Talk:Bagme Bloma

GA Review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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This review is transcluded from Talk:Bagme Bloma/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Artem.G (talk · contribs) 19:29, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Happy to review this article! Artem.G (talk) 19:29, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Many thanks! Chiswick Chap (talk) 19:47, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Comments:

Lead

• is the only Gothic poem in the 1936 Songs for the Philologists, and indeed the only such poem in existence. - reads a bit clunky for me. Maybe something like "is the Gothic poem in the 1936 collection called Songs for the Philologists, and the only Gothic poem ever written"? My main concern is with indeed the only such poem in existence
  • It's correct, even elegant in British English, which I guess is a fault in an encyclopedia. I've simplified it.

• It was to be sung to the tune of "Lazy Sheep" (by Mantle Childe, after an old French air). - not in the text
  • Moved, and cited.

Poem

• all good. maybe the number of verses could be mentioned?
  • Added.

Analysis

• Tolkien had to reconstruct some of the words he used from other Germanic languages, as little of the Gothic language survives - maybe link Linguistic reconstruction and Germanic languages
  • Linked.

• Luzius Thöny has analysed the grammar and meaning - Thöny needs an introduction. Same for Lucas Annear.
  • Glossed both.

• the poem stands out from others in the collection in its tone - how it stands out?
  • Extended.

Would continue later. Artem.G (talk) 19:29, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Continue:

Analysis

• Verlyn Flieger and Tom Shippey need introductions
  • Added.

• She notes that another poem in the collection, the Old English "Eadig Beo þu" ("Good Luck to You"), also concerns the Birch tree, and that both sing the tree's praises.[7] - "Eadig Beo þu" was also written by Tolkien?
  • Yes, said so.

• the table with Shippey's interpretation is good, though I think it would be better placed after the para that discusses this interpretation
  • Moved.

• He links this meaning to Smith of Wootton Major, noting that the name of the Master Cook, Nokes, in Middle English "*atten okes" ("at the Oaks"), is connected to the Oak tree. - is Master Cook, Nokes a hero of Smith of Wootton Major?
  • A character, yes. Said so.

• External links need to be fixed: [ Text, translation, audio recording, and commentary] on Glaemscrafu
  • Removed, as we've now used it as a source.

• Sources 3 and 4 are identical.
  • Merged.

Sources are ok, all quoted accordingly (I checked all except for Shippey, will try to find it later today). The only photo is tagged, so it's ok. Overall - nice little article, very close to GA. I tried to look for additional sources, but none were found. Once the comments above would be addressed, I'll promote the article. And thanks for another great Tolkien article, I never heard about him writing a Gothic poem! Artem.G (talk) 13:01, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

Many thanks for the review. Chiswick Chap (talk) 13:42, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for quick fixes! I've checked Shippey, all is good. Article is stable, no copyvio detected. The article is nice and solid, congratulations on one more Tolkien GA! Artem.G (talk) 10:33, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

levels of uniqueness

Should the only one ever written in the Gothic language be instead "the only one he [Tolkien] ever wrote in the Gothic language"? —Tamfang (talk) 00:54, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

No-one else has written one. Chiswick Chap (talk) 07:28, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

I edited out "the only one ever written in the Gothic language" because it seemed clearly incorrect, but User:Chiswick Chap has restored it noting that Verlyn Flieger appears to support the claim. However, I think it should still be removed, for a couple of reasons. First, what Flieger actually says is that Bagme Bloma is "the only poem extant in that dead and buried language by any hand" (p. 243, my emphasis), apprently based on Tom Shippey's statement that "The only extant Gothic poem is by Tolkien"([1]). This does not rule out that poems were composed in Gothic when it was a living langugage but are not extant today. Some scholars believe that Gothic oral poetry existed – Vittoria Dolcetti Corazza writes, "we have no written record in Gothic of the poetic heritage common to the Germanic peoples—and therefore also shared by the Goths—which was passed down orally from generation to generation" ("Gothic Literature", in The Oxford Handbook of the Literatures of the Roman Empire) – and even if it can somehow be known that no such poems were ever written down, Flieger and Shippey are not taking a position on that. Second, even the weaker claim that there is no other extant poetry in Gothic is wrong: Wikipedia at Gothic language#Others cites multiple examples, including by Hans Ferdinand Massmann from the 19th century. EmphasisMine (talk) 18:40, 30 November 2024 (UTC)

I wondered if Shippey meant "the only Gothic poem in the collection". The phrasing doesn't quite exclude that reading, which is certainly true. I suggest we simply add that wording, which the sources at least support, whatever Massmann may have written without the scholars' knowledge. Chiswick Chap (talk) 18:48, 30 November 2024 (UTC)