All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.
J. R. R. Tolkien The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, ch. 10 (1954)
Source checked by an editor
When and why it was written
- When
- Published in 1954, the full verse from Gandalf's letter.
- Why
- The complete poem, of which the 'not all those who wander' line is one part.
What it means
Four parallel corrections, each denying that a surface signal is reliable: glitter, direction, age, exposure.
The last image is the strongest. Deep roots are not reached by the frost is a claim about where durability is located, which is precisely where it cannot be inspected.
Read the source
The Fellowship of the Ring, 1954
Book links go to Amazon. Affiliate disclosure.
Your turn
What does this bring up for you?
Saved to this device only. Nothing is sent to a server.