Similarities between the Hobbit and LOTR
 

I read somewhere that there are similarities of narrative structure between the Hobbit and LOTR. Journeys in small select groups, Rivendell, a journey underground, a mountain at the end. There are probably more (I can't remember). Is this intentional on behalf of the author, or an oversight?

Well...I don't believe that anyone as brilliant as he was would have committed that sort of oversight.

i agree it's not an oversight. tolkien seemed to plan the narrative structure of his stories well. i just thought it interesting that the two stories have such a similar story structure. If it was deliberate on Tolkien's behalf, or if it was acceptable to him, I wonder what purpose it served?

Of course when Tolkien began writing lotr he didn't know where he was going with it. He just planned the story as far as Rivendell. No doubt some of the similarities were deliberate, such as the "there and back again" structure, but otheres like the mountain at the end and the journey underground I'd say just hapened as such with no higher purpose.

Yeh I guess there are more differences than similarities, but the similarities seemed worth mentioning. It's perhaps pointless but interesting nonetheless to wonder what other directions Tolkien could have went in after he resumed writing LOTR. I thought I read somewhere he stopped at the gates of Moria for a year, and had no idea where the story was going, not even who Strider was. When did he decide? When he resumed writing, how much of the complete story as we know it was in his head? How much did he make up as he went along after that?