Bruce N H
Active Member
Hi all,
The poem "I sit beside the fire and think" is particularly apt to the precise situation where Bilbo recites it. Yes, he's getting old and so sitting and thinking of all he has seen is natural, but it's that last stanza, where he is listening "for returning feet and voices at the door" - most specifically the feet of Frodo and company, returning safely from their perilous quest that they are just about to set off on. This raises the question, when did Bilbo write this?
- Perhaps he composed it on the spot, his poet's mind putting his current situation into words.
- Perhaps he just knows lots and lots of poems, and picked out one that was particularly timely (perhaps subconsciously).
- Perhaps he was taking a poem he already knew, but changed the last stanza on the spot, fitting it to his current situation. (IMO this is most likely.)
What do you think? We've had this sort of question before. E.g. "The Road goes ever on" - when Frodo recites it in Three is Company he changes "eager feet" to "weary feet", which fits his situation better than when Bilbo said it earlier. Frodo says "It came to me then, as if I was making it up; but I may have heard it long ago." Later Bilbo will change it again in Many Partings. Similarly we get a reworking of "Still round the corner" from the start of their adventures to the end. When Frodo is about to take the Straight Road he changes "And though we pass them by today, Tomorrow we may come this way And take the hidden paths that run Towards the Moon or to the Sun." into "And though I oft have passed them by, A day will come at last when I Shall take the hidden paths that run West of the Moon, East of the Sun." Because he is literally about to take the path that leads beyond the sun and moon. Both Frodo and Bilbo (and maybe Sam, thinking of Troll sat alone) are likely to spontaneously adapt existing poems to their current situations.
Bruce
The poem "I sit beside the fire and think" is particularly apt to the precise situation where Bilbo recites it. Yes, he's getting old and so sitting and thinking of all he has seen is natural, but it's that last stanza, where he is listening "for returning feet and voices at the door" - most specifically the feet of Frodo and company, returning safely from their perilous quest that they are just about to set off on. This raises the question, when did Bilbo write this?
- Perhaps he composed it on the spot, his poet's mind putting his current situation into words.
- Perhaps he just knows lots and lots of poems, and picked out one that was particularly timely (perhaps subconsciously).
- Perhaps he was taking a poem he already knew, but changed the last stanza on the spot, fitting it to his current situation. (IMO this is most likely.)
What do you think? We've had this sort of question before. E.g. "The Road goes ever on" - when Frodo recites it in Three is Company he changes "eager feet" to "weary feet", which fits his situation better than when Bilbo said it earlier. Frodo says "It came to me then, as if I was making it up; but I may have heard it long ago." Later Bilbo will change it again in Many Partings. Similarly we get a reworking of "Still round the corner" from the start of their adventures to the end. When Frodo is about to take the Straight Road he changes "And though we pass them by today, Tomorrow we may come this way And take the hidden paths that run Towards the Moon or to the Sun." into "And though I oft have passed them by, A day will come at last when I Shall take the hidden paths that run West of the Moon, East of the Sun." Because he is literally about to take the path that leads beyond the sun and moon. Both Frodo and Bilbo (and maybe Sam, thinking of Troll sat alone) are likely to spontaneously adapt existing poems to their current situations.
Bruce