I take it you mean the Lay of Aotrou and Itroun. I only recently stumbled upon it, and I don't know which was written first, this or LOTR. I agree that it's a striking resemblance but I wouldn't call it loss of creativity. At least I don't think he consciously looked for old notes. Maybe it was an unconscious thing, he was trying to work out the line that would fit best, and this sprung to mind. Anyway, what would you call this, self-plagiarism?
