Chiappetta 1

Rhyme, Repetition and Symbolism:

Themes of Love and Death in The Song of Beren and Luthien

Mary Chiappetta

ENGL 3320
Dr. Stein
May 3, 2014

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Abstract
The Song of Beren and Luthien, a poem surface that recounts a tragic tale of love and
ultimate loss, contains elements that reinforce and suggest the explicit themes through
implicit means. These means include the use of rhyme, repetition, and symbolic
language. These devices work in conjunction with the content of the poem to suggest the
inexorable link that exists between love and life, immortality and death. Through them,
the themes of the poem are interwoven into the very structure of the poem itself. An
analysis of these features within the poem therefore yields a much deeper and more broad
understanding of the meaning conveyed by these interwoven thematic elements.

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Rhyme, Repetition and Symbolism:
Themes of Love and Death in The Song of Beren and Luthien
J.R.R. Tolkien, the renowned philologist, Oxford dictionary contributor, and
profuse writer of fantasy literature has left behind a legacy extending even beyond these
many and varied accomplishments. Indeed, one of the lesser known yet nonetheless
impressive talents of this famous writer is his skill in the area of poetry, a talent that lends
great enhancement and realism to even his works of fantasy through its incorporation into
these famous novels. One of these poems, The Song of Beren and Luthien, stands as a
testament to this poetic talent. More importantly, however, this poem exists as an example
of poetic prowess through its use of language devices as the primary means by which it
creates its impressions and conveys its meaning. In particular, the devices of rhyme,
repetition, and symbolic representation form crucial elements in this poems arsenal of
communication. These elements speak with fluency rivaling that of the basic content of
the poem itself in establishing the themes on which the poem relies. How, one might ask,
is this possible? How are the themes of love and death, and the ironic interconnectedness
of these two, that this poem expresses represented and suggested so clearly within the
lines of the poem?
The use of rhyme has a subtle influence upon the thematic expression of the poem
as a whole. The rhythm of the piece is such that the rhyme scheme is not immediately
apparent it gently makes its presence felt through the rhythm rather than demanding
constant attention. The reason for this subtlety in rhyme may exist, in part, in the
infrequency that each stanza exhibits. While all stanzas follow a similar rhyming scheme,
all of which are based on some variation of a simple a-b-a-c-b-a-b-c format, all stanzas

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but the first two and the final two feature regular repetition of words already mentioned
in the stanza to form the related sound, rather than employing other rhyming words. For
example, stanza three begins with the lines Enchantment healed his weary feet/That over
hills were doomed to roam (ll. 17-18), and just prior to concluding includes these lines
containing the exact same ending words She lightly fled on dancing feet/And left him
lonely still to roam (ll. 23-24). This tactic is used throughout the remainder of the
interior stanzas of the poem. Only in the first two stanzas and the final two stanzas are
completely unique words, true rhymes, utilized. All of the interior stanzas feature at least
one instance of this strange repetition in place of one of their true rhymes.
While these observations in regards to rhyming and repetition pattern are
interesting from a purely structural point of view, the meaning that they suggest extends
far more deeply than that. The placement of the particular strategies as they appear in the
poem is suggestive of the themes that the poem presents; it is no coincidence or uniquely
structural strategy that yields the use of true rhyme in only the first and last stanzas, and
the use of repetition in the interior stanzas. Additionally, it may be observed that an
aspect of consistency emerges from these patterns. In each of the stanzas, the words that
are repeated are consistently monosyllabic. For example, the words in the stanzas quoted
above are mimicked above in the beginning and near concluding lines of stanza number
five: He sought her ever, wandering far/Where leaves of years were thickly strewnAs
on a hilltop high and far/She danced, and at her feet was strewn (ll. 33,34 & 38,39).
More notable, however, is the fact that the gerunds present in each line are never placed
in a situation of repetition. These, such as these found in stanza number 4, In hidden
hollows quavering/In the wintry woodland wavering (ll. 28-32) are always true

