Roads go ever ever on
Scrivener January 10th, 2008
Under cloud and under star
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Starting from the time I was in elementary school until I was in college, there was this doodle that I used to reproduce on a regular basis, which basically consisted of drawing a little path winding across the page, starting out wide at the bottom and fading away into the distance somewhere at the top or side of the page. And every time I doodled this image, Bilbo’s song from the end of The Hobbit passed through my mind.
I’ve been reading The Hobbit to the kids recently, because Eldest was asking me about chapter books I liked when I was young and I told her that I read it when I was in first grade just like her, so she insisted that we read it together, a request that I am more than happy to oblige. I have loved Tolkien for as long as I can remember, but I am gaining a whole new level of appreciation for his writing now that I get to read it out loud each night. Thus far, Eldest is loving it, though Youngest is less interested.
How wonderful! I’ve never read the series (although I saw the movies). May I come over one night for a listen?
love the photo, and the story. it has been forever since i read tolkien, but i remember being fascinated in elementary school.
Scrivner have you changed your e-mail address?
I used to frequently draw a road, always leading off to mountains in the distance. Maybe b/c it was all I could draw
(I doodle all the time, but can’t really draw).
I’m impressed that you read The Hobbit in 1st grade! Great that Eldest is enjoying it now.
This is one of the parts of you that I most relate to. I heard my dad read the Hobbit to me as a kid and read it to my eldest son when he was five. We started it one weekend when we were camping, sitting around the fire. I think I’ve read the whole series at least 10 or 12 times in my lifetime. I often think of that Hobbit song about the road. I LOVE pictures of paths curving off into the distance. I take them at every opportunity and often that’s what my doodles turn into. The road goes on and ever on…
A path that beckons and is evocative of times in my life.
Now I am thinking about reading the hobbit to my kids.
Thanks, y’all. I suppose it’s not surprising that a path leading into the distance is a powerful image for a lot of people, but it’s nice to hear that you feel that connection too.
Gawdess: Do it! It’s been so fun. We’re in Mirkwood right now, the party went and left the path, everything went dark, and the party got separated, so now Bilbo’s in the pitch black forest by himself listening to the dwarves cry for help. Eldest had such a battle between her sleepiness and her desire to find out what happens next. And she’s asked me about 3,000 questions about Gollum. She’s really into it.
I am feeling very nostalgic now. I read the Hobbit to my younger when she was maybe about 7. She loved it. My elder actually received the copy from her “Secret Buddy” at church, and I suspected it was one of his favorite belongings, ever, but she wasn’t into it. We watch LOTR movies, all 3 of them, as comfort together. I was sick as a dog on New Year’s Eve and couldn’t go out or do anything fun, and we snuggled together and watched Return of the King. It was kind of perfect.
When Elizabeth at Half-Changed World recommended Manga, I couldn’t find any in our library, but DID find the c. 1990 graphic novelization of the Hobbit. The kids LOVED IT. We’re doing Harry Potter right now, but I haven’t forgotten that I want to read the ‘real’ Hobbit sometime this year.
I’m also re-reading LOTR for myself. I went to the bookstore to buy new paperbacks to replace my packed-away falling-apart 1984 editions, and ended up coming out with a beautiful single-volume hardback edition instead. I’m resisting the geek urge to compare this latest “authoritative” version with the red-leather version I bought myself 15 years ago….