Tom Bombdil

[watervole]

I'm re-reading Lord of the Rings after a break of quite a few years.  I've always liked the way Tolkien uses different speech patterns for different characters, but until now I hadn't realised that Tom Bombadil speaks in the same metre that he sings in.

I'm not sure what metre it is, but I can sing his dialogue to the same tunes that I can sing his songs to.

Comments

[kerravonsen]

I noticed this a while back, but I think I had an advantage in that because my first and oft-repeated encounter with LotR was spoken aloud (my father recorded the whole book on reel-to-reel tape).

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It's brilliant, isn't it? The meter is hendecasyllables:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendecasyllable

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I don't think that's right. I'm sure Tom isn't using iambs.

It's more like dah dah di di dah to my ears (but not quite). "Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow"

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I think it's the classical hendecasyllable, rather than the one from English poetry:

x x - u u - u - u - -
(where x x is either - u or - - or u -)
(using "-" for a long syllable, "u" for a short)

OLD TOM BOM-ba-dil IS a MER-ry FEL-LOW
(capitals for a long syllable; lower case for short)

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Ah, that sounds more like it. I haven't come across that pattern before.

[rgemini.livejournal.com]

Do you know about the LoTR re-read on Tor.com? It's pretty much finished now but there are a lot of interesting comments and insights there. A Elbereth gilthoniel. http://www.tor.com/features/series/lotr-reread

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Some very interesting comments indeed. Thanks for linking to it - I've just been looking at the discussion on Bombadil.

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

you are too academic for me. I do know iamb but...I just like Tom Bombadil:-)

[watervole.livejournal.com]

An iamb is a short syllable followed by a long one.

Shakespeare wrote in iambic pentameter, which is a posh way of saying a line of five iambs. Thus, he had ten syllables in every line, alternating short and long ones.

It's a very natural speech rhythm for English.

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

Iamb I know and also I am able to identify it just because it is totally in opposition with the Czech language. Our poet Karel Hynek Mácha wrote parts of his exquisite poem "Máj" in iambs - to provoke the 19th century society not only with the topic but also with the form:-)
Thank you!

[ximenaoti.livejournal.com]

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[linnellcalew.livejournal.com]

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