"GL2" - читать интересную книгу автора (vol03)

II.
POEMS EARLY ABANDONED.

During his time at the University of Leeds my father embarked on five
distinct poetical works concerned with the matter of the mythology; but
three of these went no further than the openings. This chapter treats each
of them in turn.

(i) The Flight of the Noldoli.
There do not seem to be any certain indications of the date of this brief
poem in alliterative verse in relation to The Children of Hurin (though it
is worth noticing that already in the earliest of the three texts of The
Flight of the Noldoli Feanor's son Cranthir is so named, whereas this
form only arose by emendation of Cranthor in the typescript text of the
Lay (line 1719)). However, both from its general air and from various
details it can be seen that it comes from the same time; and since it seems
unlikely that (on the one hand) my father would have embarked on a new
poem in alliterative verse unless he had laid the other aside, or that (on
the other) he would have returned to this mode once he was fully engaged
on a long poem in rhyming couplets, I think it very probable that
The Flight of the Noldoli comes from the earlier part of 1925 (see

PP. 3, 81).
Each of the three manuscripts of the poem (A, B, and C) is differently
titled: A has The Flight of the Gnomes as sung in the Halls of
Thingol; B (pencilled in later) Flight of the Gnomes; C The Flight of
the Noldoli from Valinor. A has emendations that are taken up in the
text of B, and B has emendations taken up in C; almost all are characteris-
tic metrical/verbal rearrangements, as for example in line 17:

A in anguish mourning, emended to the reading of B;
B and in anguish mourn, emended to the reading of C;
C mourning in anguish.

As generally in this book, earlier variants that have no bearing on
names or story are not cited. Each text ends at the same point, but three
further lines are roughly written in the margin of A (see note to line 146).
I give now the text of the third version, C.

THE FLIGHT OF THE NOLDOLI
FROM VALINOR.

A! the Trees of Light, tall and shapely,
gold and silver, more glorious than the sun,
than the moon more magical, o'er the meads of the Gods
their fragrant frith and flowerladen
gardens gleaming, once gladly shone. 5
In death they are darkened, they drop their leaves
from blackened branches bled by Morgoth
and Ungoliant the grim the Gloomweaver.