View source for Errantry

'''''Errantry''''' is a [[Hobbit]] poem which was evidently composed by [[Bilbo Baggins]], shortly after his return from the [[Lonely Mountain]] in {{TA|2941}},<ref>{{App|TA}}</ref> and probably having heard Elvish tales of the [[First Age]], but without treating them seriously. The attribution to Bilbo is made because of its similarity to the ''[[Eärendillinwë]]'', which  is believed to be a version of this poem, transformed and applied to the legend of [[Eärendil]].<ref name="Preface">{{AB|Preface}}</ref>

While it referred to original [[Elvish]] names, they were probably fictitious.

==Structure==
''Errantry'' was actually one of the cyclical nonsense poems which amused [[Hobbits]], although this one is the longest and most elaborate of the kind found in the [[Red Book]].<ref name="Preface" />

The poem has complex trisyllabic (near-)assonances<ref name="l133" /> with an original metre invented by Bilbo, and was obviously proud of them. Such do not appear in other pieces in the Red Book.<ref name="Preface" />

Each stanza is supposed to be read first at speed and then slow down to pronounce words with clarity, with the exception of the last stanza that must begin slowly.<ref name="ti" />

==Summary==
In the beginning of the poem, the protagonist prepares to go on an adventure, building a boat filled with “yellow oranges and porridge”. The protagonist heads off, calling upon the winds of argosies to help him pass seventeen rivers in his way. After crossing the final river, Derrilyn, he abandoned the boat to cross on foot through meadows to the nearby Shadow-land, before moving along again. 

Eventually, the protagonist took a rest, deciding to sing. There he fell in love with a [[butterfly]] who ignored him; he managed to follow and trap her, made for her pavilions to live in and offered her gifts but she continued to refuse them, until he sadly had to leave her and move on.

Passing through elven-like lands, he makes some armor and weapons and is challenged by Elven-knights. He moves on and fights "the dragon-flies of [[Paradise]]" including [[Hummerhorns]], [[Dumbledors]], and [[Honeybees]], eventually winning the [[Golden Honeycomb]]. He sails home in a ship made "of leaves and gossamer" that has a "blossom for a canopy", before tarrying a bit in uninhabited little isles. Back there, he realizes that the wandering and adventuring made him forget his message and errand, and he prepares to depart again.<ref name="Errantry">{{AB|Errantry}}</ref>

==List of terms==
Below is a list of terms that are used within the poem.

