I have to get this one in before we go on to the next chapter.
I noticed something interesting about how Sam's recitation of the Oliphaunt verse is presented:
Quote:
Sam stood up, putting his hands behind his back (as he always did when 'speaking poetry'), and began:
Grey as a mouse,
Big as a house,
Nose like a snake,
I make the earth shake,
As I tramp through the grass;
Trees crack as I pass.
With horns in my mouth
I walk in the South,
Flapping big ears.
Beyond count of years
I stump round and round,
Never lie on the ground,
Not even to die.
Oliphaunt am I,
Biggest of all,
Huge, old, and tall.
If ever you'd met me
You wouldn't forget me.
If you never do,
You won't think I'm true;
But old Oliphaunt am I,
And I never lie.
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Couple this with his description of his assumptions about the 'Swertings' and he reminds me of a schoolboy, uncertainly reciting from memory a simple verse to 'explain' something far away and foreign. It brought to mind an older time, maybe schools of the 1920's/1930's, when such recitation would be common, and also often used to describe or explain 'foreign things', maybe things from far flung corners of the British Empire.
I wonder if anyone else notices this as somehow reminiscent of old traditional schools? Maybe we could see into this that Sam is like the ordinary schoolboy while Frodo is almost like a 'prefect', the older and more intelligent boy, or maybe he is like the 'scholar', protected by his more down to earth friend. Frodo's recitation of verse often seems to be of the more complex Elven variety, while Sam seems to remember the simpler verses. Could there be anything in this comparison of the two Hobbits?