Christopher Bartlett
New Member
I know that we are extremely cautious about asking why Tolkien does the things he does, but I am left wondering why he included the lovely, tragic Earendil poem, or if I want to reframe that question in Professor Olsen's more preferred style, what does it accomplish to include the Earendil poem.
WE can look to the most comparable example, the Luthien poem, but there are striking differences. While both poems are similar in that they emphasize the experiences of their protagonists over the effects of their gallantry on the larger sweep of the myth cycle of the Elder days, Tolkien gives us this mythical context, at least in brief, for the Luthien poem, whereas we are left to wonder about why Earendil was sailing, what his errand was in the first place, and why he is given his undying doom.
With the Luthien poem, we can see how Aragorn is using this mythical tale to protect the hobbits from the effects of the Nazgul siege. On another level, because of Aragorn's summary of the events of the story, we can see these events as a piece of the larger story of which the Lord of the Rings is the colmination. And of course, we can conclude that the Luthien poem is the hinge upon which Tolkien's understanding that LotR is a part of the larger tale turns.
By contrast, we are given one of Michael Drout's "textual ruins" in the Earendil poem, but it is less clear to me what function this fulfills, other than a flash of beauty from a seemingly unlikely source. (remember what we've seen of Bilbo's poetry thus far is far from epic, with the possible exception of "The Road Goes EVer On and On" A careful reader (without the context of the Silmarillion) would be able to conclude that Earendil is related to Elrond, and might know that a silmaril is something important from the Elder Days, connected through the Luthien poem. But we do not have anything but a very hazy idea of the Elder Days, what significance silmarils have, and no idea at all of why EArendil might have been sailing to the end of the world.
Maybe it's enough that it is beautiful, but given the thought with which we know Tolkien chose what else to include, I am unsatisfied with "beauty" as the sole explanation for the presence of this long poem. I'm glad it's there, but I'd love to have some thoughts about the reason, or if you prefer, the function of this work within the larger context of the Lord of the Rings.
WE can look to the most comparable example, the Luthien poem, but there are striking differences. While both poems are similar in that they emphasize the experiences of their protagonists over the effects of their gallantry on the larger sweep of the myth cycle of the Elder days, Tolkien gives us this mythical context, at least in brief, for the Luthien poem, whereas we are left to wonder about why Earendil was sailing, what his errand was in the first place, and why he is given his undying doom.
With the Luthien poem, we can see how Aragorn is using this mythical tale to protect the hobbits from the effects of the Nazgul siege. On another level, because of Aragorn's summary of the events of the story, we can see these events as a piece of the larger story of which the Lord of the Rings is the colmination. And of course, we can conclude that the Luthien poem is the hinge upon which Tolkien's understanding that LotR is a part of the larger tale turns.
By contrast, we are given one of Michael Drout's "textual ruins" in the Earendil poem, but it is less clear to me what function this fulfills, other than a flash of beauty from a seemingly unlikely source. (remember what we've seen of Bilbo's poetry thus far is far from epic, with the possible exception of "The Road Goes EVer On and On" A careful reader (without the context of the Silmarillion) would be able to conclude that Earendil is related to Elrond, and might know that a silmaril is something important from the Elder Days, connected through the Luthien poem. But we do not have anything but a very hazy idea of the Elder Days, what significance silmarils have, and no idea at all of why EArendil might have been sailing to the end of the world.
Maybe it's enough that it is beautiful, but given the thought with which we know Tolkien chose what else to include, I am unsatisfied with "beauty" as the sole explanation for the presence of this long poem. I'm glad it's there, but I'd love to have some thoughts about the reason, or if you prefer, the function of this work within the larger context of the Lord of the Rings.