Author: lfsaldenbirch

Women Writers Project

lfsaldenbirch

I’m packed and on my way to the Introduction to TEI conference of the Women Writers’ Project.  These folks are bringing pre-Victorian literature by women out into the digital age.  By careful planning, they are working collaboratively with scholars everywhere to establish the standards for text encoding protocols.  As an independent scholar, I’m grateful to be a scholarship attendee at the conference!  Will I see you there?

Luck

lfsaldenbirch ,

Our lucky hobbit is keeping us on our toes…  I have always been curious about “the unexpected luck of widow’s sons” – is it a fairy tale reference?  Is there a frisson of Freemasonry referred to?  I do not find “unlucky” or “unluckily” in the text.

A graph of the frequency of words based on chance, fate, fortune, and luck may be found here.

  • 1.017 and the unexpected luck of widows’ sons?
  • 1.099 and have all the bad luck you like,
  • 1.123 (I was one luckily –
  • 1.132 Your father went away to try his luck
  • 2.112 very luckily,
  • 2.125 if we’re lucky,
  • 4.002 (which was lucky),
  • 5.057 Bilbo was saved by pure luck.
  • 5.069 who had luckily just taken his hand out again.
  • 6.033 and that is lucky.
  • 6.059 Luckily it was warm
  • 7.011 and good luck I have done it.
  • 7.127 you must depend on your luck
  • 7.142 That depends on your luck
  • 7.151 and with a tremendous slice of luck you may come out one day
  • 8.002 that had the luck to slip
  • 8.002 and still more luck
  • 8.032 cursing their ill luck,
  • 8.065 when Dori stumbled across him by sheer luck.
  • 8.075 It was lucky that he had come to his senses
  • 8.080 and by luck
  • 8.102 but luckily not a proper web,
  • 8.104 if a spider had not luckily left a rope hanging down;
  • 8.125 as well as luck
  • 9.025 for he saw that luck was with him
  • 9.025 Luck of an unusual kind was with Bilbo then.
  • 9.058 and he wondered if he would die of it before the luck turned,
  • 9.059 The luck turned all right before long:
  • 9.060 Luckily he was very light,
  • 9.064 Luckily there was no sun at the time to cast an awkward shadow,
  • 10.003 he had been more lucky than he had guessed.
  • 11.018 Luckily for him that was not true,
  • 12.002 and if I may say so possessed of good luck
  • 12.004 Perhaps I have begun to trust my luck
  • 12.008 After a while Balin bade Bilbo ‘Good luck!’
  • 12.033 Luckily they had saved enough of their stores
  • 12.037 on some new turn of luck
  • 12.044 and blessed the luck of his ring.
  • 12.052 I was chosen for the lucky number.’
  • 12.053 But lucky numbers don’t always come off.’
  • 12.063 you will be lucky.’
  • 12.066 Mr. Lucky Number
  • 12.079 Luckily the whole head
  • 13.013 and have a look round before the luck turns.’
  • 13.040 and we have tempted luck too long!’
  • 18.014 I began to wonder if even your luck would see you through!
  • 18.039 and good luck,
  • 19.047 and escapes were managed by mere luck,

Round

lfsaldenbirch , ,

Word fan Feor Hund asked that I give priority to the word “round” and I’m happy to do so!  It makes a delightful graph and is used 112 times in the work.  The peak in Chapter 6 seems to be caused by wargs going “round and round” the trees as Bilbo and his friends jump out of the frying pan and into the fire.  this graph peaks at just over 3.5 “round” words per thousand

