# LORD OF THE RINGS book fans: Do you like poetry? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 11, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266 "2011-01-11T21:32:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/1 "2011-01-11T21:32:56Z")
Before voting in the poll, please note a few things: (1) I am posing this question of persons who like the book. Whether you like the movies is irrelevant. (Otherwise I couldn’t vote, as I don’t care for the entire film series.) (2) Whether you think LotR is the best of Tolkien’s work, or the best book of fantasy fiction, is also irrelevant: only that you have either attempted to read the book and disliked it, or that you have succeeded in reading the book and liked it. (3) Notwithstanding the above, I will be happy to discuss Tolkien’s poems and/or poetry in general in the thread. Poll in a minute or 3. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/2 "2011-01-11T22:13:06Z")
I would have to go back and re-read Lord of the Rings again, but I don’t remember liking Tolkien’s poetry at all. I first read Lord of the Rings in Grade 9, and I read it all the way through at least once a year for at least 10 years after that. I haven’t re-read it for a long, long time now… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/3 "2011-01-11T23:06:44Z")
I didn’t like the poetry when I first read it and it grew on me over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speak_to_me_Maddie)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/4 "2011-01-11T23:08:51Z")
I love the book(s). I also love poetry of all eras, provided it is good. Were you asking if we like Tolkien’s poetry specifically? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/5 "2011-01-11T23:11:30Z")
> [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](#): > > I love the book(s). I also love poetry of all eras, provided it is good. Were you asking if we like Tolkien’s poetry specifically? In the poll, no. In the thread, yes. I love most of Tolkien’s verse in LotR. In fact, I tend to consider the book a long prose poem, with several digressions into verse. That is, the plot is just a mechanism for the beauty of the language. When you say “I love the book(s),” do you mean that you love Lord of the Rings (generally published in three volumes but intended to be a unified work) or that you love LoTR, The Hobbit, and/or the Silmarillion and other posthumously published & edited volumes? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/6 "2011-01-11T23:55:20Z")
I like some poetry; mainly stuff like Coleridge, Frost, T. S. Eliot, and Poe. I enjoyed a fair amount of JRRT’s poetry, once I got the proper context of it. I was forced to read it to really appreciate the full story of Earendil, since JRRT never wrote much about him in prose fashion. That got me to slowly appreciate it more. ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/7 "2011-01-12T00:31:37Z")
I can appreciate poetry but it’s not what I go for when I pick up something to read. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/8 "2011-01-12T00:31:40Z")
I loved LotR and enjoy pretty well all the poetry in it; it’s hard for me to say if I like poetry in general because I like what I like and not what I don’t, you know? I’ll chime in with **Qadgop** ’s list, which definitely hits my own high points. Darned if I can think of anyone in particular to add to it just now. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/9 "2011-01-12T02:45:42Z")
I love LOTR and read it several times. I love poetry, just not Tolkien’s poetry, which I always skip when I reread it. Once was plenty. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/10 "2011-01-12T03:04:27Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I tend to consider the book a long prose poem, with several digressions into verse. That is, the plot is just a mechanism for the beauty of the language. Yep. Indeed, the Prof’s prose is so lyrical, I’d almost say the digressions into verse are superfluous, except that the mood-setting and narrative demand that the Peoples have poetry and song. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/11 "2011-01-12T03:11:47Z")
I love poetry… but not Tolkein’s verse. Not good stuff. His prose is much better. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/12 "2011-01-12T03:17:51Z")
Well, it’s better in the original Quenya. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/13 "2011-01-12T03:22:15Z")
Minor (I hope!) hijack - have you heard the [Donald Swann settings](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Goes_Ever_On)of the Tolkien poems? [The Road Goes Ever On](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2SZw9EBlus) ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@Mister\_Owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Owl)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/14 "2011-01-12T08:51:52Z")
Have read the trilogy more times that I can remember, but haven’t never particularly cared for the poetry. I like other poetry sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/15 "2011-01-12T10:29:27Z")
I have read LOTR several times (and there are very few other books I have read more than once). I used to read poetry sometimes, but seldom now (although, come to that, I rarely read fiction now, and if I do its almost always murder mysteries). But, although I loved the books, I never liked the poetry **in** LOTR very much, and would often just skim it to get back to the prose story. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/16 "2011-01-12T11:20:04Z")
In the end I only finished RotK by slacking off in class to read it. I needed something to force me to sit in one place. I suppose I liked it well enough, but by the time I got through it I’d forgotten most of TTT. I like E. E. Cummings. And Marcus Valerius Martialis. To some degree. Actually, I like poetry that scans, & if it scans, it’s probably a song eventually. I like _songs._ So I sort of like LotR but not that much, & I like some poetry. I don’t remember any of Tolkien’s poetry except the riddles in _The Hobbit_, which are substantially traditional I suppose. Oh, I find epic poetry a bit dull. OK, more than a bit. Ever try listening to the Kalevala? It’s in trochaic tetrameter or octometer, which is maintained in translation for style. Gets really tiresome. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/17 "2011-01-12T11:35:52Z")
I voted option one, but I should stipulate that, like other posters here, I didn’t actually like the poetry _in LOTR_ that much. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/18 "2011-01-12T12:21:51Z")
> [@Helena](#): > > I can appreciate poetry but it’s not what I go for when I pick up something to read. Pretty much this. I would (almost) never get a book of poetry out of the library; I’ve voluntarily read books of limericks, and poetry by Hilaire Belloc, Edward Lear and Ogden Nash, though. And Dante’s Divine Comedy (in translation), I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/19 "2011-01-12T12:38:23Z")
I’ve read LOTR about 20 times. I usually skip over the poems. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266/20 "2011-01-12T16:22:58Z")
I fall entirely outside the range you offered in the poll. I’ve read all the LoTR and many of the associated books, and enjoy them quite a lot. I understand poetry well, and can analyze the hell out of it, but find that poetry leaves me ‘meh.’ Neither care for it, nor dislike it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-book-fans-do-you-like-poetry/567266.md?page=2)