Wruxled in White by Lindariel
Fanwork Notes
This is a parody of an academic "Research Note."
Fanwork Information
Summary: I did the entire "Words of Wit and Whimsey" bingo card. Major Characters: Gandalf Major Relationships: Genre: Experimental, Humor, Poetry Challenges: Words of Wit and Wisdom Rating: General Warnings: |
|
Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 202 |
Posted on 30 March 2021 | Updated on 30 March 2021 |
This fanwork is complete. |
Wruxled in White
Read Wruxled in White
This recently discovered poem fragment in the Anglo-Saxon alliterative style may have formed part of a longer work, now lost, about the Istari at the end of the Third Age.
Once-grey waistcoat, now walnut stained,
warms though winter wallops the wild.
Watching world with waggle of beard,
whiskered as walrus, his wain he steers
through water's walm at wane of night.
Wants not for a wick white smoke to taste.
Heavy of haft, whole shells agleam,
wampum1 wields he, waiting for chance
to wallop if wasp should wander near.
Gandalf Greyhame, gangly booted
warlock, wandreth wruxled in white.2
1 Some have tentatively identified this hapax legomena as Early Primitive Elvish, a combination of njwamat (community, eating collectively) and pumu (a bubble or other hollow space). They have not, however, explained why one would use a dining room to swat a wasp. Others are content to assume it is simply an unusual weapon, decorated with shells and possibly flexible like a flyswatter.
2 Burrow, Morris, Gordon, and Tolkien all differ on the actual meaning of wruxled. Indeed, Tolkien himself posited different definitions over the years. This particular use by the Professor, however, seems to align with his own last-published interpretation of the word by referring to Olórin Redux as "transformed into white."
Chapter End Notes
The word "wruxled" appears in two 14th century poems, "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and "Cleanness" (aka "Purity"). There is academic disagreement about what it meant. Being a Tolkien geek, I went with his opinion.
(1) Comment by Himring for Wruxled in White
Excellent and great fun, a worthy tribute to the Professor!
Re: (1) Comment by Himring for Wruxled in White
Thanks so much! I hadn't even intended to do this challenge, but I'd been reading some of his early poetry and this just came cascading out. By the Powers, such a lot of dubyas!!!
How delightful! I love how…
How delightful! I love how you've worked in not only the W words, but also Anglo-Saxon, poetry, and academia. Very Tolkien!
Thanks so much! That's…
Thanks so much! That's exactly what I was aiming for.
I learned the basics of Anglo-Saxon poetry from Arden Smith at a lecture he gave when the Beowulf book came out; writing this piece sort of made it all come full circle for me.
You may already know that…
You may already know that your poem has been featured in a themed collection on alliterative verse (deservedly!) but I wanted to give you a heads-up, if you did not:
https://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/node/7843