All Woods Must Fail

For this next blog, I really wanted to return to the world of JRR Tolkien to simply examine his poetic excerpts from works like The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and see all that they have to offer outside the context of the story and what overall message they have for each of us to hear. When trying to decide which poem to pick, I found one that truly relates to my life at this moment, caught up in the entangled branches of work, school, friends, family, and anything else that might get thrown my way. Tolkien’s All Woods Must Fail seems to speak to this very concept, recognizing the weariness of the wooded world that we all get lost in at some point in our lives, while at the same time providing the glimmer of hope that an end to our troubles will one day come and we will be able to leave the shadowed world of woods far behind. The poem is taken from The Lord of the Rings and serves as an encouraging thought to the hobbits, who are nearing the end of the Old Forest that they have been lost in. It opens by saying, “O! Wanderers in the shadowed land/Despair not! For though dark they stand, All woods there be must end at last”. While the context in which this poem is derived from is from a very literal interpretation and standpoint, I believe that Tolkien’s writing transcends past the story to take on a metaphorical and even biblical interpretation. Frodo and company may have been literal wanderers through the forest, but for the rest of us throughout daily life, we have our own forests that have heavy shadows cast over them. Whether it’s the bustling hallways of a crowded high school, the narrow side-by-side cubicles in a resented job, or even our own homes at times, we all know scarily well the places where the light is shut out and we are trapped by our own surroundings of darkness. In these times, the world seems like a cruel, bitter, and cold place, but Tolkien fervently writes to reminds us that this is not the end, that to “all woods there be must end at last/and see the open sun go past”. Through these words, a Biblical interpretation could be validated, not surprising since Tolkien himself was a fervent Christian. From the start, the “shadowed land” could refer to our own world plagued with sin and death, where so many wander aimlessly without the knowledge of God and those that do know him are constantly beaten down by the world and work to their full extent to cast aside the encroaching shadows. But there is still hope with the coming of the “open sun”, referring not only to the physical light to cast away darkness, but also to the coming of Christ that is to wipe all shadows from the earth. Even if it may be difficult to see, there is an end to the woods, and because of that knowledge of what is at the end of the woods we cannot let ourselves be trapped by the forest, but pursue our way through it, and charge headlong to the end where the sun can be revealed in all its glory. Tolkien ends the poem almost prophetically, pronouncing, “For east or west all woods must fail”. Again, here is a beacon of hope to those trapped within their own forests, reminding them that all woods must fail and give way to the open fields where the sun shines brightly across a clear blue sky. For that reason, we must remember that all woods must fail.

 

 

All Woods Must Fail

by J R R Tolkien

O! Wanderers in the shadowed land
Despair not! For though dark they stand,
All woods there be must end at last,
And see the open sun go past:
The setting sun, the rising sun,
The day's end, or the day begun.
For east or west all woods must fail.