Bilbo in Limbo part 2, a short rest

Hello reader, it’s been a while, but I’m back.

 

In the first part of this post, I looked at chapter 2 of The Hobbit, “Roast Mutton”, and how it showed Bilbo’s uneasy and uncomfortable battle between Baggins and Took progressing. Granted this struggle is evident throughout the story, but I feel that these two chapters are particularly important. So last time we looked at how the Tookish streak in Bilbo was starting to become a bit bolder, and his Baggins-ness was starting, at least in part, to subside. This time I’ll be looking at Bilbo’s journey in chapter 3 “A short rest” and in particular the impact that Rivendell has on both him, and the story.

The chapter begins with the troupe heading through the wilderness to Rivendell. We see impassable ravines, deep gullies and all sorts of things that a self-respecting hobbit would deem altogether unwholesome and highly uncomfortable. This feeling of discomfort is compounded by Bilbo’s simple question he puts towards his fellows “Is the the Mountain?” Bilbo asks, the Baggins in him hoping that the journey is nearing its end. This notion is quickly shot down by Balin, telling the hobbit that the mountain before them is the beginning of the misty mountains, essentially a mere stepping stone to their final destination. Bilbo’s hope for the journey’s end is crushed, and we as the reader feel can start to feel his sense of dread. The little fellow has had his high in dealing with the trolls in the most Tookish way imaginable, but now the reality of what he is doing really starts to set in.

Looking to the New Year.

Hello good reader!

When I started this blog I didn’t expect much (if any) of a positive response, but much to my delight and suprise I have recieved one. So, the infancy is over, and onward we march into the new year, heads held high and plans for it like bees swarming.

Today I’m going to share some of the plans I have for the future.

This year I find myself with nearly no responsabilities, and an astonishing amount of free time, which I plan to put to good use. I’ve got plans for this blog.

I’m going to be posting a lot more, about more things, and with greater care and quality put into what I write. I’ll be finishing the series I started on The Hobbit, and starting a new one on the Silmarillion in the later half of the year. I’ll also be doing more writing on poetry and short stories (some Poe to get things moving I think), films and comics, and basically an form of story-telling that’s worth while. I’ll be writing more stuff about art, and sharing more of my own, which has been a struggle this year because of a gimpy wrist. And if all goes according to plan, I’ll be starting a youtube channel for things that aren’t really suited to being shared on a blog (which includes some art stuff) and doing some collaborations with my good friend @Ianfjay from http://ianfjay.wordpress.com/, which will be great.

This year already looks good, thanks for being part of it.

Bravely onwards into the future. Until next time.

 

All That is Gold Does Not Glitter

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

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

Hello good reader!

If by now you haven’t figured it out, today we’re going to be looking at J.R.R Tolkien’s poem ‘All That is Gold Does Not Glitter’ from The Lord of The Rings(I know, it wasn’t obvious at all was it?). This is one of my favourite poems, it’s short, to the point (which sounds midly contradictory as it’s abstract) and it’s starts with a marvelous subversion of an old proverb, whilst still respecting it. This post is going to get into some mildly intricate details of the mythology of Middle-Earth, be prepared Let’s start with the first line.

All that is gold does not glitter,

What a hook, seriously, this could be my favourite line of poetry ever, period. It’s so simple, and yet so clever. The old saying “All that glitters is not gold” (which, I believe is a deviation of a line from Shakespear’s ‘The Merchant of Venice”), is mean’t to communicate that not everything that is visually appealing, or beautiful, carries the traits of beauty deeper than it’s surface. Tolkien’s subtle change of this proverb completely changes the meaning. Now we can take from it that many things which have incredible value don’t show it. Now this is very clever, it subverts an old proverb that, I would say, everyone knows, and replaces it with something that is equally as true. It also sets up the whole premise of the poem, appearance and expectation don’t necessarily reflect truth.

      Not all those who wander are lost;

      This line is slightly more specific to the book (not that the first isn’t, this one just has less of an application to the real world. This line is implicitly reffering to the rangers (or more specifically the Dunedain Rangers). It suggests that the common belief that the rangers are somewhat aimless is incorrect.

      The old that is strong does not wither,

I must admit that I’m not actually specifically how this line refers to the story, although I can take an educated guess and say it’s about Aragorn’s lineage, seeing as he is from a far more pure and ancient line than the current ruler/steward of Gondor. This line als says something interesting about real life as well, as so often we believe that old things are inferior and weak.

      Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

Just like the last line I can only assume that this line is reffering to Aragorn’s lineage, it carries pretty much the same conetations as the previous line. At this point I would like to point out that the first two lines share a syllable count of eight, and the second two of nine. To me this suggests that they are intentionally grouper according to their meaning, the first two lines speak about appearances or perceptions not truly reflecting that nature of a thing, whilst the second two speak about the strength and resiliance that old, well established things have.

I believe the second stanza is best looked at as a whole, so let’s do that.

     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

The syllabilic structure of this stanza is very interesting to me. At first one might think to group the first two lines together, and then the second two, which is fair enough, after all, ashes, fire and light clearly belong together, as do blade, crown[less] and King (when understood in the context of Narsil, Aragorn and Gondor). However upon deeper inspection, one can see that the first line has the same syllable count as the third, and the second with the fourth. This suggests to me that each line has two parters, So fire that wakes from the ashes doesn’t only belong with light coming from the shadows, but also with the reforging (through fire) of a blade. And then that The light from the shadows not only should be partered with the 5th line, but also with the crownless becoming king (which, if understood in context, does seem to fit quite well, considering that Aragorn more or less came out of the shadows to become king, think of how he is introduced in the story).

Anyway, that’s my understanding of the poem, I hope you learned something, or just enjoyed another perspective on the poems meaning. In the coming weeks I’ll be doing more like this, and posting some of my own poetry (word to the wise, it might make your eyes bleed).

Until next time.

That is All.

Update on the Hobbit series

Hello good reader!

I hope you’ve enjoyed what I have written on the Hobbit so far, because it’s been a pleasure to write. Due to the business of Christmas I can’t afford to put a lot of time into doing the Hobbit series, so until the new year, it’ll be taking a backseat. I’ll still be doing similar posts on literature/poetry each week, They’ll just be on simpler things (or if not simpler, shorter). I really didn’t feel as though I was doing The Hobbit justice with my posts, so taking a break and getting everything in order for a new start will help me to make the content better.

To start this temporary phase on a good note, tomorrow I’ll be taking a quick look at one of Toklien’s most well known poems, which will be a joy.

Until next time.

That is All.

Concerning Hobbits.

Hello good reader!

This is the first post in a series that I will be doing on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”. I don’t claim any particularly great knowledge of the world of Middle-Earth, or of Tolkien’s own literary process, style and goals, and that is precisely why I am doing this series – To learn new things about this secondary world that I love, and share them with others who desire the same. Think of this as more of a winding journey where the end isn’t especially important, where I don’t know a great deal more than you do, and discovery is the goal.

Now there is a lot that one can gleam on a close and thoughtful reading on The Hobbit’s first chapter, and frankly, I don’t possess the confidence to write on some of the insights I believe I’ve had in my reading, so today I’ll be sticking with one theme, and I’ll be approaching it from a few different angles. The theme I will be focussing on is how Tolkien draws his readers, adult and child alike, into the world of The Hobbit, and how despite marvelous, fanciful and some downright unbelievable occurences, readers come to accept the world the young Bilbo inhabits.

Bilbo comes from two very different hobbit families, the predictable and ‘prosy’ Baggins family, and the unpredictable and not-altogether proper Took family. These two groups coexist peacefully, with the Baggins side dominating, until the events that begin The Hobbit. When Bilbo’s quiet and comfortable life is disturbed by the dwarves, he begins to see a world that is far removed from his own. He sees a world full of golden treasures, wonderful toys, goblins and magnificent dragons. Bilbo seems to begin to fall in love with this world, albeit hesitantly. His hesitance is given an identity by the Baggins side of him, the part that doesn’t want to go gallivanting off on adventures, conversely the curious side of him is represented wholly by the Tookishness he tries so hard to dim. The tension between these two sides of Bilbo make up a lot of the content of the first chapter and give the reader not only an insight into Bilbo’s mind, but also an archetype to follow whilst accepting the fanciful world that they are entering into.

Bilbo offers the reader someone they can relate to on their own journey into the world, and just as he slowly becomes more accepting on the adventure that has been dropped into his lap, we as readers are slowly weaned of our dependency on reality, or at least the things we perceive as real, in the world of The Hobbit. Poems and stories are part of what encourages Bilbo to partake in the adventure set before him, and interestingly enough, provides a sort of how-to on, uhh, how to enjoy the book.

