tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2410716623228444076.post6287699783827977682..comments2024-03-29T08:26:06.759+00:00Comments on The Notion Club Papers - an Inklings blog: The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun - Tolkien's forgotten medieval supernatural poem Bruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2410716623228444076.post-81435059599243741612013-10-22T13:41:28.693+01:002013-10-22T13:41:28.693+01:00Oh! Thank you for sharing this here! If I did read...Oh! Thank you for sharing this here! If I did read it it was year's ago, and I love rereading Tolkien pieces I've not read in ages.<br />Funny, about the titles - I sort of fall into the Tolkien camp on that one. The names Aotrou and Itroun sound so delightfully far off and vaguely Welsh that I love them even if I can pronounce them.Deniz Bevanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17134553551048836979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2410716623228444076.post-49152029471450969092013-10-22T02:29:30.486+01:002013-10-22T02:29:30.486+01:00Thank you for your site and especially this poem. ...Thank you for your site and especially this poem. As a married man and a father and Christian I can enjoy this poem on many levels. I have read this twice today it is moving and unfairly overlooked.<br /><br />DonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2410716623228444076.post-84046753783475148182013-10-22T02:00:54.749+01:002013-10-22T02:00:54.749+01:00I'm not usually a big fan of the rocking-horse...I'm not usually a big fan of the rocking-horse Pegasus, either. Pope, for example, is much more quotable than readable. However, there a few poets who can do couplets well. Byron's <i>Giaour</i> (another unpronounceable name) is one example; the present verse by Tolkien is another.<br /><br />The only thing that annoyed me about this poem was the repeated asides about "In Britain's land beyond the sea...." The first was good, but then they became too forced and self-conscious, interrupting the flow of the poem.<br /><br />Another writer who couldn't name his works was Wodehouse. The titles are all easy to pronounce and spell, of course, but I can't for the life of me remember which story is which.Wm Jashttp://wmjas.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2410716623228444076.post-91293788504791585152013-10-21T18:33:04.856+01:002013-10-21T18:33:04.856+01:00@WmJas - Glad to have your opinion. What surprised...@WmJas - Glad to have your opinion. What surprised me when reading it was that I expected to become wearied by the metre - because couplets of any sort, but especially short couplets, usually drive me crazy with tedium after not-very-long. But somehow I didn't get fed up - and indeed found them better used than in almost anything else I can recall - with deft and refreshing variations. <br /><br />I wonder if the title has anything to do with the poems obscurity - I have an aversion to titles when I can't pronounce or spell the names. <br /><br />Like many writers, Tolkien was sometimes bad at naming his works - Smith of Wootton Major is another shocker. <br /><br />Indeed the very worst title is one of his best works - the story ‘Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth’, translated as ‘The Debate of Finrod and Andreth’ - which I simply cannot remember - even though I am the only person ever to have published an analysis of it - so far as I know.<br /><br />http://charltonteaching.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/tolkiens-marring-of-men.htmlBruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2410716623228444076.post-9831412294192118812013-10-21T18:02:48.668+01:002013-10-21T18:02:48.668+01:00This is indeed very good, and I had never seen it ...This is indeed very good, and I had never seen it before. Thanks for posting it.Wm Jashttp://wmjas.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com