Errantry

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Errantry is a three-page long poem by J.R.R. Tolkien, first published in 1933. Tolkien himself considered it his most attractive poem.

Errantry was, within the Legendarium, envisioned as a song of Hobbit folklore, attributed to Bilbo Baggins. While it referred to original Elvish names, they were probably fictitious.

Metre

The poem has complex trisyllabic assonances with a metre that Tolkien invented, and was difficult enough that he never wrote another poem again in this style. A much shorter version would be included in The Fellowship of the Ring: the Song of Eärendil.

Melody

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.

List of words

Below is a partial list of rare and/or obsolete words used in the poem.

References