Round

  • 1.002 It had a perfectly round door
  • 1.002 as all the people for many miles round called it –
  • 1.002 and many little round doors opened out of it,
  • 1.002 deep-set round windows looking over his garden,
  • 1.021 and scuttled inside his round green door,
  • 1.036 to fetch two beautiful round seed-cakes
  • 1.043 while the four dwarves sat round the table,
  • 1.047 on a round of buttered scones,
  • 1.060 with the thirteen dwarves all round:
  • 1.068 while the hobbit was turning round
  • 1.068 and round
  • 1.068 or round
  • 1.068 and round the ceiling;
  • 1.110 of the Country Round with all his favourite walks
  • 1.124 here Thorin stroked the gold chain round his neck –
  • 1.140 and have a look round.
  • 2.022 round the corner of the road from the village.
  • 2.030 never turning round or taking any notice of the hobbit.
  • 2.038 They have seldom even heard of the king round here,
  • 2.043 Three very large persons sitting round
  • 2.050 and William turned round at once
  • 2.060 “P’raps there are more like him round about,
  • 2.071 and his head was going round;
  • 3.002 looking at it with round eyes.
  • 3.011 and the others gathered round him
  • 4.009 “not far round the next corner;
  • 4.021 Round and round far underground
  • 4.021 Round and round far underground
  • 4.025 and armed goblins were standing round him
  • 4.044 many many feet which seemed only just round the last corner.
  • 4.048 They came scurrying round the corner
  • 5.004 and feeling all round himself for matches
  • 5.012 except for two big round pale eyes
  • 5.039 and the answer was all round him any way.
  • 5.134 he saw, filtering round another corner –
  • 6.056 for there were howls all round them now,
  • 6.058 yelping all round the tree
  • 6.059 with wolves all round below waiting for you,
  • 6.064 with wolves all round on the ground below.
  • 6.064 and then rushed round
  • 6.064 and round the circle
  • 6.069 and slowly circling ever round
  • 6.069 and round they came down,
  • 6.070 All round the clearing of the Wargs fire was leaping.
  • 6.070 and howling round the trunks,
  • 6.072 and brushwood round the tree-trunks.
  • 6.072 Others rushed round
  • 6.072 all round the dwarves,
  • 6.072 dancing round
  • 6.072 and round
  • 6.072 in a circle like people round a midsummer bonfire.
  • 6.099 and the figures of the dwarves round it cooking
  • 7.005 for they began to go down circling round
  • 7.019 The dwarves all gathered round
  • 7.030 There is a gate somewhere round this way.’
  • 7.051 and Dori came round the house
  • 7.093 in rolling round drum-shaped sections of logs,
  • 7.097 The dwarves were sitting cross-legged on the floor round the fire,
  • 7.116 dodging round the pillars of the hall,
  • 7.120 dancing slow heavy dances round
  • 7.120 and round
  • 7.125 and they followed round the house.
  • 7.150 is there no way round?’
  • 7.151 Before you could get round Mirkwood
  • 7.151 Before you could get round it
  • 8.005 in the darkness round them,
  • 8.006 and hundreds of eyes all round them,
  • 8.006 flapping and whirring round their ears.
  • 8.040 and have a look round.
  • 8.042 he saw all round him a sea of dark green,
  • 8.044 all round like the edges of a great bowl,
  • 8.050 but to tighten the belts round their empty stomachs,
  • 8.058 they peered round the trunks
  • 8.058 to some of the trees round about;
  • 8.073 Bilbo found himself running round
  • 8.073 and round
  • 8.073 while people he could not see or feel were doing the same all round him
  • 8.075 as it struggled to wind its abominable threads round
  • 8.075 and round him.
  • 8.087 Just coming round again,
  • 8.099 in a thick fence of them all round him –
  • 8.106 that bound him round,
  • 8.107 wound round
  • 8.107 and round with only his nose to breathe through.
  • 8.112 round old Bombur
  • 8.114 and hundreds of angry spiders were goggling at them all round
  • 8.115 to weave their webs all round them again
  • 8.128 and looked round at them.
  • 9.001 of many torches all round them,
  • 9.038 running round putting the finishing touches to the packing,
  • 9.046 Then they drank once round
  • 9.052 began to sing a song round the river-door.
  • 9.055 the barrel rolled round
  • 10.001 After a while the river rounded a steep shoulder of land
  • 10.009 and towed away round the high shoulder of rock
  • 10.045 and ponies had been sent round by circuitous paths
  • 11.037 and drew the key on its chain from round his neck.
  • 12.027 or fly whirling round
  • 12.031 as he hunted round
  • 12.031 and round the mountain-sides.
  • 13.011 Faint echoes ran round the unseen hall,
  • 13.013 and have a look round before the luck turns.’
  • 13.048 and round a wide-sweeping turn –
  • 13.051 and round
  • 13.067 There were several places like it round the Mountain.
  • 14.015 and round again,
  • 16.017 when he missed his footing on a round stone
  • 17.031 round the eastern spur of the Mountain
  • 17.048 round the spur’s end
  • 17.062 in the gloom Bilbo looked round.
  • 18.023 about their lords upon a low rounded hill.
  • 18.043 and round its northern end
  • 19.035 were thick round the door,

Fortune

lfsaldenbirch ,

A graph of the frequency of words based on chance, fate, fortune, and luck may be found here.  “Fortune” occurs most frequently as “fortunately”.