*'''[[Aerie]]''' - A fictitious Elven-realm that was presumably connected to Faerie as elven-knights from both lands challenged the protagonist due to a rivalry.<ref name="Errantry" /><ref>[[Robert Foster]], ''[[The Complete Guide to Middle-earth]]'', entry Aerie</ref>
*'''[[wiktionary:argosy|Argosies]]'''
*'''[[Belmarie]]''' - A fictitious country imitating Elvish.<ref name="Preface" /><ref name="Errantry" />
*'''[[wiktionary:cardamom|Cardamom]]'''
*'''[[wiktionary:chalcedony|Chalcedony]]'''
*'''[[Derrilyn]]''' - A fictitious river that the protagonist had to cross to reach Shadow-land.<ref name="Preface" /><ref name="Errantry" />
*'''[[Dumbledors]]''' - A fictitious race of insects fought by the protagonist.<ref name="Errantry" />
*'''[[wiktionary:errantry|Errantry]]'''
*'''[[Fantasie]]''' - A fictitious country. imitating Elvish.<ref name="Errantry" />
*'''[[Faerie]]''' - A fictitious Elven-realm that was presumably connected to Aerie as elven-knights from both lands challenged the protagonist due to a rivalry.<ref name="Errantry" /><ref>[[Robert Foster]], ''[[The Complete Guide to Middle-earth]]'', entry Faerie</ref>
*'''[[wiktionary:filament|Filament]]'''
*'''[[wiktionary:foray|Foraying]]'''
*'''[[wiktionary:furbish|Furbished]]'''
*'''[[Golden Honeycomb]]''' - A fictitious object that the protagonist won from his battle against the dragon-flies of Paradise.<ref name="Errantry" />
*'''[[wiktionary:gondola|Gondola]]''' - The boat the protagonist built at the beginning of the poem.<ref name="Errantry" />
*'''[[wiktionary:gossamer|Gossamer]]'''
*'''[[wiktionary:habergeon|Habergeon]]'''
*'''[[Hummerhorns]]''' - A fictitious race of insects fought by the protagonist.<ref name="Errantry" />
*'''[[wiktionary:malachite|Malachite]]'''
*'''[[wiktionary:Marigold|Marigold]]'''
*'''[[wiktionary:marjoram|Marjoram]]'''
*'''[[wiktionary:morion|Morion]]'''
*'''[[wiktionary:Paladin|Paladins]]''' - Inhabitants of Aerie and Faerie with golden hair and shining eyes that challenged the protagonist due to a rivalry.<ref name="Errantry" />
*'''[[wiktionary:panoply|Panoply]]'''
*'''[[Paradise]]''' - A fictitious land inhabited by dragon-flies.<ref name="Errantry" /><ref>[[Robert Foster]], ''[[The Complete Guide to Middle-earth]]'', entry Paradise</ref>
*'''[[wiktionary:plenilune|Plenilune]]'''
*'''[[wiktionary:provender|Provender]]'''
*'''[[wiktionary:rove|Roving]]'''
*'''[[Shadow-land]]''' - A fictitious dreary land nearby the Derrilyn.<ref name="Errantry" /><ref>[[Robert Foster]], ''[[The Complete Guide to Middle-earth]]'', entry Shadow-land</ref>
*'''[http://www.answers.com/topic/sigaldry Sigaldry]'''
*'''[[wiktionary:stalactite|Stalactite]]'''
*'''[[Thellamie]]''' - A fictitious country imitating Elvish.<ref name="Preface" /><ref name="Errantry" />
*'''[[wiktionary:tourney|Tourneying]]'''

==Inspiration==
Tolkien felt the need to compose the poem in an attempt to use the model of the nursery rhyme ''What is the rhyme to porringer?''<ref name="ti">{{TI|Bilbo}}</ref><ref name="ABcomm">{{AB|Comm}}</ref> The meter is his own invention (using trisyllabic assonances or near-assonances) and never wrote another in this style.<ref name="l133">{{L|133}}</ref> This fact passed into the legendarium, as the Preface to the ''Adventures of Tom Bombadil'' says that Bilbo was probably proud of his meter and used it as a model for the ''Eärendillinwë''.

It is a three-page long poem first published on [[9 November]] [[1933]] in ''The Oxford Magazine''. Tolkien himself considered it his most attractive poem.

==Reception==
[[Warren Lewis]] (brother of [[C.S. Lewis]]) found it "excellent in itself" and considered Tolkien's metric invention very interesting and "a real discovery"<ref>''Brothers and Friends: The Diaries of Major Warren Hamilton Lewis'' (1982), p. 126</ref>

By [[1950]] the poem became famous outside Tolkien's environment and circulated anonymously in print and "folklore": a lady unknown to Tolkien heard it somewhere and was so taken by the words that traced its origin to the English Universities and ultimately to Tolkien, surprising him. Comparing the version the lady knew against the original, Tolkien noticed that the "hard words" are preserved more in the "oral tradition".<ref name="l133" />

This poem was set to music by [[Donald Swann]].  The sheet music and an audio recording are part of the song-cycle ''[[The Road Goes Ever On (book)|The Road Goes Ever On]]''.<ref>{{RGEO|Errantry}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Index:Poems by J.R.R. Tolkien|Poems by J.R.R. Tolkien]]

{{References}}

{{Poems}}

[[Category:Poems in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil]]
[[de:Irrfahrt]]
[[fi:Harhailua]]