[FitzChivalry]

What poems did you like in fantasy books?
Who is the best poems writer among fantasy authors?
Give us your dwarvish war songs, elvish lullabies or ballades about long lost heroes...

Some of my favorites:

Three Rings for the Elven-Kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-Lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for the Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them,
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
-- Tolkien - The Lord of The Rings

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 the blade that was broken:
The crownless again shall be king.
-- Tolkien - The Lord of The Rings

The lions sing and the hills take flight
The moon by day and the sun by night
Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool
Let the Lord of Chaos rule.
-- Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time

And a long favorite of mine:

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here,
While these visions did appear.
-- Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream

[Cadfael]

Oh my God!!!! FitzChivlary, you do know that some of the above are from... you know... that book.

[FitzChivalry]

Hey, never said his poems suck too.
Actually, when it comes to prose and poems Tolkien is one of the best if not the best.
Just shows you that my mind is open, and my opinion on Tolkien is objective and not biased.
Sadly, as much as a prose is good if the plotline and characters aren't, the books stay bad...



[This message has been edited by FitzChivlary (edited July 29, 2001).]

[Cadfael]

FitzChivlary Just shows you that my mind is open, and my opinion on Tolkien is objective and not biased.

For what it is worth, I have never thought anything otherwise about your comments on LOTR. You know I don't agree with you, but I think we have agreed to differ http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

My favourite verse is from LOTR to, but It is too long to post, it is the Tale Of Earendil and Elwing...

Earendil was a mariner
that tarried in Arvernien;
he built a boat of timber felled
in Nimbrethil to journey in;
her sails he wove of silver fair,
of silver were her lanterns made,
her prow was fashioned like a swan,
and light upon her banners laid....

[Eventine]

The road goes ever on and on,
down from the door where it began,
far ahead the road has gone,
and I must follow if I can,
pursuing it with eager feet,
until it joins some larger way,
and whither then? I cannot say

Nice analogy for life.

[Xayn]

Hero's in a bit of a hurry, has to sail his little ship real fast, but there is no wind, so he "conjures" some up with this song:

Wind, I call you, old, unresting,
from the deeps of sea and sky.
Blow me outward on my questing,
answer me with eager cry.
From the hills of home behind you,
out through shifting leagues of sea,
blow, wind, blow! My song shall bind you.
South wind, sea wind, come to me.
Come to set my vessel free.

--Poul Anderson - The Broken Sword

[Cadfael]

Xayn... thank you, thank you!!! for reminding me of that gem... *DennizM wipes a tear from his eye*

[Shehzad]

Hey dennizm, this one should get you going too...

These are the pale deaths
Which men miscall their lives,
For all the scents of green things growing
Each breath is but an exhalation of the grave..."

I read this first during a really depressed, cynical phase, and it has stuck with me since.

For those not in the know, its from Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson.

[FitzChivalry]

Here's another poem that i liked.

We'll toss the dice however they fall
And snuggle the girls be they short or tall
Then follow young Mat whenever he calls
To dance with Jak o' the shadows.

Robert Jordan of course... and has my favorite WoT character there, and the only one in the WoT that actually kicks ass...

[Shehzad]

Forget fantasy poems people, check this one out...

THEY WERE WELCOME TO THEIR BELIEF

Grief may have thought it was grief.
Care may have thought it was care.
They were welcome to their belief,
The overimportant pair.

No, it took all the snows that clung
To the low roof over his bed,
Beginning when he was young,
To induce the one snow on his head.

But whenever the roof camme white
The head in the dark below
Was a shade less the color of night,
A shade more the color of snow.

Grief may have thought it was grief.
Care may have thought it was care.
But neither one was the thief
Of his raven color of hair.

-Robert Frost
And feel free to flame me if you don't like the poem....