Episode 117 Summary

[Tony Meade]

SESSION 117

Comment on Bilbo’s use of “Dúnedan”:

• Bilbo’s relationship with Aragorn is closer than it may seem, as Bilbo is confident enough to tease him about Arwen and relies on him for news from the Shire more than he does Gandalf.
• Gandalf even uses Bilbo’s “All that is gold” poem as a means of identifying Strider as Aragorn.
• Bilbo is the only one who uses the term “Dúnedan” consistently to address Aragorn. Glorfindel used it once, but only while speaking Elvish. Is this a form of teasing, too?
• It’s possible that Gandalf asked Aragorn to cultivate a friendship with Bilbo after he retired to Rivendell, and Aragorn would recognize what Bilbo achieved, vice Isildur, in giving up the Ring.
• Bilbo would have been in Rivendell for long enough on his return journey from Erebor back to the Shire to meet and befriend a ten-year-old Estel, which may have blossomed as an adult.
• Bilbo and Aragorn would likely be two of the only mortals who reside in Rivendell at this time.
• Bilbo is clearly friends with many of the Elves, but it is Aragorn who he asks for help with his poem, even though he’s planning to perform it for an Elvish audience.
• Aragorn likely has few friends outside of Rivendell and the Dúnedain, especially when taking on the Strider role, but it’s unlikely that he was as intimate with the others as he was with Bilbo.
• Note: Tolkien attempted to rewrite The Hobbit in the style of The Lord of the Rings in the 1960’s, with the additional lore, but it’s unknown if he planned to include Aragorn in Rivendell.
• Bilbo is one of the few, if any, people in The Lord of the Rings who doesn’t owe Aragorn fealty or familial loyalty in some way, as captain or king or otherwise. Bilbo is just his friend.

The Eärendil poem’s rhythm and rhyme:

• Note: The original “Errantry” poem was written to be intentionally funny and uses the intricate rhyme scheme as part of the comedy. By the time this version was written, the poem was much longer and needed to sustain that intricate rhyme scheme in a transparent way over many lines.
• The basic rhythm is iambic tetrameter, or “hobbit meter”, and is nearly regular throughout.
• Many of the lines have built-in pauses at the ends, but none within the middle of the lines.
• The first two sets of two lines is an independent clause, with a quatrain in the last four lines.
• The end rhymes are on the even numbered lines in pairs, and many are multisyllabic, including trisyllabic rhymes. There also slant-rhymes at the beginning of some monosyllabic rhymes.
• Note: Dr. Seuss was known for his hard, regular meters, and sometimes multisyllabic rhymes.
• There are also internal multisyllabic rhymes between the end of one line and the middle of the following lines. This makes three sets of rhymes within each quatrain.
• There is also a flavor of alliterations among the lines, though they are not always in proximity.
• Note: The way this meter and rhyme scheme was adapted from comedy to epic poetry is similar to the way a film composer may take a theme and change the context based on arrangement.

The origin story of Eärendil:

• The use of the word “tarried” shows that Arvernien is not where Eärendil was from. It implies that he was not only there temporarily, but that he may have stayed there overlong.
• The message of this first clause is to show the homelessness of Eärendil, which is part of the theme of the poem. Ultimately his home is his ship and the Sea.
• Note: Elrond and Elros were those who eventually lived in Arvernien after Eärendil’s departure.
• Note: It’s important that the place names like Arvernien and Nimbrethil were unknown to the original readers, as The Silmarillion and its maps were not available at the time, and we are not told anything about them in the poem. We are then left to determine their significance through implication, such as the quality of timber in Nimbrethil, which gives an air of mystery. These are a kind of “textual ruin”, where we are not aware of the references the characters know.
• The proper names used are not created for the purposes rhyme scheme, as he did in “Errantry”. These are names in Tolkien’s invented languages and pre-existed this poem.
• Note: There is no context given for the swan-prow boats, as these are not explained in The Lord of the Rings, though these are prominent in The Silmarillion among the Elves of the Teleri.
• The light laid upon the banners possibly refers to the material or design that was used on them.