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rhymes. Furthermore, the gerund rhyme is the one that concludes each and every stanza
in the poem. The gerunds first make their appearance in the middle of the stanza, the c
sound, and similarly conclude the stanza. These patterns of true rhyme and repetition
within the poem give the impression of the constant revolution of the seasons, a concept
that is presented within the content of the poem as Beren waits throughout the year for an
opportunity to encounter the elven princess, Tinuviel (ll. 33-34). The notion of the
seasons is an important one in that it illustrates the regularity of time, and the constant
passage by which Berens mortal life, in contrast with the princess immortality,
ceaselessly wears away. The pattern of rhyme and repetition, although positioned within
the broader scope of times passage, therefore serves to emphasize the limited time that
he, as a mortal man, actually has left to him. Furthermore, the repetition and regular
pattern of rhyme within the interior stanzas suggest by their recurring words and
consistencies the immortal nature of the love that is born between the mortal man and the
elven maiden. In contrast, the lack of repetition in the first and final two stanzas
emphasizes the mortality of Beren. The words do not repeat; unlike the constant
repetition of seasons that forms the eternal life of an elf, the seasons will not revolve
without cease for those of mortal blood. These stanzas therefore suggest, through their
lack of unifying repetition, the jarring nature by which death cuts off the pattern for those
who are mortal. This is particularly significant in its unification with the content of the
poem, whereby the birth of love between Beren and Luthien Tinuviel begets a choice that
she must make to become mortal, thereby forfeiting her native immortality. In the
beginning the words reflect the mortality of Beren, while the middle stanzas emphasize,
by their repetitive nature, the immortal passage of the seasons and life, as elves

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experience it, by which Beren the mortal is caught when the enchantment of the elven
princess falls upon him. The final stanzas represent the fate that captures Tinuviel when
the spell of love for a mortal falls upon her. The final instance of repetition occurs in
stanza number seven, again in the habitual first and just prior to last lines: Again she
fled, but swift he came/Tinuviel! Tinuviel!/One moment stood she, and a spell/His
voice laid on her: Beren came/And doom fell on Tinuviel (ll. 49, 50, 53-55). Her loss of
her immortality through her choice to remain with her mortal lover is thus represented in
the abrupt end of the repetitive pattern that forms the interior, immortal stanzas of the
poem. The final stanzas become a type for the mortal life that is then shared by both
Beren and Tinuviel. This pattern of alternating repetition and true rhyme represents the
ultimate irony of the poems theme that in the choice to give the life of love, Tinuviel
betrays her birthright to immortal life and makes the choice to embrace the death
incumbent upon mortality. This final choice is evidenced in the last lines of the poem,
And long ago they passed away/In the forest singing sorrowless (ll. 71-72). In her
choice to share in mortal death with Beren, therefore, the flip side of Tinuviels choice is
illustrated. In her choice to remain with Beren and to embrace mortality, love immortal is
created and cherished between them. By her choice to embrace physical death, the love
that they bear is granted the immortality that she, by her choice, has forfeited. In death
the death that Tinuviel chooses to share with Beren, the love that they possess is granted
the eternity of immortality.
The final poetic device by which the themes of love and death are suggested in
the poem is the use of symbolism. As previously mentioned, the frequent mention of the
seasons forms one symbolic element in the poem whereby the themes of mortality and

