23.4.22
On a bright blustery St. George’s Day (and Shakespeare’s birthday) we met for another delightfully informal supermoot. Sadly, Covid, and family matters, prevented four of our fellowship from being with us, but 5 of us met and took as an intermittent topic the Tolkien Reading Day theme of Love and Friendship. In between catching up generally we reminisced about members of the group and friends who had come and gone over the many years during which the Southfarthing group has been meeting. Angela actually had to look up the date of the first blog that Ian originally set up because I couldn’t remember when exactly I started to group, only that it was done to coincide with Tolkien Reading Day.
Our recollections of former friends evolved into discussions of our own particular thoughts on love and friendship in Tolkien’s works. Tim had created a most interesting circular chart showing interconnecting friendly and loving relationships, and when both are considered together the relationships are wider and more complex than an initial consideration of ‘love and friendship’ might be expected to show. Of particular interest was Sam’s relationship with Frodo, of course, but when I mentioned his love for Rosie, Angela objected that his love for Frodo always takes priority. We also considered the complex relationship between Faramir, Boromir, and Denethor, and it was noted that Pippin and Merry seem to have some kind of friendly relationship with Boromir. I mentioned Denethor’s jealousy of Faramir’s relationship with Gandalf, which is constructed as the of the ‘wizard’s pupil’, but it is Gandalf who tells Faramir that his father will remember his love for his son. We spent some time considering Aragorn’s friendships, especially with Gandalf and Elrond.
As we are currently reading The Silmarillion in our monthly meetings, I had chosen to consider love and friendship in this work, and came to an unexpected conclusion that love and friendship are not described among the Elves. It may be objected that the love between Thingol and Melian is prioritised but this is really between an Elf and a Maia and so belongs within the mythic dimension. My proposition was that love and friendship do not emerge as such until Men enter the story. Tim pointed out that in fact the Elves initially belong within the mythic dimension, but all the memorable friendships and love stories involve Men, thus Tuor and Voronwe, Turin and Beleg, Beren and Luthien. This shades over into LotR and the great love story between Aragorn and Arwen.
Because Eileen could not be with us she sent her thoughts on our topic, which follow here:
I found this small event intriguing—almost hidden, given the terrifying experiences that the hobbits had just been through in ‘The old forest’-it takes place when he sees Goldberry – who is ‘River Daughter’. Frodo becomes so overwhelmed by her grace and beauty that he falls in love with her. Of course,Frodo and the other hobbits have heard her singing before seeing her. Tolkien describes the singing,’then another clear voice,as young and as ancient as Spring, like the sound of a glad water flowing down into the night from a bright morning in the hills, came falling like silver to meet them’-the singing is angelic-as when Tolkien concludes ‘and with that song, the hobbits stood upon the threshold, and a golden light was all about them’-so Frodo is already enchanted with the singing. Tolkien describes her as having long yellow hair that rippled down her shoulders;she wore a green gown, ’green as young reeds,shot with silver like beads of dew; she ‘ran laughing towards them; and as she ran her gown rustled softly like the wind in the flowering borders of a river. The hobbits looked at her in wonder; Frodo felt his heart moved with a joy that he did not understand. Tolkien writes ’he stood as he had at times stood enchanted by fair eleven-voices; but the spell that was now laid upon him was different; ’’deeper and nearer to mortal heart; marvellous and yet not strange’. Frodo addresses her ‘Fair lady Goldberry, now the joy that was hidden in the songs we heard is plain to me’. He suddenly addresses her through poetic prose; beautiful praise- ‘O slender as a willow-wand/O clearer than clear water‘O reed by the living pool/ fair River daughter’. There are two further lines of praise-with the whole poem linking her to the natural beauty of nature. Here,we too are astonished at Frodo’s poetry-but Tolkien had remarked on ‘the spell that was now laid upon him—‘so Frodo has fallen in love, and under its spell he changed from a hobbit burdened by the responsibility of the ring, to a hobbit who we see embracing the state of being in love. However, it doesn’t last, as Tolkien writes ’suddenly he stopped and stammered—-‘ Is there perhaps a force that stops Frodo from being under the power of love,of being in love—he appears to stop so suddenly. However, Goldberry acknowledges his praise, saying’I had not heard the folk of the Shire were so sweet-tongued; but i see that you are an elf-friend, the light in your eyes,and the ring in your voice tells it’. Goldberry here is also using poetic prose, as with a smile, she brushes away Frodo’s embarrassment, using poetic prose herself-and calling him ‘Elf-friend’. The power of Falling in love, the poetic praises from Frodo, the tactful and poetic words from Goldberry contrasts with the pervading evil the hobbits experienced in ‘The Old Forest”. Saved from their ordeal by Tom Bombadil, and offered hospitality by him,and the welcome from Goldberry, good for now had triumphed over evil.
Southfarthing Mathom 2012 