I was researching something completely unrelated but I passingly saw that hemlock means mortality in Victorian and modern flower language. And my brain immediately thought of the âSong of Beren and LĂșthienâ in FotR, specifically the first stanza:
The leaves were long, the grass was green,
The hemlock-umbels tall and fair,
And in the glade a light was seen
Of stars in shadow shimmering.
TinĂșviel was dancing there
To music of a pipe unseen,
And light of stars was in her hair,
And in her raiment glimmering.
Hemlock is the third element im the description of the glade LĂșthien is dancing in, even before we learn her name. We have the long leaves, the green grass and the tall hemlock; two elements traditionally associated with spring and youth, and one heavily associated with death. In two verses we know everything there is to know about LĂșthien: sheâs youthful and sheâs going to die.
The hemlock appears again in the second stanza:
There Beren came from mountains cold,
And lost he wandered under leaves,
And where the Elven-river rolled
He walked alone and sorrowing.
He peered between the hemlock-leaves
And saw in wonder flowers of gold
Upon her mantle and her sleeves,
And her hair like shadow following.
This stanza is from Berenâs point of view, looking at LĂșthien. And fact he looks at her through the hemlock leaves tells us he is mortal. Beren looks at LĂșthien through the lens of a mortal gaze, and thinks her otherworldly. There is an added layer to it because, in Victorian flower language, hemlock not only means mortality but also more specifically âyou will be my deathâ. And, indeed, Beren dies in his quest to obtain LĂșthienâs hand.
The last occurrence of hemlock in this song is in the fourth stanza:
He heard there oft the flying sound
Of feet as light as linden-leaves,
Or music welling underground,
In hidden hollows quavering.
Now withered lay the hemlock-sheaves,
And one by one with sighing sound
Whispering fell the beechen leaves
In the wintry woodland wavering.
I find this stanza more difficult to analyse from a symbolic point of view since itâs mostly a description of autumn and winter coming, but it certainly puts emphasis on the importance of this plant in Beren and LĂșthienâs story. As I interpret it, and this is my personal reading, it is an allusion to Beren and LĂșthien growing old together and LĂșthien choosing to die along Beren.
In The Tale of TinĂșviel, the hemlock is also extremely important in the introduction of TinĂșviel, and it is more or less a description in much more details of what is hinted at in the Song of Beren and LĂșthien from FotR. I canât put the quote because itâs in French but, very roughly, it says that the hemlock is so tall and dense it looks like TinĂșviel is dancing on a white cloud. Then, when TinĂșviel sees Beren, she hides under a very tall hemlock and her white dress makes her disappear in the hemlock, looking like moonlight on the flowers. The imagery used in this scene is absolutely beautiful and I canât make it justice, but what is important is that, upon their first meeting, TinĂșviel is metaphorically surrounded by mortality. She is an Elf yet she will die. And Beren, who is an elf too in this version (a Gnome, the proto-Noldor, and I struggle not to picture him as a garden gnome), is doomed to die too from the moment he walks amongst the hemlock in search of TinĂșviel.
Last but not least is the Lay of Leithian. Sadly, I donât have the full Lay of Leithian so I canât look at the meeting scene but, in an extract given in the French translation of Beren and LĂșthien (Christian Bourgois, 2017) it is said that LĂșthien wears white roses in her hair (Canto VI, verses 116-117) and there are a few other mentions of unspecified white flowers. White roses mean âI am worthy of youâ, withered white roses mean âtransient impressionsâ, white rosebuds mean âgirlhoodâ and a crown of roses âreward of virtueâ. I donât really know what to do with these informations since I donât have the original text so I canât say how accurate the translation is, but all of this enhance LĂșthienâs ethereal, eternally youthful appearance. It also shows the association of LĂșthien with white and light in opposition to Morgothâs black darkness, I think. But I donât doubt for a second that the hemlock is an important part of the place where Beren and LĂșthienâs meeting.
Anyways, I just love digging this kind of rabbit holes in Tolkienâs poetry, because it gives us so much insight on the characters, and I am almost sure that Tolkien, who grew up in late Victorian England and loved nature, knew of the meaning of hemlock or he wouldnât have insisted so much on it. Iâd love to see if there is a paper out there about flower language/symbolism in Tolkienâs work because I am sure there is so much more of it than what I looked at today.
https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Song_of_Beren_and_L%C3%BAthien
https://www.gardeningchannel.com/flower-meanings-dictionary-from-a-to-z-the-secret-victorian-era-language-of-flowers/
J. R. R. Tolkien, Beren et LĂșthien, Christian Bourgois, 2017
And as a bonus, the Song of Beren and LĂșthien in music by Clamavi de Profundis: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=11_aneHVaz8&list=PLR5qYNG5Nf7WFbZ6wr-rr7gDnALA4C8mQ&index=19&pp=iAQB8AUB
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