![]() Now, however, the town is making a subsistence living and most people have forgotten the good days. Esgaroth is a bust wooden town that was once rich from the trade between Dale, a town up the lake near the mountain, and the wood-elves. A calm bay forms in front of the lake town that is partially built over the water. Bilbo is amazed by the length of the lake he cannot see its end. The river opens up into Long Lake, near the town of Esgaroth. Before long, the mountains recede from view as they travel south on the river. The river goes on and on and the mountain in the distance seems to frown down on him. In a way, Bilbo and his companions were fortunate to come out of the forest at all, but this does not comfort the hobbit. All the paths and the old road have become overgrown or forgotten. The river remains the only safe way out of Mirkwood. He listens to the raftsmen talk about the ways in which the river has changed and how the land has been altered. In the distance, Bilbo can see the Lonely Mountain. Modern singers tend to mix it up rather than sticking with four beats per line throughout a song.The day grows warmer and the land clears near the river. ![]() ![]() That may be why Shakespeare preferred five beats per line. Even in a song, the four beat per line meter with no variation can get tiring. In my opinion it's not Tolkien's best poem, but it works better as a song, where the singer can gloss over the inconsistencies in meter and rhyme. The last verse states the purpose of the quest, to win back their treasure from the dragon. The next three verses describe the attack of the dragon. The first three verses poetically describe the wondrous crafts of the dwarves before the arrival of the dragon. They also fashioned gems that caught the light. They made them for the King of Dale and for the Lord of the Elves. ![]() In ancient times the dwarves under the Lonely Mountain made many hoards of golden objects. Still, I'll assume for now it's not literal, any more than stringing stars on necklaces or hanging dragon fire on crowns (see the second verse). The idea of catching light to hide in gems is probably poetic license for fashioning gems that catch the light, although in a world with magic it's possible Tolkien meant that literally. The verb is "caught." The object is "light." "To hide in gems on hilt of sword" is another prepositional phrase. The subject of the second sentence is "they" again. The verbs are "shaped and wrought." The object is "many a gleaming golden hoard." "For ancient king and elvish lord" is a prepositional phrase. The subject of the first sentence is "they," meaning the dwarves. The verse is one long, complicated sentence, although it's really two sentences separated by a comma, with each sentence containing a prepositional phrase. Tolkien maintains this rhyme scheme in the other verses, although some of the rhymes aren't perfect (strung/hung/sun, heights/night/light, moon/doom/moon). ![]() The rhyme scheme is AABA (lord/hoard/caught/sword). However in " Goblets they carved there for them selves" Tolkien seems to place stress on the very first syllable, as well as squeezing two syllables between the first and second beat. There are other examples of Tolkien deviating from the meter in other verses, usually by squeezing in an extra syllable. In the second line, though, Tolkien squeezes two syllables in between the first and second beat. Usually each stressed syllable is preceded by an unstressed syllable. They shaped and wrought, and light they caughtįirst, it's four beats per line. I'm not sure what you have in mind, but I'll do my best with the first verse: ![]()
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