Durin's Halls: Examining Four Lines of Tolkien

No harp is wrung, no hammer falls:

The darkness dwells in Durin's halls;

The shadow lies upon his tomb

In Moria, in Khazad-dum.

Taken from J.R.R. Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring: A Journey in the Dark; here is an example of iambic tetrameter (aabb⁴) with pretty solid iambs. There seems to be no clear deviation from the meter in the entire poem, which is 46 lines long. It mimics the mnemonic device of near perfect meter. The use of unbroken iambs is purposeful. In the context of Tolkien's Middle Earth the speaker of the poem, Gimli (A dwarf) would have learned the poem through oral recitation. A closer examination of the second line reveals the alliterative "d" - something exemplary of the speech of Dwarves. Additionally, the "d" sounds have the feeling of footsteps, or heaviness. The Dwarvish tongue often highlights soft "a" as well as hard "oo". The use of these vowel sounds is coupled by a tendency for "d", the hard "c" sound in "kh", and "z".

This form echoes Andrew Marvel's To His Coy Mistress but bears none of the sentimental delivery or spondaic substitution. At first, it would seem like Tolkien's use of four feet of iambs has no real purpose; it doesn't evoke the rhythmic quality of epic poetry, nor does it exhibit any clear variation in the meter as a means to creating emotional complex. It does however, in its uniformity show that Tolkien had a strong grasp on the multiple languages of his creation, two of which are featured in this segment.

In context to Chapter 3 of Paul Fussell's Poetic Meter and Poetic Form, the last line of this segment can be read as follows: one unstressed syllable-dactyl, one unstressed syllable-spondee-one unstressed. It can be argued that the last beast will take a stress. Either way, if this is the case, a dactylic substitution here emphasizes the gloom of the situation. A non-Tolkien reader may get the same effect of these lines, not knowing at all what Moria is, or Khazad-dum, but still recognizing the inescapable weight of the words. Perhaps the effect of doom is aided by the medial caesura in this line, which none of the other lines exhibit. In Moria, in Khazad-dum, bears a sudden jaunt from the iambic flow and subsequently places emphasis on the two names for Durin's halls. It can also be argued that this last line does not deviate at all, but that would provide for an uninteresting interpretation of these lines.

Tolkien's ability to stay within the verbal realm of his created tongues is remarkable. His goal here is not only to utilize the practice of meter in the delivery of an orally recited poem, but to bring the world of Middle Earth alive in the tongue of Modern English. Perhaps his use of iambic tetrameter is merely an arbitrary vehicle.