Journey of the Entwives: An Epyllion & Explanatory Essay

Journey of the Entwives: An Epyllion

Merry and Pippin walked along, and they found the old tree, so he hummed

them a song. Treebeard they called him; he spoke of when Ents were free. Entlings

and Entwives used to be. But then…

The evil one they call by the name of Sauron grew power and forces

in order that he may dismantle all races and rule all places.

Times were bleak. 

Second age, darkest days, Elves with the Men, they say, fighting on, steadfast.

And in their minds, with him—tyranny, slavery, subversion, downfall.

They fought for all they fought.

Greatest since Valinor, strength they had; peoples free, banners high, the likes

never seen, until one thinks of the War of the Ring that will befall

an era late.

Well, in the end, they did intend to destroy the one they call Sauron.

However, greed of Men did by that time, take the strength that they had left.

Virtue failed but the One Ring remained; Elves and Men defeated.

The Ring would lure and taint the heart of any saint and in the end destroy

for the will of said Sauron; it would still go on and bring men to their fate—

damnation.

After the Fall of the last of the Alliance, dread in death, maids passed

out of the niche that they created—garden greens gasping through slaughter.

Where’d they go?

Presuming death, or by chance that they ran off to lands unknown—vanished—

Entwives had disappeared. Ent men, now worry struck, went off to find them,

searching far.

They looked where sun should shine beyond the forest lines, hill tops and grasses.

They searched where Autumn fields fawned and the fruits grew in plenty and order.

Where’d they go?

They looked in pasture and plain, by soft trickling streams, overgrown moss and

where anything beautiful may like to live and to view all of nature.

Where’d they go?

Years had passed, despite Ent’s best to go find their fair maidens—pure despair.

Amidst his tale, he grew weary and sad, but he reveled in old times.

“Ah! The loveliness of Fimbrethil…”

Recalling his Entmaid, Fangorn did name her as Wandlimb the light-foot.

He said they housed amidst each other and walked along each other, full of love.

Fimbrethil, where did you venture?

So, we see how now the Ents are like us. They fall to love and dreaming.

The men, they wander, and the women make plenty and order of nature.

Together they keep the earth. 

Again, Fangorn continued his tale and told of how land was now barren.

For the Ents once learned how to care for the grounds, but time withers all things.

Entwives work became known as Brown Lands.

Where’d they go? Question now old and the memories now fading, murky.

That now it’s hard for the old Fangorn to guess at what Entwives are like.

This is where our story begins.

Entwives fair, fresh, and fine, their golden leaves make a glimmering, Fall crown.

Their eyes are like those of timeless wells of the Ents. Where deep sea, bright eyes

ripple and end, rosy red apple cheeks begin, and beauty does extend.

For although one could guess that in the distraught mess made by Men and Elves,

the Entwives died along with lives they made in tender little bush and brush,

their heartbreak found them in need so great to escape timely fate.

The beating, bashing, and burning of the work of their tree-like hands hurt

them to their core and they met in the glade where the saddest of days left

the smell of burning young Ent-babe in the air.

They spoke like thunder through the plunder of their lives as they had known them.

The anger filled words did rush forth in booming long echoes and great tears.

It was leave or die.

In their great despair, their beautiful golden hair fell out and the red

apples fell from their cheeks. They were left with nothing but a small twinkle—

hope in their lovely eyes.  

Inspired by the Ent men they discussed the chance to wander in Middle-earth.

The men did frequently venture the woods and the valleys, so maybe

they could too.

They took a small vote, and with total consensus, they were off to find

a place of rest and all pleasantness where they could garden and sort with

no bit of interruption. 

So, they went through the realm, and some of the regions. They saw some of great

Eriador, Rivendell was the best.  They passed by new Bree-land, and later 

saw Rhovanion.

They noted the places where they liked it best. They thought they’d go visit

at some point in many years to come. The world is just changing, and it

won’t ever stop.