  • 2.030 Fortunately the road went over an ancient stone bridge,
  • 5.004 nor fortunately had the goblins noticed it,
  • 5.034 Fortunately he had once heard something rather like this before,
  • 5.039 Unfortunately for Gollum
  • 7.022 nor rug, cape, tippet, muff, nor any other such unfortunate word!
  • 8.108 fortunately on to leaves,
  • 8.145 he began to wonder what had become of his unfortunate friends.
  • 9.030 and fortunately not far from the cellars.
  • 10.003 that he was very fortunate
  • 12.079 It was an unfortunate remark,
  • 16.026 which fortunately I believe I have kept.’
  • 18.031 May it bring good fortune to all his folk that dwell here after!’

Chance

lfsaldenbirch ,

A graph of the frequency of words based on chance, fate, fortune, and luck may be found here.

  • 1.005 something that only waited for a chance to come out.
  • 1.005 The chance never arrived,
  • 1.006 By some curious chance
  • 2.117 in case they ever had the chance to come back
  • 3.043 though really there had not been a chance before,
  • 5.043 Give us a chance;
  • 5.043 let it give us a chance,
  • 5.044 after giving him a long chance,
  • 5.049 I gave you a good long chance just now.’
  • 8.046 and waiting for a chance drip to fall
  • 8.057 no one seemed anxious to run the chance of being lost
  • 8.124 and they had a chance to rest
  • 9.011 until a chance came of returning.
  • 9.013 and taking what chances he could,
  • 9.025 and he had a chance at once to try his desperate plan.
  • 9.028 and this is our last chance.
  • 9.051 even if there had been a chance!
  • 9.051 he had precious small chance of ever finding the dwarves again.
  • 9.058 and whether he should risk the chance of letting go
  • 9.062 if he got the chance,
  • 10.011 and help me get the others out while there is a chance!’
  • 11.033 Quickly, trembling lest the chance should fade,
  • 13.033 while they had the chance,
  • 13.069 We must take our chance of that,’
  • 17.060 partly because there was more chance of escape from that point,

If Chance We Call it…

lfsaldenbirch

I’ve been waiting a long time to make this chart of some very special common words.  These are every permutation of “chance”, “luck”, “fate”, and “fortune” found in The Hobbit, from “lucky” to “unfortunately”.  We see some when Bilbo finds the ring, yet more when he brags to Smaug about being named Luck-Wearer and Lucky Number.

Luck

Highest peak of all, however, is in Chapter 9.

[09.025] When he heard this Bilbo was all in a flutter, for he saw that luck was with him and he had a chance at once to try his desperate plan.  He followed the two elves, until they entered a small cellar and sat down at a table on which two large flagons were set.  Soon they began to drink and laugh merrily. Luck of an unusual kind was with Bilbo then.  It must be potent wine to make a wood-elf drowsy; but this wine, it would seem, was the heady vintage of the great gardens of Dorwinion, not meant for his soldiers or his servants, but for the king’s feasts only, and for smaller bowls not for the butler’s great flagons.

This graph peaks at three-and-a-half words per thousand, and I note with interest that Chapter 15 has no luck, ill or otherwise, about it.  The threatened war between those who should be allies was entirely their own will.  Now… I’ve lumped “fate” with “luck” here.  Is fate not something to do with the will of divinity?  or with the poetic demands of Story?  Much has been written and more will be – I invite comments, particularly with links to your own work.

Thanks for Coming!

lfsaldenbirch

Last Saturday, I had a ball chatting with The Tolkien Professor and Dave Kale about digital humanities, scholarly collaboration, and words analysis of The Hobbit.  During our broadcast, we raised about $3K for Signum University, and I’m tickled pick that the folks in the audience enjoyed our word-geekery as much as Dave and I did.

Thank you for attending, sending in your questions, and best of all, participating in the little graph-guessing game that I created.  My next task is to put up those words we graphed and add them to the concordance.

Want to watch the show?