Bilbo's Last Song

[Eledhwen]

This song was the entire text of a beautifully illustrated childrens book with the same title. The illustrations were of Bilbo's journey to the Grey Havens, and were all framed with scenes from the Hobbit. The poem goes like this:

BILBO’ S LAST SONG
(at the Grey Havens)

Day is ended, dim my eyes,
But journey long before me lies.
Farewell, friends! I hear the call.
The ship’s beside the stony wall.
Foam is white and waves are grey;
Beyond the sunset leads my way.
Foam is salt, the wind is free;
I hear the rising of the Sea.

Farewell, friends! The sails are set,
The wind is east, the moorings fret.
Shadows long before me lie,
Beneath the ever-bending sky,
But islands lie behind the sun
That I shall raise ere all is done;
Lands there are to west of West,
Where night is quiet and sleep is rest.

Guided by the Lonely Star,
Beyond the utmost harbour-bar,
I’ll find the havens fair and free,
And beaches of the Starlit Sea.
Ship, my ship! I seek the West,
And fields and mountains ever blest.
Farewell to Middle-earth at last,
I see the Star above your mast!

JRR Tolkien

[Ithrynluin]

Such an excellent piece of poetry. Bitter sweet!

I like this part the best:
I’ll find the havens fair and free,
And beaches of the Starlit Sea.
:)

[Finduilas]

Yes,he is certainly sure about leaving the earth.But his song in Rivendel is very touching as well.I think there is where he considered death more seriously and his life,too.

Bilbo's song in Rivendel

I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood and every spring
there is adifferent green.

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.

[Eledhwen]

That too is bitter sweet. It is almost an epitaph, a time that will come to each of us; maybe that's why it strikes a chord in our hearts.

[menchu]

After 'reading' this book, if it can be called reading since it's so short, a poem, and pretty much of a visual evocation of the idea the verses give, I would like to ask you some questions...

1. Did you find more interesting the poem or the pictures? (pictures for me... oops, sorry dudes!)

2. Why do you think Tolkien always prefered Pauline Paynes to other illustrators?

3. Who is Sam, the hobbit in the red hood or in the grey one? :D

[FoolOfATook]

2. Why do you think Tolkien always prefered Pauline Paynes to other illustrators?

Off the top of my head, here's what I remember about the Baynes/Tolkien connection. The first work she illustrated for Tolkien was Farmer Giles of Ham- Tolkien chose her to illustrate the book after he saw some mock medieval drawings she had done, and thought that her style was appopriate for Giles. It might be worth remembering here that Tolkien's only other piece of fiction at the point was illustrated by JRRT himself, and study of his letters, as well as some of the comments in Douglas A. Anderson's brillant The Annotated Hobbit shows how generally picky and obsessive Tolkien was about illustrators. I think that Tolkien found in Baynes someone who he trusted to illustrate his work, and from then on saw no point in employing anyone else. Just for the record, Baynes is probably more famous for her illustrations of the Narnia books- a job that she earned based on Lewis's appreciation of her work with Giles.

[Eledhwen]

I love the words of the poem. It's beautiful. The pictures are excellent too, but the poem stands alone.

[laura]

I've got a poster of Bilbo's Last Song, illustrated by Pauline Baynes. I haven't seen the book, so I'm not sure if this is the same as in the book. I've also got a poster of the "Forest of Lothlorien in Spring" by Tolkien. Both posters are now in clip frames and I used to have them on the wall, but since the extension and re-decorating they're propped up in my bedroom. Task for other half at week-end. Put my posters back up! I did have, many moons ago, a Tolkien calendar, but I think (oh sacrilege) I've lost it when I left home. I shall now have to have a search and see if I can find it. All the drawings were by Tolkien and they were very beautiful.

[BlackCaptain]

Bilbo always comes up with the most clever rhymes... He'd go tripple platinum if he lived in our day...

[33Peregrin]

I like reading it again... the last time I did I was in a book store and my dad was rushing me to leave, so I had to basically skim the whole thing. I like reading it again.

[Eledhwen]

I have read this poem, but don't own the book. I was tempted when I saw it come up as a match on Amazon when I ordered 'Letters form Father Christmas'. The illustrations for the poem are by Paula Baynes - Tolkien's favourite illustrator for his work.

[Jan]

I read the book standing up at the bookstore, then of course had to buy it. The pictures are a real delight for the kid in me, but the text...that's something special for the middle-aged mom who is also inside this skin and who lately feels the weight of mortality and eternity all around.... The reflection on sailing into the West is satisfying at a very deep level at this stage of my life.

Then I bought one for our grown and married son, and one for our teenaged daughter, and another one for my best friend. Everyone seems to treasure this beautiful little book, maybe because it is so approachable on so many different levels.

[Ireth Telrúnya]

Beautiful, such beautiful poetry. I had already forgotten. I need badly to find the LOTR books somewhere...either I borrow them from library or then maybe I buy them...yes, right now it feels I have to buy them.

[Eledhwen]

I typed the whole poem out (in flatbrush font) and stuck it up near my computer so I can let the Grey Havens wash over my spirit. I'm sure Tolkien never realised how much his work spoke to the deepest levels of one's being.

[Inderjit S]

Wow! Very beautiful poetry.

Sad and poignant, a lot of Frodo/Sam's poems from the 'Tales of the Perilous Realm' give us an insight into his state of mind as LoTR progresses.

[Jan]

Is this a separate book? Or a section in one of the History of Middle Earth books?

[GuardianRanger]

This is a separate book.

See it here (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0261103431/qid=1075602350/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-6255571-8043951?v=glance&s=books) at Amazon.

And for a thread on the book, click here (http://www.thetolkienforum.com/showthread.php?t=14752).

[Jan]

Thanks for the info. This book is similar in content to The Tolkien Reader, with which I am familiar.

[Ardamir the Blessed]

From a few lines in the last verse of Bilbo's Last Song, it seems that a shining object in the sky, whether Eärendil's Silmaril or not, led the White Ship to the West:

Guided by the Lonely Star Farewell to Middle-earth at last,
I see the Star above your mast!

I have not found this anywhere else, and I think it is intriguing. Is this yet another connection between Eärendil and the Hobbits? And remember how Eärendil's Silmaril led himself to Valinor, and the light in the sky, whether Eärendil's Silmaril or not, that led the Númenóreans to Andor. But what does 'your mast' refer to? Is it the mast of the White Ship, and 'your' is the Elves?

[Inderjit S]

I would have though 'your' was a reference to Middle-Earth as a whole. Maybe your mast is some kind of allegorical reference to Middle-Earth, as when he is departing he sees the star shining over it? Always thought Bilbo had become too senile for such poetry, but then again if he is reffering to Middle-Earth as a ship... ;)

[Paul]

Amazing poems could naybody tell me where I could find the book that there in?

[joxy]

The Star is surely the Pole Star which all navigators used.
Bilbo is addressing the ship that is to carry him away, and refers to its mast.

[Eledhwen]

Amazing poems could naybody tell me where I could find the book that there in?Bilbo's Last Song has bee published on its own with illustrations for each line by, I think, Pauline Baynes, Tolkien's favourite artist for illustrating his books. The illustrations are interplayed pictures of the last journey to the Grey Havens and Bilbo's adventures in The Hobbit.