They went ‘round to Rhûn, and then Harad. Through travel they saw all and they

went to no end. They saw mountains of Amon Hen—the Blue, Grey, Ered, and

 Misty Mounts.

They saw all rivers which we have heard of since then: Anduin,

 Bruinen, Baranduin. They saw great men’s work and left again: Arnor,

Esgaroth, Gondor, and Helm’s Deep.

They remarked on the great fields where blood had been spilled.  They gazed at the wild

waters in complete awe.  For such old creatures, they hadn’t had much joy

from travel, but now they understood.

A new-found gladness for the Ents they had left too far; they had learned what

it takes to walk quite so far. Still, they preferred their happy plants and they

missed their clean pastures.

They continued…

But in all of these they weren’t found. So, where did they go to? No ground?

Well that’s what they wanted us all to think and they knew a place that we  

had forgot about.

A place where they felt quite at home with no sign of damage or danger.

Where nobody had ventured—Elf, man, or any Dwarf. No signs of Goblins,

no evil intent.

There was no chance of that cruel Sauron’s grasp and they knew that at worst, he’d

overlook their new nest.  Their saplings, bushes, and berries would all be

safe. No ill will to leaf existed.

This place was like Bree-land, a happy new tree-land.  The people there small,

the like of tree-friend. They liked to mold, to garden, to sculpt, and soon they found

they liked them the most.

At first, they were scared that these halflings were some Orc. They hobbled along,

they made fires for their warmth. But the maids had gone far and had learned patience.

So they sat and waited.

They watched these small creatures for years, as it seemed. But nothing changed, not one

little thing. These Hobbits, as they were called, were quite funny, quite comely—

much like them.

They liked their order, their fruits, and their food. They liked green grass, tall trees and some minimal weeds. They liked mushrooms and three meals a day. They liked fine things: utensils and spoons.

These little people did rush around. Although they were sneaky, they could

not notice the Entwives, not even when they would walk about. Hobbits

were cute and silly small creatures.

The Entwives had no fear of being found out. The Halflings would catch small

glimpses of Ents but they’d brush it off as being in their small heads.  Entwives

found it to be better here than any other place.

Still, while they got along swell in this small little town, there were times when the

Entwives had been tested their best. A few small Tooks, some silly little

 Brandybuck’s too, would find some ways to dismay the great Entwives.  Sometimes

they’d chop trees for no good reason.

Other times, they’d pick fruit out of their seasons. They’d build their great small houses

in the maids’ favorite hills.

But if they wanted to stay secret, the Entwives had to zip it.  For while

the Hobbits weren’t too keen, after time they would start to think that some

trees took to moving and gardens did not need grooming.
It was here that they stayed, forever and a day. This place called “The Shire”.

If truth be told, they liked this place far better than where they’d come. Although

their lost friends, the Ent men, they missed best.

However, not unlike human maids, the Entwives preferred a safe place

for their babes.  See, although they loved all Entlings much, they were drawn to all

life, to all nature’s spawn.

They preferred not to have children to harm, so in leaving the men, they

prevented great alarm. They’d bare no more children; they’d rather tend to grains.

They favored farming while on great plains.

Now you’d think things would get pretty dull, but the truth is that it was not

like that at all. See, while the Entwives lived in the Shire, the small Hobbits

prospered and the Entwives rested.

Time went on and soon, just like the Ents, the Entwives forgot what the Ents

were like, and over time, the pain from their past was dulled and numb.  They were

grateful for time’s toll on memory.

They had been quite happy in the Shire, and to a trained eye they would’ve

been seen next to each crop, turn in the road, and on every lawn peering

down on each little, red garden rose.

Due to the lack of some inquiry from boring and little Hobbits,

they saw no need to go about with discretion.  They could live freely.

An Entwife wouldn’t be in the same place each day.

Sadly, times have always gone on to change in our Middle-earth.  Just as

in other parts of the world, Ents began to become far more like tree-breeds.

The wives lost more of each other with each day.

Where their leaves had come back and their ripe apples had grown, they lost their form.

