Interesting bit of poetry I've stumbled upon.
While researchinng a paper, I discovered a surprising parallel between Oscar Wilde's Serenade and Tolkien's Song of Beren and Luthien (in terms of meter and emotion), particularly the meter.
Wilde:
The western wind is blowing fair
Across the dark Aegean sea,
And at the secret marble stair
My Tyrian galley waits for thee.
Come down! the purple sail is spread,
The Watchman sleeps within the town,
O leave thy lily-flowered bed,
O lady mine come down, come down !
Tolkien:
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.
TinĂşviel was dancing there
To music of a pipe unseen,
And light of stars was in her hair,
And in her raiment glimmering.
I've been planning out a way to flesh out a paper I've started on the poetic development across the history of Middle Earth, and I need to make a note to continue to look into the influences Wilde may have had on J.R.R. and his work. Â At the very least, it offers an interesting parallel between poetic development in English and in Elvish.
