An explication of “Errantry”

At first glance, "Errantry" may appear to be a simple bit of light verse, but a closer examination reveals two distinctions which cause it to merit further study. The first is its meter and rhyme scheme, and the second is its theme. The poem is written, for the most part, in a simple iambic tetrameter (e.g., "There wás a mérr? pássengér" [13]), but this meter is combined with a rhyme scheme of, as Tolkien put it "tri-syllabic assonances or near-assonances, which is so difficult that except in this one example I have never been able to use it again" (Letters 162-3). Though he does manage to stretch errantry a bit in The Fellowship to treat another subject "Eärendil", he obviously did not consider this effort to be a separate poem, and indeed many of the rhymes are the same, though the rest of the content differs significantly. A second feature of this tri-syllabic assonance rhyme is that it rhymes the last word of one line with the middle of the next on alternate lines (end-rhymes are italicized, mid-line rhymes in bold):

Of crystal was his habergeon,
his scabbard of chalcedony;
with silver tipped at plenilune
his spear was hewn of ebony. (14)

If for no other reason than the creation of this wonderful, musical, new, and interesting rhyme scheme, Tolkien must be acknowledged a master versifier. I challenge anyone to read this verse aloud (not in their imagination, but really aloud), in the presence of an audience, and then to disagree. Whether or not it makes him a master poet is another question.

The primary theme of "Errantry" is that of the heroic quest, though it is subverted and twisted. It begins with the Ordinary World, moving quickly to the Call to Adventure [. . .] The hero crosses the Threshold and enters the Special World where he encounters Tests, Allies, and Enemies. Having made it approximately half-way through the Heroic Quest, he is returned to the beginning, never achieving the Reward, Resurrection or the Return. At least one critic relates the two poems "Errantry" and "Eärendil" to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings respectively, calling "Errantry" "a comic 'circle' poem" and "Eärendil" "a tragic story about an unwanted apotheosis" (Helms 137).

In fact, in "Eärendil" the Quest is completed. Eärendil, given the Silmaril by Elwin, is able, finally, to reach Valinor and deliver his message, but because he has looked upon visions "forbid to those who dwell therein," he is doomed "to sail the shoreless skies and come/behind the Sun and light of Moon" (Tolkien Fellowship 248). He becomes, with the light of the Silmaril shining from his forehead, the evening star. To fully understand this doom, we must remember that Tolkien is writing in an archaic mode, and it is like that "doom" in this case is intended to have the archaic meaning, "judgement," rather than the modern meaning of punishment. Because he has been to Valinor he cannot return as he was to the world of mortal men, but he does return as the evening star, and is able to look and listen to "the weeping sore/of women and of elven-maids" (Tolkien Fellowship 249). He is exalted and elevated for accomplishing his mission, even though he cannot be allowed to return in the flesh.

Contrast this with the merry passenger of "Errantry." Unlike the noble Eärendil, he pauses in his quest to pursue each fleeting fancy, from marrying a butterfly, to jousting with fairy elves. And while he is able to return home, he can never receive that final reward that is the result of the completed quest. The truths to be drawn from the poems are numerous, but they are truths that are better experienced than explained. I would agree with Helms that the two poems taken together, reveal more than when looked at separately, but I think that reveal a truth that is deeper than a simple (and coincidental) correlation between the poems and the novels. I hope that this explication has helped to provide some tools to begin that experience.