As the longest Sindarin text offered in the Lord of the Rings, "A Elbereth Gilthoniel" is well worth examining, both linguistically and from a poetic standpoint. Helge Fauskanger has by far completed the most thorough word-by-word analysis of this text at Ardalambion, but I wish to focus more on the poetics of the work, as there are so few other examples we have to work with when trying to examing Elvish aesthetic tastes.
The hymn is sung in Rivendell, and therefore is a part of the vast corpus of Elvish literature that Elrond has preserved. In the chapter entitled "Many Meetings" the hobbits first catch the sweet strains of melody from the Hall of Fire:
Even as they stepped over the threshold a single clear voice rose in song . . . [Frodo] stood still enchanted, while the sweet syllables of the elvish song fell like clear jewels of blended word and melody. 'It is a song to Elbereth,' said Bilbo. 'They will sing that, and other songs of the Blessed Realm, many times tonight.'
Tolkien later said in a letter that what is given there is merely a fragment of what was undoubtedly a lengthy song. In Letters:278, Tolkien calls it a "hymn-fragment", suggesting that what we have is only one stanza of many.
The hymn to Elbereth
Also titled Aerlinn in Edhil o Imladris, "The Hymn of the Elves of Rivendell"
A Elbereth Gilthoniel,
silivren penna miriel
o menel aglar elenath!
Na-chaered palan-diriel
o galadhremmin ennorath,
Fanuilos, le linnathon
nef aear, si nef aearon!
Literal translation:
O Elbereth Star-kindler
White glittering slants down sparkling like jewels
from the firmament the glory of the star-host!
To-remote distance far-having gazed
from the tree-tangled middle-lands,
Fanuilos, to thee I will chant on this side of ocean, here on this side of the Great Ocean!
Tolkien offered his own translation of the text, which is much more florid and meaningful. The addition of so many words to the poem seem to indicate that, like Chinese, there are many ideas and thoughts associated with a word in addition to its literal meaning.
Tolkien's translation
O! Elbereth who lit the stars
from glittering crystal slanting falls with light like jewels
from heaven on high the glory of the starry host.
To lands remote I have looked afar,
and now to thee, Fanuilos, bright spirit clothed in ever-white, I here will sing beyond the Sea, beyond the wide and sundering Sea.
Poetic Structure Analysis
The most easily identified poetic characteristics of this poem include:
- Eight syllables in each line
- Emphasis is on the third to last syllable of each line
- Seven line stanza
- lines rhyme in an AABABCC pattern
- lines form two sentences, one of three lines (24 syllables) and one of four lines (32 syllables)
There are, however, more subtle poetic mechanics at work. Due to the fact that Sindarin is a synthetic language deliberately designed to have perfect euphonics, there are multiple instances of similar sounds recurring. Let's face it. Elvish dialects are a poet's dream come true. But Tolkien did make use of a Celtic technique called cross-rhyming. Let's take a look at lines one, two, and four again, which all rhyme:
A Elbereth Gilthoniel,
silivren penna míriel
o menel aglar elenath!
The first two lines rhyme, using a final "el" sound. In line three, this sound is repeated in "menel" and again at the beginning of "elenath" before introducing the new rhyming ending sound, "ath." This links the first two lines to the third line euphonically.
He does the same thing when introducing the third rhyming line ending. Let's look at lines three, five and six:
o menel aglar elenath!
o galadhremmin ennorath,
Fanuilos, le linnathon
Because he is abandoning "ath", Tolkien links it to the sound that will end lines six and seven, "on", by using a word that ends in "nathon" at the end of line five. By doing this, he creates another smooth transition between rhyming sounds.
You could go on and on with this one; another example of linked rhyming is found in lines one, two, and four, where an "r" sound is found in the third syllable of each line.
Tolkien's Elvish works far outstrip his English poems in terms of their intricacy and poetics, but this is mainly due to the fact that Quenya and Sindarin are, quite simply, just plain better for writing poetry.