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| Branwyn's Baubles by Branwyn | 5 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Tari | Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 6/23/2008 |
| I like that poem myself. It has been put to music and I got to sing it when I belonged to a chorus. So, did Ragnvald had a bit of a preminiton of Boromir's fate? It sounds to me like he might have. | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 10/31/2005 |
| A lovely blending here of Frost and Tolkien; and love the use of the Swan's name in OE here considering what fate came to Boromir son of Denethor on the road he chose. It did make all the difference. | |
| daw the minstrel | Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 9/25/2005 |
| This was lovely and evocative, Branwyn. The buried road intrigues me, as does the fact that its existence is still shown by the line through the trees. Author Reply: I had in mind those aerial photographs of ancient villages and old Roman roads where, even after hundreds of years, the stones are still holding back the tree roots. I also was thinking of the Greenway near the borders of the Shire (if my memory is correct)-- a road that is no longer kept clear of grass by travellers but is still a visible part of the landscape. Like the Greenway, the road in my ficlet is the remnant of a road built by the ancient kings in the glory days of Gondor and Arnor. Rather gloomy for poor Boromir to be constantly reminded of the decline of his people! Thanks for reviewing! | |
| annmarwalk | Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 9/25/2005 |
| Very lovely and unexpected! I like the way you set the autumn-y scene immediately, and used that theme to convey the feelings of change and sadness that so often go along with that time of year, melding them with the pain and sadness and indecision of his quest. The first year we lived in Alaska, I remember being stunned at the sound of thousands of wild geese headed south together - I could not imagine what that sound was, and ran outside with my baby in my arms. It's still a very powerful memory, of forces of nature quite beyond my understanding. What a lovely and sad note for Boromir, to be bid farewell by one of the sigils of his mother's house, as he begins this journey that will bring him to his doom! Ann Author Reply: Thanks so much for your kind words, and I am glad that the result was unexpected. When I read about the HASA "Your favorite poem" challenge, I remembered "The Road Not Taken" and thought at once of Boromir who sets out on a journey by the road less travelled and who also chooses the wrong path in the end. "And that has made all the difference," as Robert Frost says. A companion ficlet could be written from Faramir's viewpoint as he looks down that same road in after years and considers the different choices that he and his brother made. (I had not read any Frost in twenty-five years, and getting old and grey does give you a different perspective on his works, LOL! Too easy to regard him as the Thomas Kinkaide of poetry because of the seeming whimsy of the New England settings. But I digress.) The swan just sneaked into the ficlet; I did not consciously include it as a symbol of Boromir's connection to Dol Amroth, though now that you pointed it out, I like it. I just needed a noisy bird that sounded vaguely like a horn. :-) Thanks again for writing! | |
| Raksha The Demon | Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 9/25/2005 |
| Lovely, elegant vignette of Boromir's taking the road less traveled. Great concept of the "illfete" swan answering his call; since poor Boromir is ultimately ill-fated. The descriptive details are marvelous; and you have captured Boromir the Tall very well - powerful, graceful, as much a princely warrior in Rohan as he is in the home he will never see again, as he leaves the known for the unknown. Nicely done! Author Reply: As I wrote the ficlet, I left myself a note, "look up the Anglo-Saxon word for swan" (which I was assuming would be something not unlike "swan;" it is a native animal to northern Europe so the Anglo-Saxons would have had their own term for it, and the words for many common, basic objects haven't changed much over time.) So I was surprised to discover that the word was actually something that I could work into the ficlet as the ill-fated swan. :-D In my stories, Boromir puts a lot of wear on the furniture and saddlery--things are always creaking and sagging under his weight, LOL! As I mentioned to annmarwalk, a companion ficlet would have Faramir looking down that same road many years later, considering the differing choices that he and Boromir made. Thanks for writing! | |