The Passing of Frodo: The Platypus Reads Part LXI

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Tolkien detested all things French.  Ok, so maybe Humphry Carpenter over-states Tolkien's sentiments just a bit on that count.  We're also assured by other Tolkien specialists that Tolkien found the Arthur legends too French to be a proper English mythology.  Still, every schoolboy of Tolkien's era would have had to know his Tennyson.  Oxford may have been designed to beat it out of you, but some of it must still have stuck.  In Charles Williams' case, a lot of it stuck (perhaps because he never went to Oxford).  Now maybe it's just coincidence, but I've been seeing some odd parallels between Tennyson's "Passing of Arthur" and Tolkien's "Return of the King."

Don't believe me?  Here we go.  Though neither Frodo nor Arthur are killed in battle, each receives wounds that cannot be healed in this world and have to pass over to an earthly paradise.  To reach this earthly paradise, they must travel by boat with supernatural attendants to see to them.  Before setting out, each must throw away something that has defined them; the Ring and Excalibur.  They each are seen off by their most devoted follower, Sam and Bedivere and are obliged to offer that companion comfort before leaving.  Each story ends with the boat passing beyond the horizon, Frodo toward the setting sun and Arthur toward the rising sun, with the companion forced to go back to normal life.  Coincidence?  Probably.  Still, one can wonder.

Comments

Social Scientist said…
Yes, interesting points. To my shame I haven't read Tennyson, does he have Arthur departing towards the rising sun? In the version I read as a kid he went west just like Frodo.
11:57 PM
James said…
Yeah, Tennyson does this weird thing with Arthur setting out toward the rising sun. That means that either a)he's crossing a lake toward Avalon/Glastonbury or b)the "last battle in the west" refers to the battle taking place in the British isles, the westernmost point in Europe(?), and Arthur is sailing to Avalon across the North sea. I suppose we could add c)he's sailing from Cornwall down the English Channel and heading east. The whole thing is rather awkward and the reason for the choice seems to be that Tennyson wanted (as he says in a note on the text) Arthur to pass to the east where all the great religions of the world had their origin. It also allows him to fade into the rising sun which is bringing in a new year and a new order (time and season being a recurring theme in the idylls). I don't know if that helps.

I love Tennyson, personally, so I'm always quick to recommend him. He is very Victorian, but I think we're far away enough from the Victorians now to be in little danger of picking up their vices but to stand in need of learning their virtues. Anyhow, it's worth it if you have the time.
2:11 PM
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