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Originally Posted by Estelyn
Since I didn't know which one was written first, I wondered if "Errantry" was perhaps his own parody, but your comment answers that question. Thanks! I may come back with a closer look at comparing the two if I have time this week.
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CT goes into the history of this poem in some depth in vol 7. Errantry came first & was published in The Oxford magazine on 9th Novenber 1933. Tolkien said in Letter 133 that the poem was
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in a metre I invented (depending on trisyllabic assonances or near assonances, which is so difficult that except in this one example I have never been able to use it again - it just blew out in a single impulse
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CT quotes Carpenter's remark in Letters:
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It may appear at a first glance that Tolkien did write another poem in this metre, 'Earendil was a mariner', which appears in Book II Chapter 1 of The Lord of the rings. But this poem is arguably a development of 'Errantry' rather than a seperate composition.
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CT then states 'That this is true will be seen from the earlier forms of Bilbo's song at Rivendell', which he then gives.
One other thing struck me as odd in this chapter - Gandalf's remark:
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(Speaking to himself about Frodo's current state)But to the wizard's eye there was a faint change, just a hint as it were of transparency, about him, & especially about the left hand that lay upon the coverlet.
'Still that must be expected' said Gandalf to himself. 'He is not half through yet, & to what he will come in the end not even Elrond can foretell. Not to evil, I think. He may become like a glass filled with a clear light for eyes to see that can'
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'Not half through yet' - what can Gandalf mean? Does he know that Frodo will take up the task? It seems like on some level Gandalf 'knows' what Frodo's destiny will be, that he knows what Frodo's choice as regards the Ring will be, even before Frodo does himself. Of course, it could be that while Frodo has 'talked long in his sleep' he has spoken of this, or perhaps Gandalf knows that Frodo will not be able to hand the Ring over (perhaps he has read between the lines & seen how much of a hold the Ring already has over Frodo). It just seems mysterious that Gandalf knows that Frodo has a long journey before him, & so the question arises as to the degree of free will Frodo actually has in all this.