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immortality are suggested. However, this is neither the only nor the most interesting use
of symbolic language that figures in the poem. Indeed, the two most fascinating uses of
symbolic language that occur repeatedly throughout the poem are the impressions given
through the use of starlight and shadow, and the frequent, seemingly random references
to hemlock, a poisonous plant that consistently appears between Beren and Tinuviel in his
initial encounters with her.
References to hemlock occur with great regularity in the first part of the poem;
indeed, in the first four stanzas it is mentioned no less than three times. What could be the
reason for thus including, in such an off-handed way, these references to this deadly
plant? The answer to this question is richly laden with symbolic meaning. The hemlock,
it may be postulated, is included in the poem with such frequency as a symbolic
representation of the separation gap that naturally exists between the mortal and the
immortal. Indeed, in each encounter with Tinuviel, plants of hemlock divide Beren from
her and color his ability to see her as she dances upon the green. In stanza number one the
separation of immortality is strong indeed between Beren and Tinuviel, and the hemlock
plants that intercept his view of her as he approaches are carefully described as being
tall and fair (l. 2). His first view of her is attained as he peered between the hemlock
leaves (l. 13). Yet, as the poison of the plants indicates, his first encounter is not a
venture of success. Much to his dismay, Tinuviel flees from sight as she beholds him in
the hemlock plants (l. 22). However, her flight cannot eliminate the thrill of enchantment
that falls upon Beren when he observes her; with his first encounter with her, her fate is
sealed. He determines to wait for her, and over the course of many seasons he searches
for his lost love. When next he encounters her, he sees her dancing once more upon the

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green but this time, the hemlock leaves that come between the two of them are withered
(l. 29). With this encounter the spell of love falls upon Tinuviel, and the death of the plant
that represents the divide between the mortal life of man and the immortality native to the
elves indicates the shift that then overtakes Tinuviel. As the plants fade and cease to
divide the two lovers, her love for Beren becomes the poison that she embraces, dooming
her to the suffering of mortality and ultimate death.
Finally, the themes of love and death are suggested through the presence,
throughout the poem, of symbolic references to starlight and shadow. In the first stanza,
when Tinuviel is yet fully protected from the mortal enchantment that ultimately comes
upon her, features an emphasis on the characteristic starlight that accompanies her. The
starlight creates an aura, as it were, that surrounds her flowing hair (l. 7). The next stanza,
however, sees a slight shift in emphasis. Described from the perspective of the mortal,
Beren, the trait of her hair that is remarked upon is shadow rather than starlight (l. 16). He
describes her in this way as she tarries, and in his presence the possibility of her doom
draws near. In the next stanza, however, Tinuviel flits awau from him the danger of the
mortal spell has, for a time, been alleviated. In this stanza the characteristic that is most
emphasized has therefore returned to starlight, and the subtle gleam of moonbeams alone
remains in her wake (l. 20). Stanzas seven and eight are perhaps the most remarkable in
the symbolism that they harness of light and shadow. In the conclusion of stanza seven
the spell of mortality has fallen upon Tinuviel the parting image of the stanza indicates
that Tinuviel, gleaming still in the light of immortality, is shrouded in the embrace of her
mortal lover (l. 56). Her immortality begins to give way, symbolically, to the mortality
that is the fate of their love. Similarly, stanza number eight contains two references to the

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shadow of her hair (ll. 58 & 63). No more is her hair described as gleaming, nor is it
encased in her habitual aura of starlight. Now, the fierce glistening of her eyes alone
betrays her elven heritage. Her raiment and appearance have become shrouded in the
impending doom of death that results from her choice to love and remain with a mortal
man.
Thus in the strategic use of rhyme and repetition, and through the subtle
implications suggested through the utilization of symbolism within the poem, the themes
of love, death, and the interconnectedness that reigns between the two that are explicitly
described through the events of the poem find even deeper emphasis in the implicit
devices used. While on the surface it remains a beautiful, if tragic, tale of love, the poem
therefore offers a deeper commentary on the nature of love and life itself. It suggests,
through these devices, the integral relation that exists between love and death, and
reinforces the reality that nothing, even the shades of mortality itself, can disengage the
immortality of love.

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Works Cited
Tolkien, John R.R. Chapter 11. The Fellowship of the Ring. 2011. Web. 10 May 2014.
Retrieved from
http://www.readfreeonline.net/OnlineBooks/The_Fellowship_of_the_Ring/The_F
ellowship_of_the_Ring_11.html