Sam's
invocation of Elbereth at Cirith Ungol
|
A Elbereth Gilthoniel o menel palan-diriel, le nallon sí di-nguruthos! A tiro nin, Fanuilos! |
O Elbereth Starkindler from heaven gazing-afar, to thee I cry now in the shadow of death! O look towards me, Everwhite! |
These inspired words of Sam Gamgee recall the hymn of the Elves A Elbereth Gilthoniel and are in the same metre. Tolkien analysed and gave a poetic adaptation of it in The Road Goes Ever On. He left too a more literal translation in a letter to Rhona Beare (n° 211 in Humphrey Carpenter's edition), that we reproduce here.
Quotations of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, Édouard Kloczko, Christopher Gilson, Patrick Wynne, Rhona Beare, Thomas Alan Shippey, Charles Kennedy, Elaine Treharne, André Crépin, Régis Boyer, François-Xavier Dillmann, Gabriel Rebourcet, Keith Bosley, Pierre-Yves Lambert, Gwyn Jones, Thomas Jones are under the copyright of their publishers.
Last update of the site : 2006, August 9th.
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