Tolkien's Floral Fixation

[Faramir Jones]

A lovely passage I've always liked, since reading it in 'Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin' in Unfinished Tales, is Voronwë's description to Tuor of Nan-tathren, where he delayed in his mission to the Bay of Balar. In particular, I've always loved his description of the flowers there:

In that land Narog joins Sirion, and they haste no more, but flow broad and quiet through living meads; and all about the shining river are flaglilies like a blossoming forest; and the grass is filled with flowers, like gems, like bells, like flames of red and gold, like a waste of many-coloured stars in a firmament of green. (Emphasis mine)

[Guinevere]

Great topic, Faramir! For me, the references and descriptions of flowers, herbs, trees and other plants add greatly to my enjoyment of Tolkien's books and to the feeling of Middle Earth being real. This is of course because I myself am fond of flowers and plants and like to be able to name them. Since English isn't my mothertongue, I had to look up many many names, and learnt a lot that way!

Another symbolic use of a white flower is Aragorn's comparison of Eowyn to
"a white flower standing straight and proud, shapely as a lily, and yet knew that it was hard, as if wrought by elf-wrights out of steel. Or was it, maybe, a frost that had turned its sap to ice, and so it stood, bitter-sweet, still fair to see, but stricken, soon to fall and die?"

[Faramir Jones]

Originally Posted by Guinevere

Another symbolic use of a white flower is Aragorn's comparison of Eowyn to "a white flower standing straight and proud, shapely as a lily, and yet knew that it was hard, as if wrought by elf-wrights out of steel. Or was it, maybe, a frost that had turned its sap to ice, and so it stood, bitter-sweet, still fair to see, but stricken, soon to fall and die?"

That's another good one, Guinevere! I've always liked the symbolism in that comparison since I first read that passage in LotR. It made me, at the time, think of a recently cut flower that looked fine, but which was soon to die.

[Orphalesion]

What about Urwen/Lailaith whom Turin describes to Finduilas as "a yellow flower in the green grass of spring" before contrasting Finduilas herself as a "golden tree".

I also did not know that Tolkien changed the meaning of Luthien to "daughter of flowers" however I am glad I do now. The meaning "enchantress" has always struck me as rather odd as a name of an Elf. A name given to her by mortals, perhaps, but not by her parents.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

I loved this thread so much that I couldn't bare it dying. I had nothing to say until now, since I'm visiting the boyfriend and my books are all 500 miles away.

I remember a post on tumblr talking about how Tolkien would always stop and gaze at the flowers and trees on his walk. This annoyed those around him because he stopped for too long! It got me thinking about the botanical gardens in Oxford that Tolkien liked to go to so much. When Lauri and I were in Britain, we went there and made a point to sit under Tolkien's favourite tree. I can see that his love of nature in all forms has impacted his works. I was never one to really know the names of flowers, not from disinterest of course, but I did learn some new names of plants from LotR. I now smile every time I see a camellia plant in the store and was delighted to discover that the scientific name for the tea plant is Camellia sinensis. It always reminds me of hobbits. I also have a fondness for lobelia plants now because of Lobelia Sackville-Baggins.

Oh, I think I've rambled a bit on this post. I guess what I was trying to get at was that I am inspired by Tolkien's love of all things botanical and the descriptions of landscapes and flowers were what really drew me into the books as a whole.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by TheGreatElvenWarrior

. . . . It got me thinking about the botanical gardens in Oxford that Tolkien liked to go to so much. When Lauri and I were in Britain, we went there and made a point to sit under Tolkien's favourite tree. . . . .
I guess what I was trying to get at was that I am inspired by Tolkien's love of all things botanical and the descriptions of landscapes and flowers were what really drew me into the books as a whole.

That's a wonderful inspiration, TGEW. It is just as legitimate as those who come to Tolkien for the warfare and the fighting and the action. (*coughs* I won't mention any film directors.) I'm sure there are many here who share it.

This thread might also be the place to note here on the Downs that Tolkien's beloved pinus nigra has fallen. Two large branches cracked and fell down and the tree was deemed too unstable by arborists, so the rest was cut down.

There is a video of the split and fall: Tolkien's tree falls

[Pitchwife]

Gods, Bêthberry, that video was heartbreaking. To see such a giant who has endured in strength and beauty for such a long time stripped and dismantled like that... It's so much like watching the decay of a venerable and beloved elder. Very, very sad.

As long as I've had any personal relationship with nature at all trees have stood out to me as special, closer to us humans than any other plant in their gnarled individuality and dignity. Whether Tolkien's passages about trees kindled this feeling or merely amplified it is impossible for me to tell now. I've known trees I considered friends and some that were my teachers and counselors, and whenever I see trees mindlessly felled under some hollow architectural pretence I long for a march of Ents to avenge them. Unfortunately all the Ents seem to have gone tree-ish nowadays, leaving it to us to defend their herds against Saruman's modern imitators.