His Songs are Stronger Songs

Tolkien School Part 1: Reading, Camping, Remembering

A Read-Aloud Begins

I started reading The Lord of the Rings aloud to my children on September 22 of this year. They quickly connected references to The Red Book of Westmarch in Concerning Hobbits to the red cloth covers of my illustrated edition and are now begging me to read from “The Red Book”. A week ago I heard my son earnestly informing friends who have “only watched the movies” that “the books were written first.” Pretty good kids. They are learning what’s important! But in all seriousness I believe that a year (or a life) of “Tolkien School” is just what modern folks need. This post begins a series on what, in my humble opinion, would be included in Tolkien-inspired learning.

Tolkien School Begins

We left on a six night camping trip (with no cell service) a couple of days after starting The Fellowship of the Ring. My mom, who first read Tolkien to me, joined in on the read-aloud fun. You could say she played Strider, telling the old stories by firelight. Each night as our family snuggled down to sleep in our utility trailer, I read a bit more. During the day, we went hiking and the kids observed their own Misty Mountains and splashed in their own Withywindle.

A camping trip in October for a “Tolkien School” kick-off is one of those benefits homeschoolers tell you about. It is also a ton of work, especially with a dog and a 10 month old. More than once I dreamed of writing a Substack post in my cozy hobbit hole with bacon and eggs sizzling in the kitchen. However, I can’t imagine a better setting for introducing these beloved books: hikes, cold mornings, campfires, tall trees: all the trappings of the hobbits’ journey into the wild.

On Remembering

We finished Book One and my kids are now fully engaged in the story. Their favorite chapter so far has been Fog on the Barrow Downs. They spontaneously memorized the song Tom taught the hobbits before they left his house, the song Frodo used to summon Tom after encountering the barrow wights.

Ho! Tom Bombadil, Tom Bombadilo!

By water, wood and hill, by the reed and willow.

By fire, sun and moon, harken now and hear us!

Come Tom Bombadil for our need is near us.

Before this reading, I had not noticed a little echo of the Breastplate of Saint Patrick in Tom’s protective song:

I arise today, through the strength of Heaven:

light of Sun,

brilliance of Moon,

splendor of fire..

I wonder if this was intentional on Tolkien’s part? Surely he knew this prayer! In any case, Frodo asks for the help of the natural elements to call Tom and Tom answers. He rescues the hobbits through song as well. He sings:

Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow

Bright blue his jacket is and his boots are yellow

None have ever caught him yet for Tom he is the master

His songs are stronger songs and his feet are faster

This thrilled my kids. Perhaps unexpected help for the helpless is an especially powerful theme for children. And rescue via “stronger songs” is astounding.

We read a couple of other books this year in which songs play a protective role. In the Princess and the Goblin, Curdie sings in the dark to keep the goblins away. In the Wingfeather Saga, Leeli holds back armies with her songs. Madeline L’Engle uses a poetic translation of the Breastplate of Saint Patrick as the means by which the children travel and escape danger in A Swiftly Tilting Planet. In all these books the characters must remember songs and prayers in order to call out rightly in time of need.

In contrast, forgetting leads to disaster in The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen. The Snow Queen kidnaps a little boy named Kay by getting him to clip his sled to her sleigh.

His little sled was tied on securely, and they went like the wind. He gave a loud shout, but nobody heard him. The snow whirled and the sleigh flew along. Every now and then it gave a jump, as if it were clearing hedges and ditches. The boy was terror-stricken. He tried to say his prayers, but all he could remember was his multiplication tables. (Emphasis mine.)

Anderson implies that help might have come if only Kay could have remembered his prayers rather than multiplication tables. Frodo remembers the song of help that Tom taught him, but the other hobbits do not. If not for Frodo’s intercession, Sam, Pippin, and Merry would have been turned into wights themselves.

Are these stronger songs just the stuff of stories? I do not think so. When we memorize the good, true, and beautiful ourselves and with our children, we help push back the darkness. Paul and Silas were able to sing hymns in prison because they remembered!

But why memorize prayers, hymns, scripture, and, yes, poetry? Can’t we just use our own words to pray or sing in the moment? Perhaps. But I have found that my words are weak because my faith is weak. Over the centuries, others of great faith and great skill have written stronger songs-stronger than the devil’s lies and stronger than my words of little faith.

In my experience, spontaneous prayer is much harder than it sounds. When times are dark and my vision of reality is marred, true words do not spring up easily. What I repeat to God in prayer and to myself for encouragement day by day is what bubbles up in the face of trials. Will I say s*** or “Lord have mercy” when bad news arrives? I certainly can’t compose soul-touching music and theologically sound prayers on the spot!

Conclusion

By God’s grace my children are indeed learning their math facts and are developing mathematical reasoning (so they can understand the Shire calendar of course). Multiplication tables are good, but they are not sufficient. Therefore, pillar one of our Tolkien School is memorizing prayers, scripture, songs, and poetry.

Andrew Pudewa of The Institute for Excellent in Writing often speaks about the role that memorization of beautiful language plays in developing literacy as well as character. This might bring to mind dull repetition, but if singing songs, praying the prayers of the Church, and reciting poetry become a part of our family culture, memorization can happen spontaneously and joyously. There are many ways this happens in our family.

I have never required that my kids memorize any prayer or poem, but they have naturally memorized more than I imagined possible. We listened to songs by Clamavi de Profundis (a musical group that has put much of the poetry in the Lord of the Rings to music) until Far Over Misty Mountains Cold and The Lament for Boromir became fixtures in our family. We attend the services of our local Orthodox Church and the daily and yearly liturgical cycles bring us back through prayers and hymns until we know them by heart. I am amazed at what complicated language even little kids can remember when music is involved!

Tolkien attended Mass, prayed, and steeped himself in languages and poetry. Do you want to write (or just exist) like Tolkien? Take time to remember.

Do you have favorite songs, poems, prayers, or scriptures that remind you of truth? Share with us in the comments!

P.S. I am excited to have several series going now. I hope that this will help me to stay inspired and keep writing. Good strength friends!