drabble:

[fileg]

For the Poetry muse challenge at tolkien_weekly
It's me, so you already know it's Ardaverse, G rated and canon conscious. surprisingly enough, this one is movie!verse. There is subtext in the title, for those of you who have been following my crackpot theories about symbolism.

All of Arda is the professor's. I just write you postcards when I am there.



Until The Stars Are All Alight


“Can you sing,” the Steward asked, and the newest guard of the Citadel felt compelled to answer that he could.

He thought of Bilbo’s poems, and how, when combined with love, laughter and leaves, they had become songs. He thought of Frodo’s first clumsy verses, and his own. His people, his home – these were his poems.

Why should they be unfit?

Then he knew. It was not the words, nor the ideas they carried that did not fit here. It was the joy.

Taking his favorite, he offered it to Denethor in a way he hoped the Steward could understand.

Comments

[kortirion.livejournal.com]

The tone... it's all in the tone of voice.

Lovely little piece of insight there - Pip was brighter than many gave him credit for, he was just... young.

[fileg.livejournal.com]

Pip was ...ummm.... overexhuberant in the early chapters. But Gandalf the people who should have been answering his questions need a great big lesson in sharing information, and also on expecting adult behavior from someone they treat as a kid.

By the time he puts that raven helmet on, I think he has a real sense of gravitas when the situation warrants it - and right from the start, no one can touch him for resiliance, or understanding family/love.

It saddens me to see (movie)Denethor trying to turn that joy against him there by making him sing. But I am proud of the way he accepts the challenge.

[seleneheart]

And I think maybe the Steward would understand the spirit in which it was offered?

[fileg.livejournal.com]

It's hard for me to think (movie)Denethor is reachable anymore - but the new Steward, the one I think Pippin is really meant to be pledged to -- he will understand.

[ribby.livejournal.com]

What a gorgeous (though bittersweet) way of seeing that scene--and you're right, joy does not fit in that hall, at least not yet. With the King and the Steward, the proper one, there will come joy--and perhaps Pippin will sing again, this time as it was meant.

~Kris

[fileg.livejournal.com]

I'm sure he will!

One of the movieverse things I loved was Vigg-agorn insisting on singing his coronation words, It marks the new beginning for me.

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. Ever so beautiful and true. *applauds*

[fileg.livejournal.com]

Thank you! When I started writing fic, I had no idea that I would ever have a hobbit voice, but Pippin seems to have moved in on me, and opened my way to understanding the oters.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

It was not the words, nor the ideas they carried that did not fit here. It was the joy.


Oh, yes....

[fileg.livejournal.com]

It marks the difference for me in the characters I personally love, and the ones I don't understand as well - that refusal to part with joy and hope, even when all you have left is to hope your sacrifice can be meaningful instead of an empty show.

[jay-of-lasgalen.livejournal.com]

It's amazing what a difference the tune - or the tone - can make to a song. When Pippin at first sang that, I didn't immediately recognise it as the walking song from FOTR; it sounded so utterly different to how the hobbits would have sung it then.

[fileg.livejournal.com]

The best poetry - and this is one of my Tolkien favorites - has that applicability, that deep truth that can be applied in many situatons. I loved Billy's choice of it in the movie, because those of us who knew the words knew there was hope hiding in the verses we didn't hear in the throneroom.

[zasjah.livejournal.com]

Wow.
What a beautiful take on the scene. Absolutely lovely.

[silvermoonlady.livejournal.com]

Wonderfully put, and the idea does full justice to Pippin's intelligence that not everyone manages to put across. Very nice!:)

[grean.livejournal.com]

Lovely... Pippen came into his own with this scene. His song moved me so very much during ROTK. I also didn't immediately recognize the words.
I loved all the hobbits from the moment Frodo rushed to meet Gandalf. Pippen always makes me smile. And that as Gandalf would say is a good thing.
Thanks