The Shadow of the Past: Part 2
"Everything looked fresh, and the new green of Spring was shimmering in the fields and on the tips of the trees' fingers. Gandalf was thinking of a spring, nearly eighty years before, when Bilbo had run out of Bag End without a handkerchief."
It's the 13th April, and after a late breakfast I'm continuing my read-a-long as Frodo learns the truth about Bilbo's ring.
"The language is that of Mordor, which I will not utter here."
One of my favourite things about reading Chapter 2 of this illustrated copy of The Fellowship of the Ring is that the firey ring script is printed in red ink!
Apparently, Tolkien originally intended for the lettering to be red, but the publishers couldn't afford the coloured ink. So here we finally get to see it as intended! (My The Lord of the Rings Illustrated Edition also features the red script!)
This chapter also features a wonderful plate of an Alan Lee watercolour of Gandalf and Frodo by the fireplace. I know this is from the film (and during the events of the previous chapter!) but it puts me in mind of Ian McKellen muttering "Riddles in the Dark."
Speaking of which... how is this chapter so good? It's just two characters sat talking, yet it remains one of the most exciting things I have ever read. There are better moments to come. Moments of awe, heartbreak, and joy ... but for me there is no more enjoyable chapter to simply read beginning to end. As a young, first time reader, you get the joy of the familiar Gollum coming back into the tale, and revisiting the Riddles in the Dark chapter of The Hobbit, and as an older reader who's delved more deeply into Tolkien’s wider writings, I have the converse joy of knowing so much more about Elendil, Isildur, Gil-Galad, The Rings of Power and the Last Alliance!
The sun came out whilst I was reading, and Spring is finally shimmering on the tips of the trees' fingers in the street and I can hear the birds through the open window. (Although, suspiciously, I can't hear the sound of Sam's shears...) But sadly, it's time to close the book for now... For the sake of accuracy, I may read a few paragraphs from Three is Company "one evening, at the end of June", but otherwise that's it until the 20th September when Frodo's furniture is shipped off to Buckland... I can't promise I won't buy further editions between now and then!
What have I taken from this particular reading?
It's often remarked how the places of Middle-earth themselves are as much characters as their inhabitants, but as well as the natural landscapes, Tolkien writes beautifully about the seasons. I wanted to take the time to appreciate this in real time - and to see those shimmering fields as he describes them.
As well as listening out for the birdsong, I went for a walk after reading and made a point to cherish the blossoming cherry tries and budding flowers. I thought of Gandalf's observation that Gollum "ceased to look up at the hill-tops, or the leaves on trees, or the flowers opening in the air: his head and his eyes were downward." I made a point of keeping my eyes up and savouring all of those things.
It's also strange reading during the stirrings of spring and knowing that my reading/Frodo's Journey will commence in Autumn. Whilst that is my favourite time of year, already the specter of winter is hanging over the year, just like the weight of Frodo's knowledge that summer will come to an end and he will have to leave The Shire. Which sounds bleak - and The Lord of the Rings is an incredibly melancholy book, but that looming sense of impermanence only makes you appreciate those flowers opening in the air all the more.
It's the 13th April, and after a late breakfast I'm continuing my read-a-long as Frodo learns the truth about Bilbo's ring.
"The language is that of Mordor, which I will not utter here."
One of my favourite things about reading Chapter 2 of this illustrated copy of The Fellowship of the Ring is that the firey ring script is printed in red ink!
Apparently, Tolkien originally intended for the lettering to be red, but the publishers couldn't afford the coloured ink. So here we finally get to see it as intended! (My The Lord of the Rings Illustrated Edition also features the red script!)
This chapter also features a wonderful plate of an Alan Lee watercolour of Gandalf and Frodo by the fireplace. I know this is from the film (and during the events of the previous chapter!) but it puts me in mind of Ian McKellen muttering "Riddles in the Dark."
Speaking of which... how is this chapter so good? It's just two characters sat talking, yet it remains one of the most exciting things I have ever read. There are better moments to come. Moments of awe, heartbreak, and joy ... but for me there is no more enjoyable chapter to simply read beginning to end. As a young, first time reader, you get the joy of the familiar Gollum coming back into the tale, and revisiting the Riddles in the Dark chapter of The Hobbit, and as an older reader who's delved more deeply into Tolkien’s wider writings, I have the converse joy of knowing so much more about Elendil, Isildur, Gil-Galad, The Rings of Power and the Last Alliance!
The sun came out whilst I was reading, and Spring is finally shimmering on the tips of the trees' fingers in the street and I can hear the birds through the open window. (Although, suspiciously, I can't hear the sound of Sam's shears...) But sadly, it's time to close the book for now... For the sake of accuracy, I may read a few paragraphs from Three is Company "one evening, at the end of June", but otherwise that's it until the 20th September when Frodo's furniture is shipped off to Buckland... I can't promise I won't buy further editions between now and then!
What have I taken from this particular reading?
It's often remarked how the places of Middle-earth themselves are as much characters as their inhabitants, but as well as the natural landscapes, Tolkien writes beautifully about the seasons. I wanted to take the time to appreciate this in real time - and to see those shimmering fields as he describes them.
As well as listening out for the birdsong, I went for a walk after reading and made a point to cherish the blossoming cherry tries and budding flowers. I thought of Gandalf's observation that Gollum "ceased to look up at the hill-tops, or the leaves on trees, or the flowers opening in the air: his head and his eyes were downward." I made a point of keeping my eyes up and savouring all of those things.
It's also strange reading during the stirrings of spring and knowing that my reading/Frodo's Journey will commence in Autumn. Whilst that is my favourite time of year, already the specter of winter is hanging over the year, just like the weight of Frodo's knowledge that summer will come to an end and he will have to leave The Shire. Which sounds bleak - and The Lord of the Rings is an incredibly melancholy book, but that looming sense of impermanence only makes you appreciate those flowers opening in the air all the more.
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