the songs throughout lord of the rings have an added layer of sadness because most of them are laments.
I've only just realized this. but if you think about it -- if 95% of the poems are sad, the others will feel sad since they're written in the same style (although the meter and message vary greatly: another amazing tolkien talent).
let's think about sad things for a while.
'Beneath Amon Hen I heard his cry. There many foes he fought.
His cloven shield, his broken sword, they to the water brought.
His head so proud, his face so fair, his limbs they laid to rest;
And Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, bore him upon its breast.'
'O Boromir! The Tower of Guard shall ever northward gaze
To Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, until the end of days.'
(just like boromir, ELLS IS DEAD TO ME. I know my sister will be singing a lament over him, herself. she's in literal tears right now. darn you, jacoby, making my sister cry!!!)
aragorn's songs are the best. read this poem out loud in your head (you know what I mean?). the meter is odd -- definitely not a standard meter -- but it is so compelling.
Gondor! Gondor, between the Mountains and the Sea!
West Wind blew there; the light upon the Silver Tree
Fell like bright rain in gardens of the Kings of old.
O proud walls! White towers! O wingéd crown and throne of gold!
O Gondor, Gondor! Shall Men behold the Silver Tree,
Or West Wind blow again between the Mountains and the Sea?
I will skip several of the next passages, since I'm not a fan of free verse, even if it's tolkien speaking through treebeard. ents forever; "pip and merry hug trees" and so do I, and all that, but I'm not an entwife, so I'll skip that section. "to isengard with doom we come!"
"'Healing I found, and I was clothed in white. Counsel I gave and counsel took. Thence by strange roads I come, and messages I bring to some of you. ...
"But dark is the path appointed for thee:
The Dead watch the road that leads to the Sea."
...
"Legolas Greenleaf long under tree
in joy thou hast lived. Beware of the Sea!
If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore,
Thy heart shall then rest in the forest no more."'"
what can I say? the foreshadowing says it all. it's heart-rending how the happiest part of LOTR is the first few chapters, and then it all goes downhill. (like how that stupid guy was awesome in the postseason and then he "had" to go to the evil empire because they offered him a huge contract and he's a horrible person and worse than youk!!! oh I hate them both! jacoby ellsbury, you SUCK!!!!)
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?
the whole story has a finality about it: each occurrence seems to mark the ending of something, something that can't be recovered. boromir will never live again; frodo will never be the same. any sweetness and any hope still has a taste of that finality.
Tall ships and tall kings
Three times three,
What brought they from the foundered land
Over the flowing sea?
Seven stars and seven stones
And one white tree.
a hopeful prophecy, perhaps -- but trees grow old eventually. even elves do not live forever.
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by all means, leave a comment if you have something to share! please keep your language clean, respectful, and polite.
staying on topic would be nice, too, but I know that can be hard sometimes.