They could not move, speak, or work on their homes. One by one, they turned

into trees; few remained.

By this time, the Hobbits had learned how to care for their land in spectacular ways.

The maids had just watched them for a few decades. With the maids leave, no things

had really changed.

But the few Entmaids had decided to travel away from the Shire—

or so the old tales say. Their options were open and the time was ample.

Such old life can hardly feel pressured by time.

Besides, they had found that they missed the great travel. Some felt that there had

to be more in life than just swaying, no baffle.  Some wives just didn’t

recover from losing their lovers or their homes.

Nobody really knows where the maids went from there. Most assume they went,

Fimbrethil as the lead, on another journey through Middle-earth. But some

others think that on the way, they joined the likeness of the forest.

Maybe these could be the reasons the Ent men did not find them.  The maids

had broken all of their expectations on where to look to find them. Most

also did not look like Entwives, as they once did.

It is thought that perhaps many Entwives have become trees with few bits of

character, and the main issue with that is that one can’t tell one tree

from the next of them.  

Regardless of actions that some trees can take, they no longer have eyes

deep as lakes.  The Ents, they are rooted.  Their feet and hands turn still— silence.

Entwives lose their female features.

So even if you were to come across a cross tree, you’d never know who

it could be.  From Entmaid, to Entlings, even Ent King, no one could ever see

who may be underneath.

There are quite a few folks who don’t think that the Ent women went on. But

others, the Ent men too, think that they had simply decided to leave.

Such quick wits and knack for life could not be so soon defeated.

In many ways, it seems that the maids were like the Hobbits. They favored

simple things in life and were quick, smart enough to adventure. It seems that

every time an Entwife or a small Hobbit just vanishes, its planned.

They ponder, they lament. Even for all of their apparent wit, they

give good mind to each new experience.  They are quick to take an action.

They won’t fail to put forth effort.

In many ways, it seems that the Entmaids were not at all the same as Ents.

They were bright, quick, and most beautiful. They gave more time to life to prove

its great worth—despite being an Elf, Dwarf, or Hobbit.

It was in knowing this of their fair maidens that the Ent men never

gave up on the great hunt. One could say that even when they lost all strength to

find them, the men still had hope.

In this way, the Entwives, no matter where they went, would never pass on.

Whatever became of them, they live on in the memory of Ents. They surpass the ages.

Fimbrethil, where did you venture?

As for me, I like to think that the fairest of maids remained behind.

I’d like to think that they withstood all time, even if just in their tree-form.

I think they’d enjoy a day in the sun with small birds nesting on them.

Perhaps there’s one right by my front lawn ensuring that the grass gets more

than enough to drink. Or maybe they planted that small budding tree. Indeed,

maybe they know how we grew a large celery tree.

Maybe they came to our school to see if men stayed the same, all full of

greed. I can imagine them getting annoyed and downtrodden till they

see our geese!

I think they’d be helpful, like some sort of guardian angel. Maybe that’s what

Tolkien thought when he made Hobbits so much like us.  He knew we liked food—

enough for a few meals.

He knew we liked plants and other nice, pretty things.  He thought we would like

any great adventure. So why not write us with tree friend to treasure?

The real thing to ask then, is not what became of the great Ent maids, but

to ask what their purpose was. Were they meant to get more of us tree-hugs?

Or maybe they are a metaphor for caring for the earth.

I think the Entmaids are a symbol of change. Their sad disappearance leaves us

pondering an escape.  No one likes to believe that they hold any sort of personal

responsibility for the fate of our world.

We like to believe that life carries on despite what we do to stop

it. We think that our acts, designed to liberate us, will not present

a future of bondage for all life.

So by the end of the Lord of the Rings, when men rise up and defend

what they stand for, we try to make right the loss of Entmaid and

fair Elf.

“They went to a better place.”, if a better place is found at the end

of despair.  When good things are consumed by fire, greed, or pride; when evil

drives you off as one other refugee.

