I am having some difficulties in an attempt to understand the meaning of the sentence:
Of many companies of bells that ring
Rousing pale visions of majestic days
The windy years have strewn down different ways;
And in the halls still doth thy spirit sing
Songs of old memory amid thy present tears,
Or hope of days to come half sad with many fears.
Can someone phrase this sentence differently (particularly the last four lines), but so as to lose as less as possible of the original exact meaning?
According to the link this is from the Book of Lost Tales which means that it is a very early work of Tolkien's. I would describe it as "6 lines of verse"it is not a full sentence, nor is it a separate stanza or other separate section of the poem "The City of Present Sorrow" (Thank you Weather Vane for the link).
The full sentence is 8 lines or verse, specifically:
Thy thousand pinnacles and fretted spires
Are lit with echoes and lambent fires
Of many companies of bells that ring
Rousing pale visions of majestic days
The windy years have strewn down different ways;
And in thy walls still doth thy spirit sing
Songs of old memory amid thy present tears,
Or hope of days to come half-sad with many fears.
Note that verse in general often uses unusual grammatical forms to achieve mete and rhyme, as well as brevity (compressed meaning). Early verse by J.R.R. Tolkien in particular tends to use outdated forms and words, and unusual syntax. I do not advise a learner to imitate this verse as an example, much as I admire Tolkien's writing. All that said, I will attempt to recast the verse into prose, trying to preserve meaning.
[The unnamed city is being addressed as it it were a person] Your many towers are filled with lanterns and with echos of many bells. The ringing of those bells evokes dim images of past items of greatness which images the years have left along your various paths and streets. In your walls your spirit still sings songs which either recall old events, even as you cry from your current sadness, or else the songs express hope for the future, although that hope is saddened by many sources of fear.
I suspect, partly from references in other parts of the poem, and partly from what nI know of JRRT's history, that this is intended to be an image of Oxford during World War I. But I am not sure of that, and the question did not ask for literary analysis in any case. If there is remaining unclarity, please indicate this in a comment.
It seems that some of your confusion may be due to the fact that the last few sentences contain some Old English, like "thy" and "doth", some unusual sentence structures, as well as line breaking in odd places (common in poetry).
Thy thousand pinnacles and fretted spires
Are lit with echoes and the lambent fires
Of many companies of bells that ring
Rousing pale visions of majestic days
The windy years have strewn down different ways;
And in the halls still doth thy spirit sing
Songs of old memory amid thy present tears,
Or hope of days to come half sad with many fears.
Here is the excerpt put all together to show what goes with what, and what phrases refer to others.
Thy thousand pinnacles and fretted spires are lit with echoes, and the lambent fires of many companies of bells that ring, rousing pale visions of majestic days the windy years have strewn down different ways; and in the halls still doth thy spirit sing songs of old memory amid thy present tears, or hope of days to come, half sad with many fears.
Next, I remove the Old English and replace it with modern words.
Your thousand pinnacles and fretted spires are lit with echoes, and the lambent fires of many companies of bells that ring, rousing pale visions of majestic days the windy years have strewn down different ways; and in the halls your spirit still sings songs of old memory amid your present tears, or hope of days to come, half sad with many fears.
The full thing should be much easier to interpret now, without the need for complete rewording.
That part of the stanza can be seen as two sentences, broken by the semicolon. As one sentence the first can be clarified with some phrasing and added words.
Thy thousand pinnacles / and fretted spires / are lit with / echoes and lambent fires / of many companies of bells that ring / rousing pale visions of majestic days / [which] the windy years have strewn down different ways.
The second
And in thy walls / still doth thy spirit / sing songs of old memory / amid thy present tears, or [songs of] hope of days to come / half-sad with many fears.
What it means exists in the mind of the reader, but can perhaps be inferred from its title "The City of Present Sorrow."
