor by the Great River.

Grey now as tears, gleaming silver,

red then it rolled, roaring water:

foam dyed with blood flamed at sunset;

as beacons' mountains burned at evening;

red fell the dew in Rammas Echor.

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by IxnaY AintsaY

I don't know if it's my favorite, but "Earendil was a Mariner" / "Errantry" is simply astounding.

Proabably the most stirring for me is the pairing of Eomer's "Out of doubt, out of dark to the day's rising..." and the mourning song closing the same chapter.

Long now they sleep

under grass in Gondor by the Great River.

Grey now as tears, gleaming silver,

red then it rolled, roaring water:

foam dyed with blood flamed at sunset;

as beacons' mountains burned at evening;

red fell the dew in Rammas Echor.

This is used extremely effectively in the BBC Radio version ...now have an earworm!

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Tough call. All 3 of the alliterative Mark poems are wonderful, although I think I prefer "Where are the horse and the Rider." But the echoes of lost history in Gimli's song in Moria are shiver-inducing, and then there is Namarie...

Oh, and I love the bath-song at Crickhollow!

[Faramir Jones]

My favourite is The Troll Song by Sam Gamgee:


Troll sat alone on his seat of stone,
And munched and mumbled a bare old bone;
For many a year he had gnawed it near,
For meat was hard to come by.
Done by! Gum by!
In a cave in the hills he dwelt alone,
And meat was hard to come by.


It's an original composition, showing that there is more to Sam than has previously met the eye. I love listening to Tolkien's singing of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGMFHvxAn4g

That recording is the nearest we're going to get to what Tolkien imagined an 'ordinary' hobbit sounded like when singing.

[Belegorn]

Well I'm reading LotR again after some months and forgot about that drinking song! This one is cool:

Ho! Ho! Ho! to the bottle I go
To heal my heart and drown my woe.
Rain may fall and wind may blow,
And many miles be still to go,
But under a tall tree I will lie,
And let the clouds go sailing by.

[MCRmyGirl4eva]

The Lament for Boromir. It's so powerful, and I've hand written it over and over just to make sure that the copy I pinned on my wall didn't have any white-out on it.

[Legolas]

Has to be one of the most memorable, doesn't it? Especially with the lady who's sure otherwise.

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not whither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken:
The crownless again shall be king.

I also like the Song of Beren and Lúthien for all its glimmering and shimmering.

Formendacil, as I read the title of this thread, I thought about moving it, but upon seeing the original date, decided that I shan't dare to disturb such artifacts!

[Orphalesion]

Originally Posted by Legolas

Has to be one of the most memorable, doesn't it? Especially with the lady who's sure otherwise.

I see what you did there . Did you know that there is a theory that the "Lady" in "Stairway to Heaven" is a reference to Galadriel?

And on that topic there is of course:

In Dwimordene, in Lorien
Seldom have walked the feet of Men
Few Mortals have seen the light
That lies there ever, long and bright
Galadriel! Galadriel!
Clear is the water in your well
White is the star in your white hand
Unmarred, unstained is leaf and land
In Dwimordene, in Lorien
More fair than thoughts of Mortal Men

*wistful sigh* Not to mention that there lies a potentially untold story here, if we assume that this is a rhyme of the Rohirrim (because of the Dwimordene) then how have they obtained the knowledge about Galadriel's well and "star"(Ring)? Rumors and hearsay? Or has someone of Theoden's folk (perhaps from the time when they still dwelt in the vales of Anduin?) actually been to Lorien and seen Galadriel and her mirror and served her in some unknown quest?

[Mithalwen]

Given how you fell about Rohan generally, you may not have read the section in Unfinished Tales about Cirion and Eorl. When Eorl rode from the North a mist came out of Lorien that sheltered them from Dol Guldur. While useful it rather collectively freaked them out. Also in one of the draft timelin. The Sons of Elrond fought with the Northmen (this was shortly after Celebrían's abduction and no doubt part of their vengeance), maybe they interracted enough with their temporary comrades to pass on some information on Grannie...though the star rereference is a bit indiscreet. Or they might have had dealings with Thranduil's folk who have a similar culture and in earlier times more contact with their southern kin.

I suspect, as with real world nursery rhymes and the like things are only part remembered and context is lost ..maybe the first few lines were familiar and Gandalf supplied the rest?