Tolkien love the earth, and all the life in it. He thought integration was best

for any one being.  Coming from war, he knew how hard it is

to act out against a system. He showed us the consequences

associated with success-- another one oppressed.

Where’d they go?

Explanatory Essay: Journey of the Entwives

            Writing this short narrative in epic poem form was an interesting and daunting experience. For one, I have never had much experience trying to work with a poetic format, and for another, I found it challenging to write about something that wasn’t supposed to have taken place. The Entwives, according to Tolkien, were supposed to have passed away after the War of the Last Alliance (Tolkien Gateway 1). Building off Tolkien’s work in a way that he may not have intended is perhaps more scary and challenging terrain than I would have anticipated.

            In the beginning, I was torn between creating a comic of “Journey of the Entwives” in order to capture humor and satire. I thought that a comic would allow for me to poke fun at the this seemingly singular disparity in Tolkien’s work and the fact that the Ents simply could not figure out what had become of the Entwives. To me, this was something I could look at from a humorous perspective, however dark it would be. How could it be that such old and wise creatures couldn’t put two and two together to find their women? I thought it would be fun to create a comic in which the Entwives purposely eluded the Ents, demonstrating a sense of intellectual superiority. I decided, for various reasons that I will discuss shortly, to go with my other idea: a more tragic and concerning poem format.

            As I have never worked with poems for creating a story, I had to do a little bit of research into what type of poem might fit into this particular storyline. Ultimately, I learned more about the epic poem in dactylic hexameter. Not only are epic poems classic for the English language, which I felt would be somewhat respectful to Tolkien, but these (like Homer’s works) tend to demonstrate a storyline of exile, a journey or quest, and then a return home or some sort of inspirational transformation (of course paying homage to the protagonist’s morals/ culture). I felt that this would be perfect for “Journey of the Entwives” as I wanted to discuss the reason for their leaving, their adventures and hunt for a new home, and wanted to discuss how their character would have been changed or had some sort of relationship to readers. Of course, because I had a difficult time trying to extend my poem to even the minimum ten pages, and ten pages isn’t nearly enough to be considered a traditional epic poem, this project is really an epyllion, or a notably short epic poem.

As previously mentioned, I also had to learn about writing in dactylic hexameter (“Dactylic Hexameter”). I will admit that I don’t believe I did this as well as I would have liked, but I am pleased with what I was able to do after just learning about this form of writing and practicing it for the first time. I know that in epic poems, there is no apparent need for rhyme, but I found it extremely difficult to avoid when writing in dactylic hexameter. Because of this, I recognize that there had been quite a few spots where things sound repetitive. However, it was difficult to find other words that would continue to follow dactylic hexameter without the use of a thesaurus.

In so far as storyline, I wanted to be inventive and entertaining while also adhering to Tolkien’s tradition of having some sort of utility for his work. I have always been moved by how considerate Tolkien was in observing nature and human social relationships. I wanted to encompass his passion for diversity and tolerance, while simultaneously creating reverence for life that was not only central to the Ent experience, but was, as we know, very critical to Tolkien’s personal life as well. This is why the Entwives give other life more of an opportunity to prove or disprove itself in my poem. With any work that I do in college, I want there to be an underlying meaning and purpose to feel like it is worth it at the end of the day, even if my work is not quite masterful in nature. It is for this reason as well that an epyllion seemed to be the best method as opposed to a comic.

My primary inspiration for the storyline came from the fourth chapter of the third book of Lord of the Rings (LOTR), in which Merry and Pippin meet and talk with Treebeard (Tolkien 461-487). In this passage, Treebeard briefly introduces the Hobbits and the readers to Entwives for the first time. Treebeard talks about how beautiful they were, and taking his description of the Entwives (Tolkien 475) as well as Pippin’s description of Ents as he had encountered them (Tolkien 463), proved to be all the inspiration that I had needed in order to formulate an image of what an Entwife would look like: golden crown of leaves, apple cheeks, and beautiful deep eyes. In the same description given by Treebeard, he talks about the deep compassion that the Entwives had for all living creatures and for fair things. This was integral in my formulation of the Entwives’ personalities and “culture” as is deemed necessary in epic poems.

