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~*~
Although utterly different in look and feel to the starkly geometric Moonlight on a Wood, Tolkien's The Wood at World's End (1927-28, pencil, black ink, watercolour) is a similarly highly stylized piece. The mountains dip in the center nearly symmetrically to frame the setting sun and the treetops merge to form a rolling green expanse, almost like waves. In the sea of trees the ranks of their boles are like great stalks of seaweed rising from the ocean floor. It isn't realistic, but the forms together create an almost mesmerizing effect.
The painting inspired jan-u-wine to write a wonderful new poem, rich and contemplative. It depicts Sam's thoughts as he sails towards World's End, the Undying Lands.
For those interested, an additional paragraph about the painting is provided at the bottom of the post.~*~
Wood at the World's End
Ever shall it be
the Master as
took delight in the Sea.
The vast,
blue hush of her,
the weed'd green
crystal of be-calmed,
shore-close
waves,
the iron-mongery
of her cold
and angry eye.
Ever it was he
who knew her,
in all her weather'd
cloakings,
ever he
who took comfort
in the very thought of her.
What did he see,
my heart wonders,
on that day,
that *last* day,
the white-hulled ship
running out, beyond the harbour,
the small diamonds of stars
shining like new-lit candles,
the path through the waters
stilling and changing......
changing
and
stilling......
______________________
Perhaps
the seeing
is different
for each who sets foot
upon that road.......
~ * ^ ~ * ^ ~ * ^ ~
Always,
my thought has been
for the brown earth,
for those things that spring
from it,
grow upon it,
for that which gathers
the wind
from its haven of sky,
the gold of the sun
from its light-river,
the moon-silver
from its star-swaddled cradle.
What, then,
should I see,
at this,
the World's End,
as the ship
quickens
before the wind,
merry and solemn,
all at once.
What, then,
should I see?
Taken perhaps by dreme,
taken,
perhaps,
by that which somehow lingers
upon the last bit of shore,
I see a wood.
With my eyes,
I see it.
With my mind,
my heart,
I know it.
My feet walk there,
even as
this ship
pulls beneath me,
proud swan-head
bowing to the sea's lacy
caps.
The ancient floor,
dusted with leaves
of red and orange
and brown,
smells
like sweet,
dark tea.
Somehow,
I know the trees
are whispering
secrets
to the golden wind,
secrets
about me,
about ........
the world,
secrets of the beginning
and the ending,
and all that lies between.
They hold me,
these trees,
as a mother holds a babe.
With root-deep care,
they hold me.
And somehow,
I am comforted by them,
by their knobbled knees
and the great roots
that delve
endlessly,
by the arms that ne'er
fail
to greet whatever may come.
I am held
by their foreverness.
My Master,
he has dremed upon the Sea.
But I,
I shall dreme,
(for but a little while),
upon this wood,
this
great forest
of a Sea......
the mighty waves of it
sounding
upon the sun-bound shore
of an ending
and
a
beginning.
Mine.
At last,
mine.
~*~
Hammond and Scull write in J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator (p. 64),Throughout most of Tolkien's art from the years 1927 and 1928, two pictorial elements predominate. One was mountains, which he drew in abundance in rugged 'Silmarillion' landscapes such as Gondolin. The other was trees, with which he was even more enamoured. (...) Massed together, trees comprise The Wood at the World's End, its title a commingling of two by William Morris (The Wood beyond the World and The Well at the World's End).
The painting may depict sunset in Valinor, the end of the world west of Middle-earth, or it may be unrelated to Tolkien's mythology; but it is an evident precursor of his dust-jacket art for The Hobbit.
Dust-jacket design for The Hobbit, final art, 1937. Pencil, black ink, watercolour, white body colour:
Previous entry:~ "The Misty Mountains": picture by Tolkien, poem by jan-u-wine.
Other Links:~ All entries featuring jan-u-wine's poems.
Tags:
- art,
- jan-u-wine,
- sam,
- tolkien
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From:
no subject
I know the trees
are whispering
secrets
to the golden wind
What a stunning poem. And the artwork shared is usually new to me.
From:
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Shirebound, I have an unrelated question. Are you getting email notifications of reply? Since the previous post I haven't been getting any. I've checked my settings for notifications and they are unchanged. Strange. This hasn't happened to my LJ before.
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If it's still happening, be sure to open a support ticket!
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I'm wondering if this view (with the images replaced by ads) is only seen by me, or if other people opening my LJ see the ads instead of images too. Grrr.
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http://support.photobucket.com/entries/21101931-Bandwidth-Exceeded-Look-Who-s-Popular-
Also, when I go to Photobucket and click on my username, I see how much storage I have. See if yours is full, or close to full.
From:
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Again, thanks so much for the tip, Shirebound. Also, with your help, I put in a support request about my lack of emailed comment reply notices. Thanks so much!
