Bilbo's Last Song: At the Grey Havens

I loved this little book, I'm in the middle of watching the extended versions of the Lord of the Ring triligie. So this was great light reading. It's acually a Song that Bilbo writes about leaving middle earth. He board an Elfish ship and sets sail for new lands. I love the song becasue it is all

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about sailing on the ocean!! I love Bilbos sense of adventure, hes the man!!!

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The illustrations are what turn this slight poem into a book- but even with the illustrations, it remains one of the lesser of Tolkien's poems. The pictures are dreamy, lovely, and evocative. Clearly illustrated by someone deeply familiar with JRRT, there's a certain reverence to each page. The

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poem itself is a little melancholy, a little overwrought- in other words, vintage Bilbo.

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This one is more about the artwork and how Bilbo recalls his adventures before leaving for Grey Havens with the elves at the end of Lord of the Rings.

This book is packed with more goodness inside than its size implies. Pauline Baynes created illustrations for the poem Bilbo wrote to commemorate his last adventure; the trip into the West with the elves. That's not all though. At the bottom of each page is a tiny picture to illustrate scenes from

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The Hobbit. That's not all though. The stanzas of the poem, one to a page, are surrounded by an illustration of various types of old withered trees, covered in wildlife and woodland creatures, and the first letter is illuminated beautifully. All of the illustrations are beautifully detailed with many lovely sights to discover. Tiny little jewels. At the end of the book, the quotations which inspired the illustrations are included, along with a bit of information about the pictures.

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What a delightful read this was, though the best part was the illustrations by Pauline Baynes, the same artist whose sketches adorned the original Narnia books. I especially liked how she told the story of The Hobbit at the bottom of each page while still illustrating Bilbo's final poem above, in

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the main portion. Nice little book.

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Read this with my daughters as a tribute to Tolkien on his twelfty-first birthday. I don't foresee reading it again (voluntarily).

"Bilbo's Last Song" is a poem that serves as a kind of epilogue to "The Lord of the Rings". In the end of that epic novel, Bilbo embarks on a journey to the Undying Lands. This poem is about the start of the journey from the Grey Havens, describing Bilbo's thoughts and feelings from his own point

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of view.
While there are a few Bilbo poems that to my mind are better than this one ("The Road Goes Ever On" or "I Sit Beside The Fire And Think"), this is still excellent in its simplicity. The words are clear and on point, and yet it is very moving and captures Bilbo's weariness and melancholy, accompanied by his hope and sense of adventure that is still lingering within him.
However, what makes this book special are actually the illustrations by Pauline Baynes. She was an illustrator favoured by Tolkien and is known for her illustrations of "The Chronicles of Narnia". She did the first illustration of the poem in 1974 when it was published as a poster.
The illustrations in this book are simply delightful! While each quartet of the poem is decorated with garlands and branches of different plants, there is a scene corresponding to it on the opposite page (for example, pictures of Bilbo in Rivendell, Bilbo and the elves riding through the forest, the ship waiting at the Grey Havens, Merry and Pippin arriving there to meet Frodo and Sam). On the bottom of each page, there is a small picture from "The Hobbit", thus showing Bilbo's first grand journey, which he might remember while he embarks on his last one.
These pictures are so lovely and full of vivid details! I think I will browse this small book time and time again just to look at them.

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By itself, the poem would merit three stars, but the illustrations are of such a superb quality, I had to bump up the rating. There's a great juxtaposition of scenes from Bilbo's original quest to the Lonely Mountain and his time in Rivendell - plus he looks so darn adorable.