'Bilbo's Last Song' - Tolkien's last words?
 

I've only recently purchased a copy of this poem, doubly so, since I now have both the small book which includes Pauline Baynes' illustrations, and the Tolkien/Swann songbook, with the lyrics and music. Apparently, it was written by Tolkien late in his life and was made a gift to Joy Hill, the secretary provided by his publishers. After JRRT's death, she showed it to Donald Swann, who composed the music. I don't have information about the date it was first published.

It seems to me that Tolkien was thinking not only of Bilbo, but also of himself and the end of his life that drew nearer when he wrote it. For copyright reasons, I can't quote the whole poem here, but I'd like to mention several lines that touched me as being very personal. The fact that he wrote the poem in first person certainly increases that impression in my mind! While searching to see if old threads discussed this topic, I found a similar comment by Child of the 7th Age:

Woah! I think it was sorta like a goodbye. It sure sounds like it. And I don't think the fact that he died soon after was a coincidence. My bet is that he could feel death approaching, and wrote a final poetic gesture to the world. Just my opinion...

There's a very late painting, shown as the frontispiece to Artist & Illustrator, called The Hills of Morning. It shows the Sun half out of the sea, with hills in the background (its the last painting he did, according to the authors):

The authors interpret it as showing the sun rising out of the depths of the sea, but it can also be interpreted as the Sun sinking into the depths. The undersea world is alive with plants, spirals & snowflake shapes. Two serpents swim in from either side.

If it is the sun sinking into the depths, it probably symbolises the end of his life. If its rising from the depths it symbolises a rebirth, the sun rising into a new world, bringing a new morning.

Ah, yes. Is the sun sinking or rising?This reminds me of interpretations of that famous painting, The School of Athens. It has Plato and Aristotle in the foreground, their hands pointing in directions which critics have argued over for years, wondering if the direction has anything to do with the relative philosophical position of each philosopher.

It is always tempting to read biographical information into art, yet remember that even Tolkien warned against a very literal or direct reading of life as fiction; there is a relationship, but it is hardly a one-to-one correspondence. I would suggest we remember that the first person is a grammatical choice, an artistic choice, which allows the writer to create a more personal and idiosyncratic perspective or tone than the third person does. Remember what wizardry davem has mentioned on other threads concering grammar.(Realism? Parody? Canonicity?--I shall have to check and return with the right one.)

The question is very much one which is being debated on these other threads--is Middle earth self-referential or does it refer to something outside itself, our known world of 'fact' rather than fiction. How much do we readers wish to make any fictional statement Tolkien made have historical reality? It is, as davem suggests, our Atlantis.

Edit: Got it-- it is on the Parody thread: davem on 'grammaree'

I have said at least once elsewhere how attached I am to this poem (even though I (eek parodied a chunk of it for ReVerse!) . I read some where that Hill and Tolkien had a running joke regarding the items sent to him by fans, that if she ever opened a letter and a diamond bracelet fell out, she could keep it. Then one day she picked up a book and this poem fell out and she claimed it as her "diamond bracelet"!......

To me this is one of Tolkien's finest poems, if not the finest... i think it can "stand alone" since the journey can be seen as a metaphorical as well as a more literal description of the journey of the ringbearers .....

In that context there are two phrases I find particularly moving "where nights are quiet and sleep is rest" ... althoughI connect them with Frodo and his nightmares rather than Bilbo....

The other is "Guided by the Lonely Star " . If I am right to assume this means Earendil, I think it is quite comforting that Elrond, who of course is on the same ship, is being watched over and led by his father as he makes that bittersweet journey away from his children but towards reunion with Celebrian.

Quick note; the reason I asked whether the sun in the painting is rising or sinking is that there seem to be two lines of hills, one immediately behind the sun, the other in the far distance, dark, & across what may be a stretch of ocean - which of the hills are the Hills of Morning?