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Commentary, Song of the Stars |
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(4) Still even then above his helm
Yet at his side Telumendil strode
Sky-friend holding two fair jewels
One of silver, one of gold.
It is not known for sure which constellation Telumendil is, but I suspect it to be Gemini from all the different clues I've found. Gemini is above and a bit to the left (east) of Orion. Its main stars are Pollux (a yellowish star) and Castor (silvery-blue). Telumendil, or Sky-friend, was put in the sky to be a companion to Orion, hence the phrase on line 2 "yet at his side." Another little sidenote: Castor is very interesting. Through binoculars or a telescope it looks like three stars, but it is in fact six stars, all rotating around each other in an intricate dance!
Anarríma near them was set -
The golden crown of Elbereth.
Another unknown constellation. Anarríma literally means "sun-border." It's supposed to have been put in the sky as sort of a reflection of the Sun, and, like Telumendil, it was placed above Menelvagil. There are many speculations on what it could be, most notably Corona Borealis. However, Corona Borealis is pretty faint, and it's anything but near Orion! So I prefer to think of Anarríma as the constellation Auriga, which is the only one near enough to Orion that could be seen as circular. It looks like a bright pentagon. Its main star, Capella, is the sixth-brightest star in the night sky, and even looks quite yellowish, as if it were a Sun-like jewel in the crown! For the word Elbereth, see the paragraph below.
(5) To hail the come of Menelvagil
Arise the Remmirath, the Netted Stars
Jewels blue as the sky by Anor's light
Woven by Varda's silver threads
The Remmirath are the Pleiades, a cluster of little stars that rises before Orion on a winter - or hrívë - night. Theyre blue - as blue as the sky in the daytime, as it says in line 3. Varda is one of the Valar (or shall I say, Valier), probably the most important to the Elves. Known as Elbereth or Elentári (Star-Queen in Sindarin and Quenya, respectively), and also Gilthoniel (Star-Kindler in Sindarin, I think), she is the one who set the stars in their places.
A sentinel against the might
Of the bull from the east, and his scarlet eye.
The Pleiades are in the constellation Taurus the Bull. Tolkien didn't write about Taurus as far as I know, so I've taken some artistic liberties here. I've never heard of a bull in Middle-Earth, but I thought that maybe they might live in the eastern lands. His scarlet eye is the red star Aldebaran. I suppose this line could hold sort of a double meaning for many of the free peoples of Middle Earth who lived when there was an ever-present threat from a certain Eye in the east.
(6) Ever swinging in the north
The Sickle of the Valar speaks
A mighty challenge to the dark
A sign of doom, a sign of hope.
The Wain, The Seven Butterflies
Valacirca reaps the fruit of the skies.
The Sickle of the Valar (Valacirca in Quenya) is what we know as the Big Dipper, in the constellation Ursa Major. This was a very important constellation, as it was put in the sky to be a challenge to Morgoth, a sign of doom to evil and of hope to Middle-Earth (Silmarillion Ch. 3). It is known by many names to the different people of Middle-Earth, most notably the Wain, or wagon, and the Seven Butterflies. "Ever swinging": The Big Dipper is very close to the North Star, so it's constantly above the horizon for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. Hope never fades.
(7) And round the sickle lightly flying
Drinking the nectar of the night
In the north and east it flitters-
Wilwarin, the Butterfly.
Wilwarin is our constellation Cassiopeia, which looks sort of like a W or an M in the sky. It's on the opposite side of the North Star from the Big Dipper. It's also about the same distance from the North Star, so (depending on where you live, of course) it never really dips below the horizon.
Her counterpart in lairë soars
Soronúmë, the Eagle lord.
Lairë is Quenya for summer. Soromúmë the Eagle is another uncertain constellation. The simplest guess, and the most commonly accepted, is that it's our Aquila the Eagle, a constellation that soars the skies in the summer (it lends it brightest star, Altair, to the Summer Triangle). Seems reasonable to me!
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