 The Road goes ever on and on Still round the corner there may wait — J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings |
– D & T
This work is licensed under a
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The Road Goes Ever On And On
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
I enjoyed that verse and was surprised when I read where it was taken from. But, pleasantly surprised 🙂
Anne would love this verse.
These are actually songs — from two different spots along the Epic Journey. I have to go back and read them periodically.
Lovely photo. Lovely words.
Paz
When I was young I had an album set of J.R.R. Tolkien reading selected passages from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. These recordings weren’t done in a recording studio. I think they were done at his home. Sometimes you can hear a what sounds like a truck go by on the street outside in the background.
I played them so much, always as I was drifting off to sleep at night, that I can still recite some passages by heart.
I found the same set on CDs a few years ago and now I play them in my car when I’m in a ‘Tookish’ mood.
The second verse of the poem that you’ve quoted here, I remember differently from the recordings. The way my mind wants to recite it is:
And still round the corner there may wait
a new road or secret gate.
And though we pass them by today,
tomorrow we may come this way
and take the hidden paths that run
toward the moon or to the sun
The picture is lovely and I can see why you thought of this passage.
I’ve had fun browsing through your blog. Thanks for sharing.
Greetings, icqb!
What you recall is possibly from volume 1 of LOTR:
Upon the hearth the fire is red,
Beneath the roof there is a bed;
But not yet weary are our feet,
Still round the corner we may meet
A sudden tree or standing stone
That none have seen but we alone.
Tree and flower and leaf and grass,
Let them pass! Let them pass!
Hill and water under sky,
Pass them by! Pass them by!
Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun.
Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe,
Let them go! Let them go!
Sand and stone and pool and dell,
Fare you well! Fare you well!
Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
We’ll wander back to home and bed.
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
Away shall fade! Away shall fade!
Fire and lamp, and meat and bread,
And then to bed! And then to bed!
What we have quoted is begun in LOTR 1, towards the end of chapter 1:
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
It doesn’t go any further than that, though: just the single stanza. This same single stanza is repeated at the end of LOTR 3, chapter 6. The second stanza that we’ve quoted on the blog isn’t paired with the first, but is given in the scene when all is wrapping up, with Frodo having completed his book:
Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate;
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.
I suppose that, properly, we shouldn’t have paired them … but they seemed to go, and to express the mood of the moment!
Best,
-D & T