From:
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http://www.livejournal.com/tools/recent_comments.bml
Nighty-night!
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so....a long break from writing or reading or responding much will perforce ensue....
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With my mind, I can understand how Sam feels about his forest but with my heart I take delight in the Sea, just like Frodo.
“In the sea of trees the ranks of their boles are like great stalks of seaweed rising from the ocean floor”
That’s a very apt comparison. It’s absolute magic to swim around in such a kelp forest. The leafy parts of the kelp spreading out on the sea surface create a roof to the underwater landscape, just like Tolkien painted here for the trees.
From:
no subject
You've snorkeled in a kelp forest? It must have been marvelous. Full of fish-birds, too? :) I have never snorkeled, only seen such things in pictures.
From:
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I think that Mechtild's into is so brilliant. The portion you picked out is especially lovely. It IS magical to swim underwater in kelp forests. There is, somehow, a fine sound there....it's almost like a music...but it is on the line of being not audible. I don't know what it is, but it renders the experience of being in that 'forest' almost unbearably beautiful.
From:
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The underwater sound is one of the most unexpected experiences when snorkeling in the sea. There is a constant, rhythmic click--click--click sound that makes it very eerie. A zoologist colleague of mine told me that it’s the sound of clicking shrimp pincers but that explanation is a bit too prosaic for me. :-)
From:
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did not know that sound was a common phenom. I remember it from diving off Catalina in CA, and there are chains on the ocean floor. I thought (because i couldn't imagine what else it could have been) that it had something to do with them.
I prefer to not think it is shrimp pincers, either. How about the soft shaking of the bridle-bells of a long-drowned Numenorean horse?
From:
no subject
the gold of the sun
from its light-river,
the moon-silver
from its star-swaddled cradle.
with the earth gathering them away from their havens and storing them--it makes me think of Hades carrying off Persephone, the way Sam has figured the earth as a hunter and gatherer of light--kind of a predatory thing--that fierce, and kind of scary side of Sam--the Nurturer as a fearsome force. But that is what the chlorophyll of leaves does, isn't it--harvesting light. Sam of the Earth as harvester of light. Frodo of the Sea as reflector of light, keeping none of the warmth after it passes for himself.
Mechtild's description of the sea-like forest sets us up for Jan's Sam with his wood overlaying the sea, as he compares his preference for earth, and that which grows upon it, with Frodo's for the sea. This painting brings trees and earth together with the ocean, just as the ship unites Sam with Frodo. I like that it's left ambiguous if he is seeing the shore of Tol Eressea or a mirage upon, and of the ocean.
That painting is interesting to me, but I don't love it. I do love his TH cover art, though. It's such a brilliant illustration of the whole book with amazing perspective from hobbit holes to Erebor. And I love how Rivendell is in it, too--at least I think that's Rivendell. And I love what I think are spiderwebs in the corners of the border. I wonder if any fan has done a quilt of it--it looks like a perfect quilt story-cloth pattern to me. It would make an awesome bedspread, as well as wall art. I also wonder about the 2 titles and 2 iterations of his name, the little white "by", and the publisher label--did JRR do all those himself, or which ones were put in by publisher? And I like that the blue splashed into the top border on the left side and wasnt' whited out--it's right above Smaug--I think it's Smaug's fault, actually--those messy dragons! (-;
From:
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As to the Hobbit dust-jacket, I love it, too, but I can't compare the two, they are so different. The dust-jacket is absolutely brilliant, but it attempts a good deal more than the little watercolour. Is the small structure just to the right of the middle of the picture what you are seeing as Rivendell? I thought it was Laketown. I suppose its details are full of opportunities for "applicability". :) Whatever it is, it's a terrific book jacket.
I never noticed the corner designs the way you have done. I guess I thought of them as a pleasing arrangement of lines, not associating them with spider webs. But now that I look at them, I wonder... You really do have an eye, Lavender.
From:
no subject
I love what you say about Sam as a harvester of light, whereas Frodo is a reflector of it. That has a real feeling of truth, that does.
I can't say enough how i love Mechtilds intro, her description of the sea-forest. It's beautiful.
I love the cover for the Hobbit, too, but never really looked at it in the manner that you have. You surely DO have a great eye (but not THE Great Eye. Thank Goodness!)
That Mr. Smaug needs to tidy up, he does...
thank you for the wonderful comments, and i am glad you enjoyed the post!
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Beautiful Poem!
I wonder if it's our beautiful Frodo speaking, wandering through the Undying Lands... Just a thought.
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Re: Beautiful Poem!
Not to worry. Here's what I wrote in the introduction above: "It depicts Sam's thoughts as he sails towards World's End, the Undying Lands."
Sorry, Diem Kieu, it's not Frodo. :)
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Re: Beautiful Poem!
Thank you, metchild!