The Fall of Fingolfin | Fingolfinlantë
A poem in the skaldic meter inspired by my favorite scene from Tolkien's "Silmarillion"
In lieu of a story for April (National Poetry Month), I am sharing one of my poems that I wrote a few years ago. This is based entirely on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. I read it upon recommendation from my dad—who has been incredibly supportive of my writing—as he said it might help give me inspiration for worldbuilding. Although it is difficult to match Tolkien in terms of creating secondary worlds, it inspired me nonetheless. Completely on a whim one summer between sophomore and junior year of college, when I chose to focus entirely on writing, I wrote this poem inspired by the scene where Fingolfin fights Morgoth. I chose to write it in a meter used in Old Norse poetry known as Drókvætt which is also known as the skaldic meter. This particular meter is reserved for poems talking about heroes and kings, so I found it fitting for a legendary warrior such as Fingolfin.
Drókvætt is one of the more difficult meters of Old Norse poetry to write (the vide by Jackson Crawford linked below provides an explanation of how to write it along with a few other meters), so I wouldn't be surprised if an Old Norse skald pointed out some things I got wrong in my composition of this lay. Still, it is something I enjoyed writing and haven't quite found a good place to share it broadly considering it is a transformative fan piece rather than an original (all characters and places belong to the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien and all that).
“[Morgoth] cast a shadow over him like a stormcloud. But Fingolfin gleamed beneath it as a star…” The Silmarillion, J. R. R. Tolkien
Song-born son of Finwë Set forth to fight Morgoth, He bore his bright star high Blazing ‘neath ash-heath grim. Star-eyes stood at door-black Stoic, grand; Angband’s gate Loomed and leered o’er lad-grey, Lord of Noldor old. Gor! Iron-Tower grasped Grond fast; the hell-vast eyes Sought for some quick, bright Val’. Sword cut and chain warded, Lightning-star danced lightly Left seven wounds cleft ‘pon His foe—hatred hastened He fell to Grond’s three strikes. Fingolfin, Finwë’s Fair son was ensnared by Morgoth’s might of war black. ‘Mourn! O Mourn! Forlorn elves!’ The Eagle-king clawed deep Cutting mind-songs. What zeal Sent Song-born to meet doom? Sworn oaths to born-kin.
Thanks for reading this special poem for the end of National Poetry Month!
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Why haven’t I seen this poem before?! 😁 You did justice to Fingolfin’s epic battle with Morgoth, which was arguably the single most heroic act across the entire Tolkien universe.
I probably wasn’t reading it with the right cadence, so I’ll check out that video for some pointers. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the poem.
Loved it. Listened to the whole video on the skaldic meter.