Eärendil’s arms and armor:

• The rhythm is deliberately simple and regular to support the complicated rhyme schemes.
• Note: C.S. Lewis noted that Alice is kept a simple, ordinary child in comparison to the weird characters in Wonderland, so that the contrast stands out. This is a similar technique.
• The internal rhymes help to drive the pace forward, while each quatrain wraps up a thought.
• The end rhymes echo each other and provide closure for the subjects of the internal rhymes.
• There is a sense of the antiquity of the armor, and that its ancientry makes it superior armor.
• It is not unusual for horn to be used to make a bow, but the use of dragon-horn would imbue it with some unknown special qualities. This implies that this was from an unknown slain dragon.
• The eagle-plume would be associated as a symbol of Manwë and would be on his helmet crest.
• Note: Many readers are exposed to words like “chalcedony” and “habergeon” for the first time in this poem. Chalcedony is a kind of quartz stone, and a habergeon is a short mail shirt.
• The use of the word “silver” to describe his mail shirt refers to the coloring, not the material.
• Note: It is unlikely that “silver” refers to mithril, given the distance to Khazad-dûm at the time. At the time of this writing, mithril had yet to be invented, and would first come up in Moria. Later versions of The Silmarillion and The Hobbit will use it, after The Lord of the Rings.
• The word “emerald” is only a near-rhyme with “tall”, implying that Bilbo added last-minute.

Eärendil’s first failure:

• In the third stanza, the lines are much more enjambed, and features more internal punctuation.
• The first quatrain is more similar to the regular pattern, though the two phrases are not independent. They all work together as adverbial phrase to describe Eärendil’s wandering.
• It is only in the second stanza that we find out that he is a warrior, and in the third stanza makes it clear that he is sailing into exotic, dangerous lands where he needed his arms and armor.
• Note: Though a normal mariner would always expect to wander under the Moon and stars, this is an implied foreshadowing that he will one day wander above the Moon and stars.
• The main message of this stanza is that Eärendil went all over the world from his home.
• The use of “beyond the days” as a unit of distance implies that he has passed outside of time and into Faerie. This opens the possibility that he is immortal, though that is not explicit.
• Note: This is not describing his eventual trip to Valinor, but his earlier voyages that failed.
• The internal and end rhymes in the second and third quatrains are de-emphasized, and the two quatrains are run together, with the end of the former sounding like the beginning of the third.
• This long eight-line group emphasizes the feeling of the wandering nature of Eärendil’s journey.
• The internal rhymes of the third quatrain are especially weak slant rhymes, while the end rhymes stay strong and monosyllabic.
• Note: With Tolkien’s poetry, it is important to study the structure before the content, as Tolkien guides the listener through the meaning of the words using the rhythm and rhyme.
• The words “north” and “south” are not used in the poem but expresses it through the feeling of the lands. The North is expressed through not only cold, but darkness and malice.
• The descriptions give the impression that he is going to places no mortal mariner could follow.
• It’s not clear what “Night of Naught” means, though this may be related to the “starless waters” mentioned earlier. This may refer to a place that is in perpetual darkness and hidden skies.
• The “Night of Naught” is contrasted with the “light he sought” in the end rhymes. Thematically, it is ironic that he has gone in search of light but has only found darkness.
• For a mariner, the loss of the sight of the stars would make navigation impossible.
• Note: It’s important to remember that when this poem was written at a time when The Silmarillion was unfinished and unknown to all the readers, and therefore to take this poem as it appears and not in reference to any external material.
• The final quatrain returns to the regular form in terms of rhythm, structure, and rhyme scheme.
• Often there is an extra syllable before the trisyllabic rhyme as a pivot point, and the last internal rhyme is a complicated near-rhyme in which the consonants are in the opposite order.
• The reversed consonants reflect the idea of his retreat and journey in the opposite direction.
• Eärendil does not fail due to incompetence or weakness; rather he is actively rejected in wrath.
• There is a contrast between the achievements of his journeys and the final defeat of his quest.

END OF SESSION