Hobbit’s song from “The Lord of the Rings” by J. R. R. Tolkien (“Farewell we call to hearth and home”): between cultures and traditions

The works by J. R. R. Tolkien make a constant appeal to the researchers in various fields. However, Tolkien’s verses (escecially inserted in his prose fiction) are seldom analysed with due consideration of their individual poetic features together with the literary world and close context of the corresponding prose narrative at the same time. In “The Lord of the Rings”, the poems play an essential role in fulfilling a set of contextual functions and manifesting a notable interinfluence between fictional cultures. One of the most illustrative poems of the sort is “Farewell We Call to Hearth and Home” — a hobbit song composed by Merry in Pippin. The song is modelled after the dwarf song from “The Hobbit” (“Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold”) and maintains its verse form, genre, style, motifs, and imagery. At the same time, the internal composers include the features of their own literary tradition in the song: from a set of culturally relevant images (“home”, “hearth”, “bed”) to the quotes from hobbit folk songs or Bilbo’s poetry. This strong interlacement of “own” and “foreign” elements is a representative part of the cultural dialogue (which Tolkien archives to imitate authentically), which is of special importance within the narrative. The song is composed to hearten Frodo before his journey to Rivendell and to make a legacy connection between his quest and Bilbo’s adventure from “The Hobbit”. Besides, the text of the poem reveals a remarkable dissimilitude between these two journeys, foreshadowing further events.