The Wanderer: Where is the Horse and the Rider?

I was an English major in college. As part of our program, we had to take a 3-term sequence of classes called Introduction to the English Major - basically a survey of the Western canon. Early on in that class we studied Old and Middle English literature in translation. I particularly recall reading The Dream of the Rood and The Wanderer, but that was in 2002; I had read The Lord of the Rings, but The Two Towers film wasn't out yet.

Long years have passed, and some things that should not have been forgotten were lost from my memory - like the content of The Wanderer. But today I pulled a book called The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation off my shelves and read The Wanderer, translated by Greg Delanty. In the middle of the poem is the following bit of verse:

Where is the horse gone? The young bucks? The kind king?

Where is the banquet assembly gone? The merrymaking?

O the glittering glass. O the uniformed man.

O the general's glory. How that time has passed.

Night shrouds all as if nothing ever was.

Anyone who's seen Peter Jackson's The Two Towers will recognize the similarity of this poem to King Theoden's words before the battle of Helm's Deep:

Where is the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?

They have passed like rain on the mountains, like wind in the meadow.

The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow.

This film quote is in turn an abbreviation of a poem by Tolkien in the book (which is actually recited/translated by Aragorn, and not on the eve of battle):

Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?

Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?

Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?

Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?

They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;

The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow.

Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning,

Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?

I love this. I imagine Tolkien reading The Wanderer and being struck by that portion of the poem, and choosing to create his own poem in its image. Then the movies came and the creators were struck by Tolkein's poem, and decided to include it, also with some changes, in their screenplay.

I have done similarly: I've written poems inspired by songs and hymns, and when I read The Song of Hildebrand in my Old High German class, I immediately had a similar impulse. (Being in the midst of term paper-writing, however, I had neither the time nor the brain cells to act on it. Must get back to that...).

If you love Tolkien, you really ought to check out some medieval literature. You'll be amazed how often you'll recognize its influence in his writings.

It's delightful. :)

Galadriel's RoP Swim: A Character Compression

Perhaps the key moment of "A Shadow of the Past," the first episode of The Rings of Power's first season, happens at the end when Galadriel jumps from the ship to Valinor at the last moment and, after the light fully fades, begins swimming back to Middle Earth.

One of the important elements of this moment is that there is no guarantee that she'll make it. In episode two, in fact, she seeks refuge among shipwrecked humans; she's exhausted and dehydrated, with no land even in sight. If she hadn't ended up on the makeshift raft, she likely would have died on the Sundering Seas - she almost does, anyway.

So why did she even attempt it?

The Master Adapter: What People Don't Understand about Tolkien

Have you seen this meme? It floats across my social media periodically:

It's a fun meme, and there is truth behind it, but it's also rather misleading.

Contrary to popular belief, Tolkien did not create his story world out of thin air as the meme suggests. As many fans know, Tolkien was influenced by mythology and his Catholic faith. And it's clear that he relied on his professional knowledge of old languages and linguistics in creating the tongues of Middle Earth. But there's more:

The Elven Rings - A Site Introduction

Welcome to The Elven Rings! This site is about Tolkein's works and adaptations thereof, and the medieval literature and languages that inspired him. Here's why:

I was introduced to Tolkien via the movie posters for The Fellowship of the Ring in Germany, where I was living as an exchange student. I'd never read much fantasy before, but those posters were pretty cool looking, so I decided to see the film. But first, I wanted to read the book so I knew what was going on when I saw the movie (because I'd be seeing it in German). I found an English copy of The Lord of the Rings in one volume at a bookstore in the train station, and the rest is history.

Meanwhile, I majored in English literature in college and discovered a mild interest in medieval literature. Fast forward several years (and life adventures) later, and that interest is no longer mild; I have a master's degree in Germanic Studies, in which I've focused on medieval Germanic languages, literature and linguistics. It's been pretty fun to read medieval knights' tales and the like in archaic forms of German and discover things therein like magic rings that make the wearer invisible, or to find the obvious inspiration for Rohan's poem (recited in part by King Theoden in The Two Towers film) in the middle of an Old English fragment.

There is, in my opinion, much joy to be found in such explorations and discoveries; in the contemplation of literary influences and the kinds of decisions that go into making translations, adaptations, and augmentations of source materials.

So pull up your cart, pass around some malt beer, and fulfill your oaths. You are most welcome here.