u/ebrum2010

This is a poem I wrote called 'The Ravens' about 25 years ago when I was reading a lot of Tolkien and battling depression. I'm not going to include the original for reasons but here is my Old English translation:

Þā hræfnas on birċan bōge and elmes

Þǣr maniġ forloren guma forþfērde

Heorwes fealles oþþe helmes abidon

Fǣġe weres flǣsċ hīe begangan sċulon

Þonne seo sunne ofer hylle is, and munte

And song-fuglas þe glīdaþ hēalīċ on flihte

Mid clǣne drēame singaþ, swa swa springe

Þā hræfnas þone alibbend wierġaþ, and þæt lēoht

Note: Reposting this because I accidentally deleted the original while trying to edit it and being distracted with other things. I made some edits, because it's always easier to notice mistakes after you publish them 😂😂

u/Adam_Barrow asked for this one on my last post with Gandalf's speech. Here is Thēoden's speech to the Riders of Rohan. I've included both the one from the books and the one from the movies since they're a bit different. The one from the movie takes some lines from Ēomer and combines it with a shortened version of Thēoden's speech.

Book version:

Ārīsaþ nū, ārīsaþ, Þēodnes Riddan!

Frēcna dǣda āwacaþ: þīestru eastweardum is.

Ġebridlod sīe nū mearh, clynede sīe horn!

Forþ, Eorlingas!

Ārīsaþ, ārīsaþ, Þēodnes Riddan!

Bealwa dǣda āwacaþ: Fȳr and wæl!

Spere biþ sċæcen, sċield tōcnysed biþ,

Sweorddæġ, rēad dæġ, ǣr þǣre sunnan rīst!

Rīdaþ nū, rīdaþ nū! Rīdaþ tō Gondore!

Movie version:

Ārīsaþ, ārisaþ, Þēodnes Riddan!

Spere biþ sċæcen, sċield tōcnysed biþ,

Sweorddæġ, rēad dæġ, ǣr þǣre sunnan rīst!

Rīdaþ nū, rīdaþ nū, rīdaþ!

Rīdaþ tō spilde and þǣre weorolde ġeendung!

Dēaþ! Dēaþ! Dēaþ!

Forþ, Eorlingas!

"There I lay staring upward, while the stars wheeled over, and each day was as long as a life-age of the earth."

This quote comes in the chapter The White Rider in The Two Towers. I had always assumed that by life-age of the earth he meant like one of the ages that were divided into years, but recently I've been reading King Alfred's prose Psalms in Old English and he frequently uses the phrase "weorolda weorold" to mean "forever," or "eternity." The word weorold can mean "world" or "age (as in era or epoch)" or "lifetime" so weorolda weorold "could have been the inspiration for life-age of the earth, meaning each day was as long as an eternity. Also the word "weorold" itself comes from root words meaning "age of man (literally man-age)." Tolkien was fond of referencing Old English in his work, and I have noticed more and more of it as I have been studying Old English.

I was reading Alfred's prose psalms and I realized something that connects to Tolkien. Here Alfred uses
"weorolda weorold" often to mean "forever." Weorold can be used to mean world and lifetime or age. Thus when Gandalf refers to the moments before he was sent back as each being like a "life-age of the Earth" I think he means "forever." Every moment was like forever. There has always been some discussion about whether or not he meant the literal ages, ie the First Age but I think Tolkien was doing more of a literal translation of this OE phrase, as he modernizes many OE sayings and word usages throughout his writing (like "not all tears are an evil").

Edit: Sorry about the typo in the title, I added a word for clarification and didn't change the article.

Sē bealubrōga forþcymþ þǣre brycġe. Gandælf stōd on middeldǣle þǣre stōwe, hliniende on þǣre ġierde þe on his winestran handa wæs, ac Glamdring on his ōþerre handa mid ċealdum leoman līxte, and hwītum. His fēond eft ætstent and hine andwlat, and swa swa twā miċele fiþru, sēo sċeadu ārāhte, þe him ymbhringde. He hefde þæt hweop, and þā þwangas þuton and cracodon. Fȳr cwōm fram his næsþȳrlum. Ac Gandælf ġestōd.

“Þū ne mōst lēoran,” he cwæþ. Þā orcas ætstōdon, and þǣr full swīgung wæs. “Iċ eom þæs Diernan Fȳres þēow, Anores līġes wealdend. Þū ne mōst lēoran. Þæt deorce fȳr ne framaþ þē næs, Udūnes līġ. Eftċiere Sċeadwe! Þū ne mōst lēoran.”

Note: I did my best with the diacritics, as I don't normally use them but a lot of people here prefer them. They're a pain to use if you're not writing by hand, and I may have missed one or two. Also Reddit decided to delete all the spaces between words when I copied this from my document, so if there's yet a missing space somewhere, my bad.