September 19, 2003

'Where Now the Horse and the Rider?'
Lady of Rohan

I know this site is entitled "Tolkien Movies" for a reason, but I'm an English major so humor me as I offer up a small helping of literary criticism.

Reading everyone's comments about Theoden's little speech about the horse and rider naturally got me keen to go re-read that part in the book. (As Jarrickon Falconn pointed out, it is an excerpt from a longer poem recited by Aragorn.)

Anyway, after reading through it again I noticed for the first time how similar this poem is to an Old English poem called "The Wanderer." The whole idea of where people go when they die and what happens to things as time passes is very Anglo-Saxon (think "Beowulf"). Considering how very similar the Rohirrim are to the Anglo-Saxons (there really isn't any difference at all), I was pleased that Tolkien included some Anglo-Saxon influenced poetry into Rohan's culture and history.

So that's my bit about that. I know it's boring, but for me this sort of thing just makes the books so much richer.

~Lady of Rohan
"All the lands were grey and still; and ever the shadow deepened before them, and hope waned in every heart." -J.R.R. Tolkien