Tolkien had said that it wasn’t necessarily important on where an authors inspiration came from in created a secondary world, but that it was rather more important that the world is accepted and enjoyed by its readers (I must admit I can’t remember where or when he said this, I think it was in one of his essays, but I don’t know which one, I think I read an excerpt from it in the beginning of my edition of The Lord of the Rings), rather than being over analysed and turned into something utterly boring. Just like Bilbo is encouraged to accept and enjoy the adventure he has been thrust into, readers are subtly encouraged to do the same. So The Hobbit really set out the framework not only for the rest of the mythology of Middle-Earth, but also how it should be interacted with.

So, that’s the first part of this series done. I’m hoping to read Tolkien’s sub-creative works as they were intended, not to be overrun with analysis, but to be understood and enjoyed as what they are.

Until next time.

That is All.

Aren’t I a lucky hobbit?

Hello good reader!

As an avid collector (or as avid a collector as money allows) of statues and figurines, I jump at the chance to pick up one at a cheap price. The other day I was lucky enough to come across the 2012 “The Hobbit: An unexpected journey, collectors edition” hidden beneath a mountain of boxed sets and series collections at my local DVD store for a reasonable price. Now I’m not a massive fan of the Hobbit movies, I feel they’ve missed the mark in some ways when compared to The Lord of The Rings trilogy (which was also by no means perfect) but I’d be a fool (of a Took) to miss the chance to pick up a statue of Bilbo and Gollum at such a good price. This is it.

As one would expect from Weta collectables it a good quality piece, though I fear not as good as the figures and landscapes that came with the Lord of The Rings collectors sets, but then it was half the price. The one qualm I really have with the piece is Bilbo’s face, whilst it looks good enough for a generic hobbit head, I feel as though it lacks some of the characteristics and emotion that would bring the face to life.

It honestly just seems a bit lifeless, granted it is a small figure. But when compared to Gollum’s head sculpt, it doesn’t quite hold it’s own.

Regardless the figure is still very obviously Bilbo and, apart from the face, really captures his likeness from the films.

There are several really nice details on the piece, such as the Ring, dropped in the mud at Bilbo’s feet (which I foolishly thought was a poorly hidden rivet at first) and a little cavity in the side where you can see one of Gollum’s meals.

Overall it’s a really good piece, the sculpting of the figures doesn’t quite match up to the quality I have come to expect from Weta, regardless it still captures the overall feel of the movie scene magnificently, I think it’s a marvelous rendition of the scene from the book too (although it may not be entirely accurate) . To any fellow Tolkien statuette/figurine collectors or fans out there, it’s definitely a piece worth picking up if you come across it.

That is All

P.S. On Thursday I will be posting some pictures of a statuette I’ve been working on for a friends birthday present, and on Sunday I’ll be starting a series of posts on The Hobbit.

 

The First Post

Hello good reader.

I apologise to anyone who has previously visited my blog only to be met with an about page and a distinct lack of content. If you had an idea of how long I spent deliberating over what to make my first post about, you would print this, frame it, and hang it within a dedicated shrine, or you might not. Because of certain duties I have at the moment it’s hard fot me to put time into writing frequent content for my blog, this is a temporary situation and come mid-November the blog will become one of my main focuses. But as it stands, I can’t commit much time to it. I am writing this post to work as a teaser for things that are yet to come by briefly going over some of the subjects that I will be exploring in my posts in the future.

 

Out of the things I have planned in the coming months these are the ones that I have been putting the most thought and planning into. First and foremost a post explaining to my good (and patient) readers where my passions stem from in what I will be writing about and why I chose a blog to be my format of communiation. As I read and re-read through some of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works I plan on doing a series of posts on the Silmarilllion, to encourage people to read it, and to attempt to provide some clarity for it more confusing sections. I plan on posting pictures of a lot of my art, as when my current pre-occupation is over it will be coming think and fast, and I also hope to share my experiences (and sketches of these experiences) as I travel to the Philippines later this year.

 

Again, I apologise to anyone has come to my blog and seen nothing worth coming back for (as is usually the case when there is no content) and assure you that there will be a reason to come back in the future. I will try and post when I can, but until then.

That is All.