I also paid close attention to Treebeard’s passionate insistence that the Entwives didn’t die (Tolkien 475), almost as if he were in denial, and used that to further develop the controversial “ifs” and “buts” of what may or may not have happened to the Entwives as well as using this to give me a reason to suspect that the Ents would never give up hope in finding the Entwives—even if there had been no more logical reason for them to believe they would ever meet again. While this undying love would have made it incredibly easy to make this poem more romantic, I did my best to incorporate a reasonable amount of romance so as to not diminish the importance later placed on humanities acceptance of the role that they play in changing the planet.

Still, given Tolkien’s reputation for pulling all of the elements of his world into one cohesive story, I thought it would be a good idea for me to attempt to talk about the war behind the disappearance of the Entwives (Lord of the Rings Wiki) as well as specific areas that the Entwives may have gone in Middle-earth. I gave as cohesive a history of the War of the Last Alliance as I could and used men’s greed (and failure to destroy the Ring) as a way of tying the beginning of the poem (actions) to the end of the poem (consequences). While I feel poorly about not being able to discuss the timeline of the Entwives’ travels or what locations the Entwives visited first or last due to my own personal time restrictions for this project, I still had to exercise what I can only describe as an apologetic muscle in literature.

 I had to increase, at least moderately, the believability and reliability of my epyllion (especially since I was supposed to be adding to Tolkien’s mythology) for my audience. In so doing, I increased my own reputability (even though I still don’t believe I did it very effectively) and meant to increase the pull my story had on readers without bogging them down with information that was hard for the non-expert mind to follow. Therefore, in a sense, I believe that failing to specify a timeline or any sequential list of travel and visitation the Entwives experienced, I kept this epyllion simple and easy for the mind to follow; a trait that is often lost when trying to follow some of Tolkien’s nearly scientifically pinpointed works. Because I am extremely unfamiliar with the landscapes and terrain in Tolkien’s works, I turned to online fan-pages to help inform myself (“Middle-earth Locations”).

At numerous points in this semester (in fact, there are so many that it is difficult to pinpoint when we discussed these matters), our class talked about the importance of creating a fully comprehensive world and culture in Tolkien’s mythology. Tolkien typically never left a single leaf unturned and often failed to leave any imagination to his readers by providing language, history, maps, music, and visual art to complete his stories and the history of his creations. In very few areas, do I believe there is much freedom to expand on the myth, and when there is, the challenge is great because of the standards that one feels they have to live up to and because of all of the information that one has to incorporate from Tolkien’s various works to ensure that the creative mind and ideas don’t contradict the other happenings in Tolkien’s world. Simultaneously meeting these requirements and also attempting to respect Tolkien’s reverence for English literature, nature, and diversity was very challenging. I feel that I was equally influenced by LOTR and by fan-pages that helped me fill in knowledge gaps that would have taken me a decade to fill in had I needed to read all of the Tolkien’s letters and notes single-handedly. While I wish I could have shown greater mastery of the epic poem, of simple word choices, and of Tolkien’s Middle-earth, I feel that I learned a great deal by picking and choosing which information I would use to inspire and radiate throughout my own work.

           

                                                               

Works Cited

Lord of the Rings Wiki. “War of the Last Alliance.” Wikia, Retrieved 28 Nov. 2018,

http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/War_of_the_Last_Alliance

Tolkien Gateway. “Entwives.” Tolkien Gateway, Retrieved 28 Nov. 2018,

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Entwives

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings. Harper

Collins Publishers, 2012.

Wikipedia. “Dactylic Hexameter.” Wikipedia, 17 Nov. 2018,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dactylic_hexameter

Wikipedia. “Middle-earth Locations.” Wikipedia, 20 Jan. 2018.

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle-earth_locations