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Bilbo's Last Song 1

Bilbo's Last Song (at the Grey Havens) is a poem by J.R.R. Tolkien, published as a short book as of 1990.

Text[]

Day is ended, dim my eyes,
but journey long before me lies.
Farewell, friends! I hear the call.
The ship's beside the stony wall.
Foam is white and waves are grey;
beyond the sunset leads my way.
Foam is salt, the wind is free;
I hear the rising of the Sea.

Farewell, friends! The sails are set,
the wind is east, the moorings fret.
Shadows long before me lie,
beneath the ever-bending sky,
but islands lie behind the Sun
that I shall raise ere all is done;
lands there are to west of West,
where night is quiet and sleep is rest.

Guided by the Lonely Star,
beyond the utmost harbour-bar
I'll find the havens fair and free,
and beaches of the Starlit Sea.
Ship, my ship! I seek the West,
and fields and mountains ever blest.
Farewell to Middle-earth at last.
I see the Star above your mast!

History[]

Bilbo's Last Song was given by Tolkien as a gift to his secretary Joy Hill in 1966. After Tolkien's death in 1973, Hill showed the poem to Donald Swann, who liked the poem so much that he set it to music and included it in the second edition of The Road Goes Ever On in 1978.[citation needed] The poem was also illustrated by Pauline Baynes, and published as a poster in 1974. In 1990, the text was finally published in book form, re-illustrated by Baynes.[1] Its original publisher was Houghton Mifflin, then Allen & Unwin in 1992, and then by Dragonfly Books in 1992.[2] and a few others like Riverwood Publishing Inc.[3]

Bilbo Baggins sings the poem at the harbour of the Grey Havens[4], as he is about to set sail on the sea following the Straight Road to the Undying Lands. Although it was never written in The Grey Havens, The Lord of the Rings' last chapter, this places the reading of this poem by Bilbo at this point in the story.

The song is included in the BBC's 1981 radio version of The Lord of the Rings, with the music performed by Stephen Oliver. John Le Mesurier, who plays Bilbo[5] chants the first verse but not the second verse, and the third verse was sung by a boy in soprano.[citation needed]

There is no reference to the song in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). The film's distributor, New Line Cinema, was probably not licensed to use the poem as necessitated by the applicable copyright laws. The movie's closing credits are accompanied by the original song "Into the West", sung by Annie Lennox, meant to have similar emotional resonance.

Trivia[]

Notably, the original version of the poem presented to Joy Hill ends with the words "your mast", whereas in Pauline Baynes' illustrated poster, it instead ends with the words "my mast". This could be an error on Baynes' part.

J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium

References[]

External link[]

Translations[]

Foreign Language Translated name
Afrikaans Bilbo se laaste liedjiee
Albanian Kënga e Fundit e Bilbos
Amharic ቢልቦ የመጨረሻው ዘፈን
Arabic أغنية بيلبو الأخيرة
Armenian Բիլբո-ի վերջին երգը
Azerbaijani Bilboın Son Şarkısı
Belarusian Cyrillic Більба Апошняя песня
Bengali বিল্ব এর শেষ গান
Bosnian Bilbova posljednja pjesma
Bulgarian Cyrillic Последната песен на Билбо
Catalan Cançó darrera de Bilbo
Chinese 比尔博的最后一首歌
Croatian Bilbova posljednja pjesma
Czech Poslední píseň Bilbo
Danish Bilbos sidste sang
Dutch Bilbo's Laatste Lied
Esperanto La lasta kanto de Bilbo
Estonian Bilbo viimane laul
Finnish Bilbon viimeinen laulu
French La dernière chanson de Bilbon
Frisian Bilbo's Lêst Liet
Galician Última Canción de Bilbo
Georgian ბილბოს უკანასკნელი სიმღერა
German Bilbos Abschiedslied
Greek Το τελευταίο τραγούδι του Μπίλμπο
Gujarati બિલ્બોની છેલ્લી ગીત
Hawaiian Ke Mele hope loa o Bilbo
Hebrew השיר האחרון של בילבו
Hindi बिलबो का अंतिम गीत
Hmong Bilbo tag los zaj kwv txhiaj
Hungarian Bilbo utolsó dala
Icelandic Síðasta söngur Bilbo
Indonesian Lagu terakhir Bilbo's
Irish Gaelic An t-amhrán Deireanach de Bilbo
Italian L'ultima canzone di Bilbo
Japanese ビルボの最後の歌
Javanese Lagu Terakhir Bilbo
Kannada ಬಿಲ್ಬೋನ ಕೊನೆಯ ಹಾಡು
Kazakh Билбоның соңғы әні (Cyrillic) Bïlbonıñ soñğı äni (Latin)
Korean 빌보의 마지막 노래
Kyrgyz Cyrillic Билбао акыркы ыр
Latvian Bilbo pēdējā dziesma
Lithuanian Bilbo paskutinė daina
Macedonian Cyrillic Последната песна на Билбо
Malaysian Lagu terakhir Bilbo's
Maltese Bilbo-aħħar kanzunetta
Mongolian Cyrillic Билбогийн сүүлчийн дуу
Nepalese बिबोबोको अन्तिम गीत
Norwegian Bilbos siste sang
Persian آخرین آهنگ بیلبو
Polish Ostatnia piosenka Bilbo
Portuguese Última canção de Bilbo
Punjabi ਬਿਲਬੋ ਦੇ ਆਖਰੀ ਗੀਤ
Romanian Ultima melodie a lui Bilbo
Russian Последняя песня Бильбо
Scottish Gaelic An t-òran mu dheireadh aig Bilbo
Serbian Билбоова последња песма (Cyrillic) Bilboova poslednja pesma (Latin)
Sindhi بلبو جو آخري گيت ?
Sinhalese බිල්බො ගේ අවසාන ගීතය
Slovak Bilboovej Posledný Pieseň
Slovenian Bilbojeva zadnja pesem
Somalian Bilbo gabaygii ugu dambeeyay
Spanish La última canción de Bilbo
Sundanese Bilbo urang Song Tukang
Swahili Wimbo wa mwisho wa Bilbo
Swedish Bilbos sista sång
Tajik Cyrillic Суруди охирини Билбо
Tamil பில்வோவின் கடைசி பாடல்
Telugu బిలబో స్ చివరి సాంగ్
Thai เพลงสุดท้ายของบิลโบ
Turkish Bilbo 'nun son şarkısı
Ukrainian Cyrillic Остання пісня Більбо
Urdu سروہی کی آخری گیت
Uzbek Билбо нинг сўнгги қўшиғи (Cyrillic) Bilbo ning so'nggi qo'shig'i (Latin)
Vietnamese Bilbo của bài hát cuối
Welsh Cân olaf Bilbo
Yiddish בילבאָ ס לעצט ליד
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